Introduction
This volume of the Federal Student Aid Handbook provides information to assist schools in determining student eligibility for and calculating the amount of Federal Pell Grants.
Significant Changes for 2026–27
Throughout Volume 7, all dates and award years have been updated to reflect the 2026–27 processing year. Also, where appropriate, links and publications associated with FSA’s Partner Connect and Knowledge Center have been updated.
Note: Statutory citations are to the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, as amended.
Chapter 1
We updated the “General Eligibility Requirements for Pell Grants” section to include new eligibility criteria for students enrolled in eligible workforce programs. We also added a section titled “Eligible Workforce Programs.”
Chapter 2
We added to the “Pell Grant Eligibility Criteria” section to include the new provision from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) which set a maximum Student Aid Index (SAI) for Pell Grant eligibility to twice the maximum Pell Grant amount for the applicable aid year.
The OBBBA also changed the Pell Grant eligibility criteria such that the foreign earned income exclusion amount reported on the FAFSA form is added to the AGI. That total value is then compared to the appropriate poverty level guideline to determine eligibility for Max and Min Pell Grant.
Chapter 3
We removed the “Enrollment Status” equivalency columns from the “Enrollment Intensity” example charts.
Chapter 4
We updated the guidance on rounding to allow for some additional institutional flexibility and added an example.
We also added an example under “Pell Formula 4” that is specific to an eligible workforce program.
Chapters 5 and 6
There were no substantive changes in Chapters 5 and 6.
Chapter 7
We added a section to address the OBBBA provision that a student may not receive a Pell Grant if the student also receives non-Federal grants or scholarships that meet or exceed the student’s cost of attendance (COA).
Chapter 8
There were no substantive changes in Chapter 8.
Appendix A
We removed “Appendix A: Pell Formula Summaries” from the end of the volume. It will be published as “Appendix H” in the Appendices section of the FSA Handbook at a later date.