The new Grow PA Grant Program begins with the 2025-26 academic year. Pennsylvania resident students enrolled in Penn College's majors who have not yet completed the requirements for a bachelor-degree program are potentially eligible for grants of up to $5,000 per year for a maximum of four academic years!

Penn College is the only four-year institution in Pennsylvania where all discipline-specific associate- and bachelor-degree programs are pre-qualified.

Grant recipients must commit to work in Pennsylvania after graduation, within the in-demand occupation, for the number of years equal to the number of academic years for which they received the grant.

It is important to understand that grant recipients who do not satisfy the work requirement will be required to repay the entire Grow PA Grant.

To be eligible, recipients must:

• Have submitted a 2025-26 FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)
• Be a current Pennsylvania resident
• Maintain Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress (for federal programs)
• Have yet to complete the requirements for a bachelor's degree at any college
• Maintain at least half-time enrollment (6 or more credits/semester)
• Sign a Master Promissory Note specific to the Grow PA Grant Program, agreeing to repay all Grow PA Grant funds received plus any interest if the work requirement is not met

Funding is limited, so don't delay! If you meet all eligibility criteria and will be enrolled in a discipline-specific associate- or bachelor-degree program at Penn College during the Fall 2025 and/or Spring 2026 semesters, submit your application as soon as possible from PHEAA's Grow PA Grant site. Once you complete the application, submit it via PHEAA's Account Access site . You will need to create an account on the site if you don't already have one.

PHEAA recommends students who meet all eligibility criteria to submit their 2025-26 FAFSA before they apply for the Grow PA Grant.

Toward the end of August, PHEAA provided Penn College with a list of 2025-26 potential awardees, and instructed us to review it to ensure awardees meet all eligibility criteria, and then return the list to PHEAA.

In late October, the Financial Aid Team added Fall '25 Grow PA Grant awards to eligible students' accounts/bills and emailed awardees with additional important information about final disbursement.

PHEAA provides the following reasons why a Grow PA Grant will need repaid:

• The recipient shall enter repayment status should they fail to satisfy their degree requirements. Recipients who fail to satisfy their degree requirements shall be provided a 6-month grace period.
• The recipient shall enter repayment status should they either fail to document or fail to satisfy their employment service obligation within the time period allotted. The recipient shall enter repayment status on the first day of the next calendar month (or no earlier than 30 days from conversion) after the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency verifies that they have failed to fulfill the employment service obligation.
• The recipient shall enter repayment status should they request to convert their grant to a loan because they decided they will not enter employment in an in-demand occupation, will not be a Pennsylvania resident, or will not be employed within the Commonwealth.

Questions? PHEAA provides numerous FAQs about the Grow PA Grant program.