How Do We Determine the Cost Of Attendance When a Winter Intersession Is Added To the Spring Semester?

Scenario: We award Federal Pell Grant funds for our mini winter term (intersession) which is five weeks in length. We add the intersession to the spring semester as long as the student enrolls in the spring.

Answer: For the winter mini-term, module, or intersession, any additional costs that you determine a student will incur as a direct result of attending the winter intersession should be added to the student's cost of attendance (COA). According to guidance in Volume 3, Chapter 1 of the FSA Handbook, you must count all hours taken during an intersession toward the student’s enrollment status for the combined term and all costs associated with the intersession must be included in the cost of attendance (COA).

Costs pertaining to additional tuition, fees, or books, course materials, supplies, and equipment would be appropriate to include in the student's COA. Other costs could be added to the COA as long as those costs were not already included. For example, if your COA for a student attending fall and spring terms already includes nine months of living expenses, and the winter module falls within that nine-month span, you would not necessarily add housing and food to the COA unless the student is incurring additional expenses. If the student is making additional trips to campus because of the winter intersession enrollment, and you can document how you determined the additional expense, then the transportation component of the COA may be increased by that amount.

Whatever adjustments your institution makes to the COA for students attending the winter intersession, make sure that it is addressed in your institution's policies and procedures.

Note: Effective with the 2023-24 award year, the COA component for “books and supplies” has been renamed “books, course materials, supplies, and equipment.” Additionally, effective with the 2023-24 award year, the COA components for “living expenses,” for “books, course materials, supplies, and equipment,” for “transportation,” and for “miscellaneous” are now separate cost components. See Section 472 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), as amended, [20 USC 1087LL]. 

Student Aid Reference Desk: For additional information, try the Student Aid Reference Desk. It is a central hub of all the important financial aid resources you need with direct links to legislation, regulation, Dear Colleague Letters, and other ED and NASFAA references. It is updated on a rolling basis with the latest news and changes. Search Cost of Attendance.