The board of directors of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) took action recently to provide for the temporary modification of certain program requirements of PHEAA-administered Pennsylvania student aid programs to ensure that recipients will not experience a disruption or reduction of funding due to operational changes made by postsecondary schools in response to COVID-19. Some schools have adopted operational changes that transform how higher education is delivered to students, including the widespread transition to online-only classes.
Effective March 19, the PHEAA board of directors authorized the agency to temporarily modify, suspend, or relax certain program requirements for Pennsylvania schools and students enrolled in the 2020 winter or spring term for several programs that currently assist approximately 210,000 students. The programs include the Pennsylvania State Grant Program, Institutional Assistance Grant (IAG) Program, Matching Funds Programs, Higher Education of the Disadvantaged (Act 101) Program, Higher Education for Blind or Deaf Students Program, Pennsylvania Internship Program, Ready to Succeed Scholarship (RTSS) Program, and Pennsylvania Targeted Industry Program (PA-TIP).
One example of relief would be the temporary waiver of the Pennsylvania State Grant Program's eligibility distinction between traditional in-classroom students, who currently qualify for a $4,123 maximum award, and distance education students, who currently qualify for a $3,092 maximum award, or 75% of a traditional award. This waiver would hold harmless thousands of initially in-classroom recipients who could otherwise lose their higher award amount, which has already been factored into their higher education funding plan for the year.
In order to give students and families more flexibility during the COVID-19 pandemic, PHEAA's board of directors also extended the Pennsylvania State Grant application deadline by two weeks to Friday, May 15. This deadline applies to all renewal applicants and first-time applicants who plan to enroll in colleges, universities, or a college transfer program at 2-year public or private colleges, except community colleges and designated Pennsylvania open admission institutions.
To apply for a Pennsylvania State Grant, applicants must first complete the 2020-21 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Applicants can access this form online at http://www.pheaa.org/fafsa or http://www.fafsa.gov. Completing the FAFSA online may save time and reduce application and processing errors.
In addition to completing the FAFSA, first-time applicants must also submit a completed Pennsylvania State Grant Form (SGF). First-time applicants who submit the FAFSA online will be automatically redirected to the SGF by following the on-screen prompts on the confirmation page. First-time applicants who have already submitted their FAFSA but have not completed the SGF will receive an email directing them to PHEAA's secure Account Access site for completion. Both applications are free to submit.
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