The Federal Pell Grant (Pell Grant) regulations at 34 CFR 690.10 provide for an administrative cost allowance (ACA) payment of $5.00 to each participating school for each student who receives a Pell Grant at that school for an award year. Schools may only use these funds to defray the costs of administering the Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, Federal Work-Study, and Federal Perkins Loan programs.
ACA payment amounts are not included in a school’s current funding level (CFL) but are direct payments made to a school based on its unduplicated student recipient information. A school’s total number of Pell Grant unduplicated recipients, used in the calculation of the ACA payment, includes students with at least one reported and accepted actual disbursement (“Disbursement Release Indicator” or DRI value equal to “true”) in the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System. We include a student in the calculation even if there is a full recovery of the entire Pell Grant award.
A school’s total unduplicated recipient count excludes the following students:
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Those who have been determined ineligible for a Pell Grant or rejected by the FAFSA Processing System.
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Those for whom origination records were accepted in the COD System but for whom accepted actual disbursements (DRI value equal to “true”) have not been received.
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Those for whom all actual disbursements have been rejected.
Third and Final Pell Grant Administrative Cost Allowance Payments for the 2024–25 Award Year
The third and final ACA payment for the 2024–25 award year is based on records that the COD System has processed from the date we processed the second ACA payments for the 2024–25 award year (Aug. 20, 2025) up to the date that we process the third and final ACA payments for the 2024–25 award year. We began processing the third and final ACA payments for all schools on Aug. 18, 2026.
A school’s calculated Pell Grant ACA payment will be posted in G5 as an available balance in the school’s ACA G5 award number, P063Q24####. Once posted, a school must sign in to the G5 website and process a drawdown transaction in G5 to receive the funds.
We will send an electronic statement of account (ESOA) (message class PGAS25OP) that reflects the ACA payment amount to the reporting school’s Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) mailbox. Additionally, your “School Funding Information” page on the COD website will display an ACA payment amount and other ACA-related information. This information is as follows:
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“Total Unduplicated Recipients” Field – Count of unduplicated recipients for the 2024–25 award year for the school.
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“Total Unduplicated Recipients Paid” Field – Count of unduplicated recipients for the 2024–25 award year for whom ACA has been paid.
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“Total ACA” Field – Dollar amount paid to the school to date for the 2024–25 award year.
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“Last ACA Payment Date” Field – Most current date for which an ACA payment was made for the 2024–25 award year.
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“ACA Payment History” Link – Number of Recipients, Date ACA Paid, and Amount for the first, second, and third/final ACA payments for the award year.
If your school has questions about the Pell Grant ACA payments, contact the FSA Partner and School Relations Center at 1-800-848-0978. Starting Aug. 28, 2026, the contact center is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday. You may also email CODSupport@ed.gov.
For questions about G5, contact the G5 Help Desk at 1-888-336-8930 or obsshelpdesk@ed.gov.