The Pell Grant allows you to receive money for college. This money is not a loan, and you will never have to pay it back. The Pell Grant is awarded based on need, and not everybody qualifies for it, of course. In order to receive a Pell Grant, you need to fill out a Pell Grant application, which is essentially the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known commonly as the FAFSA. If you are in high school, the FAFSA can be obtained from the counseling office. It is often easier to fill out a FAFSA if you do so online, however. You can fill one out any time after July 1st of each year.
This Pell Grant application will provide the U.S. Department of Education with the information that it needs in order to determine if you are eligible for the Pell Grant or any other federally funded programs to help you pay for college. Each year that you spend in college, you will need to update your FAFSA. You will provide information about the income of your parents, if you are considered a dependent, as well as information about your grades and your financial needs. The FAFSA can be found at fafsa.ed.gov. Fill out the entire application before you submit it. If you have already submitted a FAFSA, you can make changes to it each year by reviewing step 3 of the application.
The FAFSA will determine a number known as your Estimated Family Contribution, or EFC, using the answers that you provide on the form. This number is used to determine if you are eligible for the Pell Grant or any other Federally funded programs to assist you. If you are eligible for a Pell Grant, the EFC will be used to determine the Pell Grant amount that you can be provided. The lower your EFC, the more you can be provided, with the best case scenario being an EFC of zero. Currently, the maximum EFC that you can receive and still get a Pell Grant is 5,273.
Factors that heavily influence your eligibility are your parent's income if you are a dependent, whether or not you are a dependent, if you have dependents, and your family income. You also are not eligible if you aren't a legal resident, if you are a graduate student, or if you are in default on a federal student loan.
The Pell Grant program is the largest federal educational grant program in existence today, and while most students have at least heard of its availability, a vast proportion don’t have a clear idea of how to become eligible, how to apply, and what they can expect to receive in terms of aid if they do eventually become eligible. The good news is that the Pell Grant can be obtained with relative ease by any student who demonstrates what the Department of Education considers to be an “exceptional” financial need. This is measured primarily by the EFC, or expected family contribution, and is supposed to act as an indicator of a family’s ability to contribute money towards their child’s college education.
To qualify students must have an EFC that falls below 5,273 for the 2010-11 school year, as this threshold was increased from 4,617 in 2009-10 as a result of the passing of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, or SAFRA. EFC is calculated after the FAFSA has been completed and certain information has been inserted into a predefined formula that pays reference to certain factors. These include both the student’s and parent’s income, the size of the household, and the number of family members who are attending postsecondary institutions. Other Pell Grant eligibility requirements that students should be aware of include the fact that they should be enrolled as an undergraduate student, and that they should not be serving jail time in a federal or state penal institution. Students who may be enrolled in certain graduate or professional programs may be able to qualify, although most Pell Grants are given to students who have not received their first bachelor’s degree.
Applying for the Pell Grant is no different than applying for other forms of federal student aid such as federal Stafford Loans, and the Perkins Loan, as the FAFSA is the official Pell Grant application that students should complete in order to become eligible. Completing the FAFSA can be done online, or via its written counterpart. The online FAFSA can be completed at the website fafsa.ed.gov, while a written copy of the application can be obtained by calling the phone number 1-800-4-FED-AID. It is important to note that the earlier you can submit the FAFSA the better, as most financial aid is allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis. The earliest you can go ahead and submit the FAFSA is January first, and the latest you can submit one is June thirtieth. The maximum Pell Grant amount is now set at 5,550 dollars for the 2010-11 award year, although the vast majority of college students only receive about fifty percent of this maximum amount. Contact your school’s financial aid department if you need more Pell Grant information that may cater to your own particular circumstances, and credentials.
