FAFSA, SAI and Pell Grant · guide
Who is eligible for a Pell Grant in 2026-27
A student is eligible for a 2026-27 Pell Grant when three things line up: undergraduate study toward a first bachelor's degree or a certificate, a FAFSA on file, and family finances under one of the federal lines. The simplest line decides the full $7,395: 175% of the 2024 poverty guideline, $54,600 of adjusted gross income for a family of four in the 48 states and DC, or 225% for a single parent, $58,095 for a household of three. Parents who did not file a 2024 return at all, or an independent student who did not, also unlock the full award. Families above those lines qualify through the Student Aid Index, which must stay at or under 6,656 for a sliding award, or reach the minimum award of $739.50 if income is under a second, higher line. A new limit applies from July 1, 2026: an index of 14,790 or more rules Pell out completely. The mini-tool shows the lines for your family size and state.
Your Pell income lines for 2026-27
Maximum Pell up to an AGI of (175% of poverty)
$54,600
| Minimum Pell line (275%) | $85,800 |
| 2024 poverty guideline | $31,200 |
| Award at or under the first line | $7,395 |
Above the first line the award depends on the SAI; the minimum award also needs an SAI under twice the maximum Pell.
Eligibility comes down to a handful of gates: the kind of student you are, the income on a 2024 tax return compared with a poverty line, and the Student Aid Index.
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The gates before any number is checked
Income is the part everyone asks about, yet a student can fail Pell before income is looked at. The grant is for undergraduates: the law limits it to the time needed to finish a first bachelor's degree, and a student who already holds one is generally out. A certificate program at an eligible school counts as undergraduate study, and short programs of 8 to 14 weeks now have their own route through Workforce Pell. The student must also file the FAFSA, because Pell is decided only from the results the Department sends back after processing.
Time is a gate too. Lifetime Pell use is capped at the equivalent of 12 full-time semesters (20 U.S.C. 1070a(d)), and each year of full-time Pell uses one sixth of that. A student returning after a long break should check how much of the allowance is left before counting on another year of grants.
The income lines, family size by family size
The FSA guide sets eligibility with percentages of the poverty guideline. For 2026-27 it uses the 2024 guidelines, $15,060 for the first person and $5,380 for each additional person in the 48 states and DC, and compares them with 2024 AGI. Each threshold is rounded to the nearest dollar before the comparison.
| Family size | Full award, 175% | Full award, single parent, 225% | Minimum award, dependent, 275% | Minimum award, dependent, single parent, 325% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | $35,770 | $45,990 | $56,210 | $66,430 |
| 3 | $45,185 | $58,095 | $71,005 | $83,915 |
| 4 | $54,600 | $70,200 | $85,800 | $101,400 |
| 5 | $64,015 | $82,305 | $100,595 | $118,885 |
| 6 | $73,430 | $94,410 | $115,390 | $136,370 |
Family size means the people counted on the FAFSA: for a dependent student, the student, the parents and the others they support; for an independent student, the student, a spouse and their dependents. One more person moves every line up by $9,415 at the 175% level, which is why an accurate household count is worth more than any other single answer on the form.
Two shortcuts to the full award
The first shortcut is filing status. When the parents of a dependent student did not file a 2024 federal return, the guide sets the index at -1,500, skips the formula and returns the maximum Pell. Both parents must be non-filers. The same rule applies to an independent student and, if married, the spouse. A family that was not required to file and did not is treated differently from a family that filed with a small income, even if their earnings were similar.
The second shortcut is the income line. A filer whose AGI is above zero and at or under the line for the household receives the maximum Pell, and the index is held at zero or below. Take a single mother of two with $52,000 of AGI: her line at 225% for three people is $58,095, so she qualifies for the full $7,395 as an independent student, with an index of -1,500. Who counts as a single parent follows the guide's appendix: an unmarried filer using head of household status, or a filer who claimed the earned income tax credit, among other cases.
Above the lines: the index decides
A family over the full-award line still has two paths. If the index is no higher than the maximum Pell minus the minimum award, 6,656 this year, the award equals $7,395 minus the index. Married parents of five with $70,000 of AGI sit above their full-award line of $64,015; their index comes to 1,059 and the student's grant to about $6,336. The Pell Grant calculator runs that step for any household.
If the index is higher, the minimum award of $739.50 remains possible for a family whose AGI is under the minimum-award line for its situation. That safety net now has a ceiling. Since July 1, 2026, a student whose index reaches twice the maximum Pell, 14,790 for 2026-27, cannot receive any Pell Grant that year, even with income under a minimum line. The rule is most likely to reach families with large assets relative to their income, because assets push the index up without touching AGI. The 2026 Pell changes page covers that rule and the others the 2025 law added.
Checking your own case in four steps
Start with the return. Find line 11 of the 2024 Form 1040 for the parents of a dependent student, or for yourself and a spouse if you are independent, and add any foreign earned income you excluded. If nobody in that group filed, stop there: the award is the maximum.
Next, count the household the way the FAFSA does and pick your situation in the mini-tool: dependent with two parents, dependent with a single parent, or one of the three independent cases. Compare your AGI with the first line it shows. At or under it, the answer is the full $7,395 for full-time study, and the work is done.
Above the first line, estimate the index. A rough figure is enough to tell which zone you are in: zero to 6,656 means a sliding award, 6,657 to 14,789 means the minimum award only if AGI is under the second line, and 14,790 or more means no Pell this year. Independent students without children face the tightest second line, 275% of poverty, $41,415 for one person, while an independent single parent of two can earn up to $103,280 and still reach the minimum.
Last, check the conditions that sit outside the formula: a first bachelor's degree not yet earned, semesters left in the lifetime allowance, and outside grants that stay below the cost of attendance. A student who clears all four steps should see a Pell line on every offer from an eligible school.
Details that shift your line
State of legal residence matters because Alaska and Hawaii have their own guidelines. A family of four in Hawaii keeps the full award up to $62,790 of AGI, against $54,600 in the 48 states. U.S. territories and addresses abroad use the 48-state figures.
Foreign income now counts. For Pell determinations from the 2026-27 year, foreign income excluded from U.S. tax is added to AGI before the comparison with the lines (Public Law 119-21, section 83001). A family living abroad that reported little U.S. AGI could find itself above a line it used to clear.
Finally, eligibility is not the same as the money that arrives. The figures here describe a full-time, full-year award. A school pays less for part-time enrollment, and no Pell is paid for a period in which state, school and private grants already reach the full cost of attendance. The formula behind every threshold is in the FSA SAI and Pell Grant Eligibility Guide, and the SAI calculator shows how the index itself is built.