By Diedra Eby
Eligibility for Pell Grants can be found here. Screenshot taken from studentaid.gov.
According to David Donderewicz, PCC’s Executive Director of Financial Aid and Scholarships, the college disbursed the fourth most Pell Grants in the state among public institutions.
The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships (OFAS) states its mission “is to make college accessible to EVERY student.” So far this year, PCC has disbursed over 40 million dollars to more than 9,500 students with nearly 35 million of that money in the form of gift aid such as grants and scholarships.
Stateuniversity.com puts Pima Community College as among the ten largest community colleges in the nation “with an annual enrollment of over 75,000 students.” The One Big Beautiful Bill Act has made some administrative and operational changes for the 2026-2027 year concerning the Pell Grant and FASFA.
Donderewicz notes that we are currently awaiting final ruling. These are the biggest changes that will affect our students:
- Pell Grant Eligibility Changes
- The calculation for Pell eligibility has changed to use foreign income and cap the Student Aid Index for Pell eligibility.
- Students who receive non-federal aid in the amount of their entire cost of attendance may no longer be eligible for the Pell Grant on top of those awards.
- Pell for Workforce Program – Pell Grant becomes eligible for shorter programs.
- Direct Loan changes
- Students will no longer be eligible for the full annual loan limit if they are not enrolled full-time for the academic year.
- There is a lower annual limit and lifetime cap of $65,000 for a Parent Plus loan.
PCC is creating a new webpage to keep students abreast of these changes as they become available. OFAS has also modified their FAFASA Welcome Letter, which will start being sent out in April 2027, to highlight these changes. Donderewicz states they will also do more targeted outreach to the students affected by these changes.
The first major changes take effect July 1, 2026.