Financial Aid

Federal Pell Grant
This Pell Grant is a federally funded grant program which provides awards to undergraduate students. Students must complete the Free Application for Federal Financial Aid (FAFSA) as the starting point to determine eligibility. This application must be completed EACH academic year.

Award amounts are based on family contribution (as determined through the FAFSA) and unit enrollment. Students must be enrolled in an eligible AA, AS, Transfer or certificate program and meet all other federal eligibility requirements, including maintaining satisfactory academic progress standards (SAP). More information on the SAP standards is available on the Satisfactory Academic Progress link.

Students who are first-time Pell Grant recipients in the 2008/2009 award year or after will be limited to 18 semesters (full-time equivalent) of Pell grant eligibility.

Awards range from $400 - $5,550 per year.

New Information

"Cross -Over Payment Period" is any period that includes both June 30th and July 1. For the purposes of federal financial aid programs, this period must be assigned to a specific financial aid award year. These years begin each July 1.

College of the Redwoods generally has a number of summer sessions of differing lengths in an effort to be responsive to the needs of the student body. For the purposes of all federal aid programs, the separate sessions are combined into one "Cross-over" Payment Period.
The 2009-2010 Free Application for Federal Student Aid ("FAFSA") will be used to determine eligibility for Pell Grant for the 2010 summer semester. Students who are entering College of the Redwoods for the first time during the 2010 summer session should complete the FAFSA online at www.fafsa.gov

Eligibility Limit and Disbursement

Students who receive their first Pell Grant on or after July 1, 2008 may receive Pell Grants as a full-time student for 18 semesters. Less than full-time will be prorated and extend the life of the eligibility.
Effective July 1, 2009 students enrolled in a certificate, associate, or baccalaureate program may receive up to two Pell Grants in one award year to accelerate their program.

NOTE: This is new legislation. We continue to receive additional clarification and implementation guidance from the Department of Education.

How We Think This Will Work:

For the 2010 summer session only: College of the Redwoods offers a number of summer sessions of differing lengths in an effort to be responsive to the needs of the student body. For federal Pell Grant purposes, the separate sessions are combined into one “Cross-over" Payment Period”.

The 2010 summer session will be attached to the 2009-2010 academic year. Students interested in receiving federal financial aid for summer must complete the 2009-2010 Free Application for Federal Student Aid ("FAFSA") and the Summer Request Form.

If eligible, a student will be able to receive all or a portion of a second scheduled Pell Grant within an award year.

For the First Scheduled Pell Grant Award, a student must:

Be Pell Grant eligible
EFC supports the award
Be enrolled at any enrollment status (full-time, 3/4 time, 1/2 time or less than 1/2 time);
The amounts received will count toward the aggregate lifetime limit.

To Qualify to Receive a Second Scheduled Pell Grant Award within the same award year, a student must :

Continue to be Pell Grant eligible
Have received 100% of the First Scheduled Pell Grant Award
Successfully completed 24 units
Be enrolled on at least a half-time basis
The amounts received will count toward the aggregate lifetime limit;

Beginning with the 2010-2011 Award Year, the student must demonstrate academic year acceleration.

When the award will be made from a Second Scheduled Award, at least one credit hour in the payment period must be attributable to the student’s next academic year.
The student need not have completed a full academic year's worth of coursework prior to the payment period in which the second scheduled award funds are paid. For example, a student earned 9 credits in the fall semester and 9 credits in the spring semester. Since College of the Redwoods uses 24 credits to define the academic year and places summer in the concluding award year, the student would need to enroll for more than 6 credits in the summer term to be paid funds out of the second scheduled award (6 credits to finish the first academic year's worth of work, plus some additional number of credits that count toward the second academic year). This student would be paid any remaining first scheduled award funds plus the amount of second scheduled award funds needed to make up the payment for the term as calculated under the appropriate Pell formula.
Hours earned during the 2010 summer semester will count towards the acceleration calculation in all subsequent semesters.

Transfer Students

If a student received 100% of the First Scheduled Award at their prior school, we will assume that the student completed an academic year.
If a student received less than 100% of their First Scheduled Award, we will assume that the student completed the same ratio of the academic year (24 credit hours at College of the Redwoods) as the percentage of the First Scheduled Award utilized at the prior school.

Prior school disbursed $2,007 of a $5,350 Scheduled Award
$2,007 x 24 / $5,350 = 9 credits assumed earned at the prior school

Impact on Future Summer Aid Awards

Starting with the 2011 Summer Semester: We must fully implement the new Pell Grant Regulations starting with the 2011 summer semester. We will look at BOTH your 2010-2011 FAFSA AND your 2011-2012 FAFSA and utilize whichever year that results in the HIGHEST Pell Grant award for summer. This means that currently enrolled students who are interested in accelerating their degree completion dates by taking summer courses should submit their FAFSA before the regular priority application deadline.

The new regulations allow a student to receive funds from a second scheduled award within an award year if the student is enrolled for credit hours attributable to a second academic year within that award year. The student need not have completed a full academic year's worth of coursework prior to the payment period in which the second scheduled award funds are paid. For example, a student earned 9 credits in the fall semester and 9 credits in the spring semester. Since College of the Redwoods uses 24 credits to define the academic year and places summer in the concluding award year, the student would need to enroll for more than 6 credits in the summer term to be paid funds out of the second scheduled award (6 credits to finish the first academic year's worth of work, plus some additional number of credits that count toward the second academic year). This student would be paid any remaining first scheduled award funds plus the amount of second scheduled award funds needed to make up the payment for the term as calculated under the appropriate Pell formula.

In addition, when the award will be made from a second scheduled award, at least one credit hour in the payment period must be attributable to the student’s next academic year.