Last year, the U.S. Department of Education announced that the award window for the Federal Pell Grant would be extended to include the summer semester . This is in contrast to the previous policy, which restricted eligibility to the Fall and Spring semesters , when college students have traditionally taken the bulk of their classes. This is great news for adult learners who do not typically follow the “traditional” schedule but, instead, prefer to take courses in shorter accelerated terms with minimum breaks in-between. This accelerated schedule allows students to take more classes within the same amount of time, shortening their path to graduation. As Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said herself, “this decision is about empowering students and giving them the flexibility and support needed to achieve their goals. 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."