I am planning to file an appeal for the lifetime max. I have no idea if it will be approved or not. The biggest issue is that I previously received an associate degree that required 73 credits and very few transferred because it was a career specific degree. Also some bad decisions when I was younger, long before the associate program.
The thing I cannot seem to figure out is if my appeal is denied can I still receive loans? I have found little information and none is very clear.
I only received federal loans for 3 semesters. I have read that the loan lifetime limits are based on your current program and not all semesters. But I have read antidotes elsewhere that disagree.
Thank you for any info.
You cannot appeal the lifetime Pell max. It’s a federal regulation, and there are no appeals once you have hit the lifetime max. You can receive loans even if you’ve hit your Pell lifetime max.
The lifetime Pell max is different from the credit max for your degree program, which it sounds like you might have hit. If you lost Pell because of that - not because you hit your lifetime max - you can appeal, but you may or may not regain your eligibility. If that appeal is denied, you will also not be able to get federal loans (you can still borrow private loans). If your appeal is granted and you become eligible for aid at your school, you will be eligible for Pell up to the annual award amount and lifetime limit, and you will be eligible for loans based on your year in school up to the lifetime limit.
To find out if you’ve hit your Pell lifetime max, log into www.nslds.ed.gov. You can see your lifetime Pell usage there, as well as your loans.
Thank you for the reply. It actually turned out that I have not met either max yet. I am a returning student and they had not checked my academic progress since I re-enrolled. Once they did that I was fine. I spoke with them yesterday.
Your reply did help me figure out where I stand though. I am close to the max that the school allows for the program. Hopefully an appeal when I do reach it will work out. As for my lifetime pell I am at 395%.
Thank you for the reply.
Glad it worked out for you!
Here is a chart for your loan limits:
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized#how-much