Eligibility Issues

Attendance

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) requires that schools are able to document that students are actually in attendance to finalize their Title IV financial aid. For example, if a student doesn’t begin attendance in all of his or her classes, the school must recalculate the student’s award based on the lower enrollment status.

A school must demonstrate that a student participated in class or was otherwise engaged in an academically related activity, such as by contributing to an online discussion or initiating contact with a faculty member to ask a course-related question. Del Mar College documents attendance for Title IV recipients by collecting online rosters from all instructors after census date.

The instructors use the rosters to indicate whether a student has attended or not. If a professor reports a student as never attended/stopped attending, then Federal Pell Grant eligibility will be adjusted based on the student's enrollment status. A potential consequence of this adjustment could cause a student’s Title IV aid to be cancelled. If this adjustment results in a student not having sufficient grant funds to pay for any charges or advances that they have incurred or received, that student will be responsible to pay Del Mar College for the difference between their adjusted eligibility and the original amount of the cost of their tuition and fees as well as any advances that the student received.

Repeated Coursework

The ED amended the definition of a full-time student to allow repeated coursework to count toward enrollment status in term-based programs:

• Students may only receive federal financial aid funding for one repetition of a previously passed course. That is, if a student passes a course and wishes to reattempt it with the aim of getting a higher grade, they can retake the course once.
• Students may repeat a failed course until it is passed.

Pell Grant Lifetime Eligibility Used (PLEU)

The amount of Federal Pell Grant funds a student may receive over their lifetime is limited by federal law to be the equivalent of six years of Pell Grant funding. If a student enrolls in 12 credit hours (full-time) per semester, the student will have six years’ worth of Pell Grant funding. If the student enrolls six credit hours (part-time), they will have funding for up to 12 years. Students who received Pell Grant for the past four years or more may find their Pell Grant eligibility may be reduced or eliminated.

To determine how much of the maximum six years (600%) of Pell Grant you have used each year, ED compares the actual amount you received for the award year with your scheduled award amount for that award year. Of course, if you receive the full amount of your scheduled award, you will have used 100%. It's possible that you might not receive your entire scheduled award for an award year. There are a number of reasons for this, the most common of which are that you are not enrolled for the full year and/or that you are not enrolled full-time.

Year-Round Pell Grant

Pell eligible students will now be eligible for up to 150% of their award to use during fall, spring, and summer of each award year.

Percentage-Used Calculation

The percentages are based on your annual award at full-time enrollment status compared to the amount you actually receive in a given year. The amount of aid you receive each academic year is divided by the maximum annual award you are eligible for that year and your annual percentage is determined. Percentages from each year are added to calculate your PLEU.

Viewing Your Pell Grant Lifetime Eligibility Used (PLEU)

The ED keeps track of your PLEU by adding together the percentages of your Pell Grant scheduled awards that you received for each award year. You can determine how much Pell you have used and what you have remaining at the NSLDS (National Student Loan Data System) Student Access website (https://nslds.ed.gov). If you have any questions regarding the Pell Grant Lifetime Eligibility Used, please contact or visit Financial Aid Services.

Developmental Coursework Limitation

The ED provided the following guidelines to schools on how developmental courses may be funded (please note that the information in the Catalog only pertains to the developmental coursework limitation and a student must satisfy all ED, State of Texas and Del Mar College eligibility requirements to be eligible for Financial Assistance). A student may receive Federal Aid for up to one academic year’s worth of developmental coursework. At community colleges, the limit is 30 credit hours. Financial Aid Services complies with this requirement by reviewing all student records after the Census day of each semester to see if any students are scheduled to receive financial aid for a developmental course when they have already attempted 10 or more courses. Any Pell Grant award made to a student who is scheduled to receive aid for the 11th or greater developmental course attempt will be recalculated without considering the developmental course in the student’s enrollment status.

For example, if a student is enrolled in a total of 12 credit hours, three of which are from their 11th developmental course attempt, the student's Federal Pell Grant award will be recalculated based on nine credit hours instead of 12 credit hours.

Unusual Enrollment History

The ED has established new regulations to prevent fraud and abuse in the Federal Pell Grant Program by identifying students with unusual enrollment histories. For these students, the ED will place an unusual enrollment flag on their FAFSA entries, which indicates that the student has an unusual enrollment history with regards to receiving Pell Grants at multiple institutions. Financial Aid Services is required to review the student's enrollment and financial aid record to determine if, during the past four award years, the student has legitimate reasons for the unusual enrollment history. Financial Aid Services will identify and contact the students who will be required to resolve this before determining Federal Student Aid eligibility.

Resolving Unusual Enrollment History

You will be required to provide academic transcripts from all colleges and universities attended during the review period to Del Mar College. The institution will determine whether academic credit was earned at each of the previously attended institutions during the past four award years. Academic credit earned is considered to have been earned if the academic records show that you received a grade of "A", "B", "C", or "D" as listed in the Grading System section of the Catalog. If you did not earn academic credit at each of the previously attended institutions during the past three award years, you may be ineligible for further Federal Student Aid. The Financial Aid Services has the authority to require official transcripts from the colleges and universities attended during the review period if the documents that you submitted are unclear.

Appealing an Ineligibility Determination

You will be asked to contact Financial Aid Services so that you may provide a statement explaining why you failed to earn academic credit and any additional supporting documentation. If eligibility is approved, you will be required to meet with an academic advisor and a financial aid representative; you must not drop or withdraw (officially or unofficially) from any courses after the term begins and must maintain Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Performance. If you did not earn academic credit at each of the previously attended institutions during the past three award years and are not able to provide an acceptable explanation and documentation for the unusual enrollment history, you are ineligible for further Federal Student Aid. All decisions made by Financial Aid Services are final.