“This decision is about empowering students and giving them the flexibility and support needed to achieve their goals,” said Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. “Expanding access to the Pell program, so that students who need additional resources can graduate more quickly and with less debt, is the right thing to do.”

Congress approved the restoration of year-round Pell in the spending bill it passed last month — delivering on a longtime priority of advocates for access to student financial aid. But institutions needed guidance from the department on how the program would be implemented. The department recommended that, unless a student had remaining eligibility from the current award year, colleges pay out money from the 2017-18 grant for students attending classes this summer.

Year-round Pell allows students to receive up to 150 percent of a regular grant award over the course of the academic year so that they can continue taking classes in the summer and finish their degrees faster than they would otherwise.