NEW LIMIT ON HOW MANY SEMESTERS YOU MAY RECEIVE A FEDERAL PELL GRANT In December 2011, President Obama signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012 (Public Law 112-74). This law has significantly impacted the Pell Grant Program. Beginning with the 2012-2013 academic year, students are now limited to 12 full-time equivalent semesters or 600% (100% per academic year) of Pell Grant eligibility during their lifetime. This change affects all students regardless of when or where they received their first Pell Grant. Students who have already used 600% of their Pell Grant eligibility will no longer be eligible to receive a Pell Grant as of Summer 2012. HOW DO I KNOW IF THIS AFFECTS ME? If you have attended college for longer than 5 years , receiving the Pell Grant each year, you are likely to exhaust (or have already exhausted) your lifetime limit of 12 semesters of Pell Grant eligibility during the 2012-2013 school year. If you have attended college and received the Pell Grant for 3 years or less you will likely not surpass the lifetime limit during the 2012-2013 school year. Whether you have used all of your Pell Grant eligibility or only half, please be conscious about the lifetime limit of the Pell Grant when changing majors and/or scheduling classes. CAN I SEE MY LIFETIME PELL GRANT USED? You may view your percentage of Pell Grant used by logging into www.NSLDS.ed.gov. Your ‘Lifetime Eligibility Used’ percentage will be displayed in the ‘Grants’ section. HOW IS THE PERCENTAGE USED CALCULATED? The percentages are based on the annual full-time award. For example, students who had a Pell award for the 2011-2012 academic year and attended 12 or more credits in each semester (Fall and Spring), would have used 100% of that year’s award. If you only attended 9 credits for two semesters, your percentage used for the academic year would be 75%, etc. WHAT AID CAN I RECEIVE IF I NO LONGER CAN GET PELL? The loss of Pell Grant funding does not mean the loss all student aid eligibility. Student aid that you may continue to be eligible for includes TAP, Federal Direct Student Loans, Perkins Loans, Alternative Loans (private education loans), Federal Work-study and various non-Lehman College scholarships and grants (click here). You may want to make use of Academic Management Services’ (AMS) monthly payment plan. Information about this service can be obtained by calling 1-800-635-0120 or visiting http://www.tuitionpay.com/. I HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS, WHO DO I CONTACT? Lehman College students may contact us at financial.aid@lehman.cuny.edu, or contact the Department of Education directly at 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243).