Volume 1

Student Eligibility

Introduction

This volume of the Federal Student Aid Handbook discusses the eligibility requirements for student and parent borrowers and your responsibilities to ensure that recipients qualify for their aid awards.


Sources of Information

There are many factors you must consider when reviewing an application for aid from the FSA programs, such as whether the student is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, whether the applicant is making satisfactory academic progress, and whether he or she has a defaulted FSA loan. To answer these questions, you will receive information about the student from different sources, including the Department of Education’s Central Processing System (CPS) for financial aid applications and the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS).

Throughout the year, the Department of Education (The Department) provides updates for schools in the form of Dear Colleague Letters (DCLs). These and other releases, such as Federal Register notices and electronic announcements, contain system updates and technical guidance, and are available on the FSA Partner Connect website (fsapartners.ed.gov).

The FSA Handbook does not cover the operation of software. For schools using software provided by the Department, there are technical references on FSA Partner Connect that explain how the software operates. Schools using third-party software should consult the vendor’s reference materials for technical guidance.

Knowledge Center’s Software & Other Tools

Software:

  • Direct Loan Tools

  • EDconnect

  • EDExpress for Windows

  • SSCR for Windows

Technical References and User Guides for:

  • CPS (ISIR, Summary of Changes, etc.)

  • COD

  • Electronic Data Exchange

  • EDExpress Packaging

  • Federal Registers

  • Electronic Announcements

  • Dear Partner/Colleague Letters

  • FSA Assessment modules

COVID-19 Guidance and Waivers

The Department of Education recognizes that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created many unique challenges for postsecondary institutions. The Department has provided a variety of special guidance and regulatory flexibilities due to the President’s declaration of the COVID-19 national emergency on March 13, 2020. In addition, Congress has passed legislation offering relief from certain statutory requirements related to the Title IV, HEA programs.

Generally speaking, the COVID-19 flexibilities and waivers remain in effect until the COVID-19 national emergency is declared over. As of the date of publication of this Volume of the FSA Handbook, the COVID-19 national emergency is still in place. For more details, see the Electronic Announcement of January 15, 2021, and the websites listed below.

For COVID-19 related guidance, including waivers and exemptions of normally applicable Title IV rules, please see the following webpages:

FAFSA Simplification Act

In December, 2020, the FAFSA Simplification Act was enacted into law as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. The FAFSA Simplification Act amended Section 484 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), making three important changes to student eligibility criteria:

  • Elimination of the prohibition on receiving Title IV aid for students with drug-related convictions (for more on this change see chapter 1);

  • Elimination of the requirement, for Title IV eligibility purposes, that male students register with the Selective Service system before the age of 26 (for more on this change, see chapter 1); and

  • Elimination of the Subsidized Usage Limit Applies (SULA)/150% rule for Direct Loan eligibility (for more on this change, see chapter 5).

Recent Changes

Here are some of the significant changes to Volume 1 for 2022-2023:

Chapter 1:

  • Clarified guidance on eligibility for students enrolled in graduate programs, including students enrolled in graduate programs who don’t meet the regulatory definition of a graduate student, and dual degree/combined undergraduate/graduate level programs

  • Updated citations to recent documents on the Knowledge Center describing passing scores on ATB tests

  • Clarified SAP guidance on maximum timeframe and evaluation points

  • Clarified Q&A items to SAP Practices FAQs—duration of warning or probation status and treatment of transfer students’ accepted credits.

  • Added citation and cross references to the new definition of full-time student

  • Described special SAR codes involved in the elimination of the prohibition on receiving Title IV due to drug convictions and added updated citation of 2022-23 SAR Comment Code Guide

  • Clarified and updated guidance on incarcerated students and the upcoming changes (not yet implemented as of the date of publication of this Volume) to restore Pell eligibility for certain incarcerated students.

  • Added new section of guidance and citations on religious order student eligibility for Pell, Direct Loans and Campus-Based Programs, describing potential eligibility for students enrolled in religious orders due to the elimination of regulations which barred eligibility for such students.

  • Selective Service guidance and DCL citation added. This is the remnant of relevant Selective Service guidance after the elimination of the requirement of students to register for Selective Service as a requirement for Title IV eligibility and the elimination of what had been chapter 5 of Volume 1.

Chapter 2:

  • Updated and clarified guidance on the Battered immigrants-qualified aliens category of eligible noncitizen

  • Updated guidance on “ineligible statuses” in the “Interpreting the SAVE response” section of the chapter

  • Updated references for students who need to update or replace DHS documents

  • Provided guidance for Afghan Special Immigrants

Chapter 3:

  • Expanded upon existing guidance for handling UEH flag 2. Added DCL citation to GEN-15-05.

(Old) Chapter 5:

  • Most of the guidance in this chapter has been invalidated due to the FAFSA Simplification Act—Male students who fail to register with Selective Service before the age of 26 are no longer ineligible to receive Title IV aid. The remaining discussion of relevant Selective Service considerations has been moved to Chapter 1 of this volume and the former Chapter 5 has been eliminated. The former Chapter 6 has been renumbered as the new Chapter 5.

(New) Chapter 5:

  • The former chapter 6 has been renumbered chapter 5 due to the elimination of the former chapter 5 on Selective Service.

  • Added note on Pell eligibility for incarcerated students:

    The FAFSA Simplification Act (part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021) made changes to the HEA that will restore Pell eligibility for certain individuals incarcerated in State and Federal penal institutions as of July 1, 2023. This change has not yet been implemented, and the Department will provide further guidance at a later date.

  • Added note on an upcoming change to the age qualifier for CFH (from 24 to 33):

    The FAFSA Simplification Act, which passed as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (December 2020) changes the age qualifier for CFH from 24 to 33; however, this change has not yet been implemented. We will provide guidance at a later date.

  • Updated and clarified guidance on restoring semesters of Pell eligibility for students affects by a school closure.

  • Updated and expanded guidance on updates to NSLDS per the elimination of SULA/the 150% rule. SULA repeal operational impacts described.

  • Added note on the upcoming implementation of the Consider Teachers Act of 2021, which will provide up to a three year extension of the TEACH grant service obligation window for those whose service obligation begins during or includes the COVID-19 national emergency or period of economic downturn following the emergency.

We appreciate any comments that you have on Volume 1 of the FSA Handbook. We revise the text based on questions and feedback from the financial aid community, so please reach out to us about how to improve the Handbook through the “Contact Customer Support” feature in our Partner Connect’s Help Center, clicking on “FSA Handbook” under the Topic section.

Last Modified: 07/14/2022 • Published: 03/28/2021