How to Collect a Pell Grant After the Disbursement Date
The maximum Pell grant amount was $5,500 for the 2010-11 school year. The amount depends on your financial needs, educational expenses and status as a full-time or half-time student. In addition, your school usually makes the decision regarding when to disburse the grant.
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Instructions
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Late Disbursement
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Contact your school and ask why you have not yet received the grant. If the school has received the Pell grant fund late in the school year, they can send you the grant even if the school year has passed.
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Inform the school that you are waiting for payment and that you were eligible to receive the grant so they do not charge you interest for nonpayment. Give your school all necessary information, such as your name, major and a contact phone or email.
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Call the school regularly to ask whether they have received the payment. As long as you have an updated FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), the government requires the school to send you the payment regardless of whether it received the grant late.
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Wait until the school informs you that it has received the funds. Check the payment status on your school's website regularly.
Retroactive Payment
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Submit an updated FAFSA to the school where you are enrolled.
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Determine if you qualified for any grant payments in the most recent awarding period. For example, if you are enrolled in the summer term and you also qualified to receive the grant for the previous fall term, but you never received it, the school can make retroactive payments according to the amount of time you were in school.
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Approach the school administration or the financial aid department in your college and inform them that you were eligible to receive a Pell grant the last term but you didn't.
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Show them necessary documentation that proves your eligibility, such as the letter the government sent letting you know it approved your grant.
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Show proof that you did not receive the payment. You can show your bank account balance, your school balance or any other documentation that you did not receive the grant, such as a copy of a check showing that you made the payments to the school with your own money instead of the grant.
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Give the financial aid department a copy of your class schedule for the most recent semester. You must also provide documentation that you took the required number of hours. Your transcript has this information on it.
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Inform the school administration or financial aid department where to deposit the grant. Give them all necessary information, such as the bank routing number, account number and your complete name. Wait for the school to deposit the grant in your account.
Late Checks
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Contact your school's financial aid department, or the department responsible for Pell grant payments, and let them know you missed your check. You must do so within 20 days from the disbursement date. If you do so during this period, the school will pay you the entire amount you should have received.
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Provide all necessary information the school may request, such as your address or bank account information. If it has been more than 20 days, you may still receive part of the payment if you have outstanding charges for tuition, other fees and miscellaneous expenses such as room and board.
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Inform the school about any outstanding charges you have. Let them know it has been more than 20 days since the disbursement date and explain that you still have not been able to pay your school-related expenses. In this case, the school must send you the payment for the amount you owe the school.
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Give the school your address. The school may choose to grant the award in the next period via mail. Wait for the check and once you receive it, make all necessary payments.
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Tips & Warnings
Do not try to get a payment for the last semester or year if you did not qualify to receive a payment during that time.
