Summary: The attachments to this letter contain the 2020-2021 Award Year Federal Pell Grant Program Payment and Disbursement Schedules
Dear Colleague:
Attached to this letter are both PDF and Excel versions of the Payment and Disbursement Schedules for determining Federal Pell Grant awards for the 2020-2021 award year (July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021) for full-time, three-quarter-time, half-time, and less-than-half-time students. All 2020-2021 Federal Pell Grant awards must be based on the attached schedules. With the release of the 2020-2021 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) on October 1, 2019, the Department is providing the Pell Grant Payment and Disbursement Schedules so that institutions may inform students and their families of their potential eligibility for a Federal Pell Grant.
On December 20, 2019, the President signed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 which included a $150 increase to the maximum Pell Grant. The maximum Pell Grant award for the 2020-2021 award year is $6,345, and the corresponding maximum Pell Grant eligible expected family contribution (EFC) is 5711.
Section 401(b)(4) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), establishes the minimum Pell Grant award to be 10 percent of the maximum award amount for the award year. Because we use mid-points in both the EFC columns and the cost of attendance (COA) rows in constructing the schedules, the actual 2020-2021 award year minimum scheduled award amount will be $639.