How the Pell Grant Works At NWTI
How does a student know how much Pell Grant he/she has been awarded for the 2019/2020 school year?
Once
a student’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) has been
processed (including verification), the student will receive a Financial
Aid Offer Notification letter, along with the Terms and Conditions of
the Pell Award, from the Financial Aid Office at Northwest Technical
Institute. The notification letter will include the amount the student
is eligible to receive for the school year based on full-time enrollment
at Northwest Technical Institute.
My
Financial Aid Offer Notification letter stated that the student was
award $xxxx.xx for each semester based on full-time enrollment. The
student is currently enrolled in 12 or more credit hours, but the
student is receiving less than the full amount of Pell Grant for the
semester. How is that possible?
Enrollment status
for financial aid is defined by federal regulation and may differ from
definitions used by other school offices or other colleges and agencies.
Because Northwest Technical Institute offers only diploma programs and
does not offer associate or bachelor degrees, a student’s actual Pell
Grant award is based on a clock to credit conversion. To determine a
student’s enrollment status for his/her actual Pell Grant award for the
semester, the total number of clock hours is divided by 37.5 (the number
37.5 is defined in Federal Student Aid regulations).
How
does this clock to credit conversion work? For example, the student is
enrolled in every class for the 1st semester of the Practical Nursing
program. The student’s Course Registration Form and schedule says that
the student is enrolled in 28 credit hours. The student’s Financial Aid
Offer Notification letter says that the student is eligible for
$3,098.00 for the semester, but the student’s authorization from the
Financial Aid Office list an amount less than $3,098.00. How is this
possible?
The 2019/2020 Northwest Technical
Institute Catalog and Student Handbook contains a course listing for
every diploma program offered at Northwest Technical Institute. The
course listing includes the number of clock hours and number of credit
hours that a student will earn once he/she completes a particular class.
For example, a student enrolled in the 1st semester of the Practical
Nursing program will take Anatomy & Physiology. According to the
catalog, Anatomy & Physiology is 93 clock hours and 6 credit hours.
When calculating a student’s Pell award for the semester, only clock
hours are used in the calculation. So, a student enrolled in every class
in the 1st semester of the Practical Nursing program is taking a total
of 438 clock hours for the semester. The clock to credit hour conversion
is used to determine the student’s enrollment status and the amount of
Pell award for the semester. To determine the student’s enrollment
status for the semester, 438 (number of clock hours) is divided by 37.5.
The resulting number, 11.68, is based on the clock to credit hour
conversion. Numbers are not rounded up in the conversion. Therefore, for
financial aid purposes, the student is taking 11.68 credit hours and
has an enrollment status of ¾ time. Because the student is considered ¾
time based on the clock to credit hour conversion, the student’s Pell
award must be adjusted to meet his/her enrollment status of ¾ time.
Based on the award amount for the year of $6,195.00, the student is
eligible for a scheduled award of $4,646.00 (75% or ¾ of the semester’s
Pell award).