<p>Pell grant? I don't have to pay back right?
May I use the money for personal use?<br>
What if I already bought all my books and everything else. Can I keep the money and saved it in the bank for future use? My dad told me that, it is not alright and I might be sued/whatever. Is that true?. What happened if I just saved it in my bank account? Will they not give me my other checks? Will they find out? </p>
<p>Please help me because my dad wants me to spend all the money now and I don't really want to.</p>
<p>Usually the PELL is sent to school to pay tuition and student fees first . Then , the remainder is sent at the end of the school year to the student .</p>
<p>Then. the remainder? is it mine now?
Well, all the fees are already paid and my dad bought me all the books I need. So I was thinking what to do with the money that the school sent me.</p>
<p>maybe I am not taling about pell grant. Its the FAFSA thingy, maybe it is pell grant.. what do you mean at the end of the school year? they will send me two checks. I think. every semester.. I am confused.</p>
<p>If you have a little surplus monies from the Pell Grant or from a Grant run by your State, then you get the surplus back in a check. The rules behind fin aid disbursement vary from school to school, so call the Bursar of you school to find this out.</p>
<p>When you receive that money. Take inventory and see if you need any Printer Cartridges, Spiral Notebooks, Highlighters, TI 83 plus Calculators....whatever you might truly need which pertains to your schooling. </p>
<p>Go out somewhere cheap and buy what you truly need. Save the receipts because that is proof you were being a honest person with those monies.</p>
<p>Then, please put the rest of the money away and you can use it for the next semester...or you can even maybe get lucky and use it to take something at your local Community College during the summer on the cheap for transfer, like American HIstory 101 or something.</p>
<p>Oh shucks, I forgot something...</p>
<p>I recently learned that you can sometimes speak with the fin aid office and see if they can sorta hold over your surplus aid so it can be applied for the folowing semester. You can get a sweet deal on book vouchers and whatnot if your school allows it.</p>
<p>well, I am actually in a community college. I had fee waivers too. So I dont pay any registration fees. </p>
<p>So do they check if the person actually spend the money for school stuff? It's a good thing right, If I just save the money?</p>
<p>Its because my uncle said that government money are not supposed to be spend for personal use and they can take it away from me or they wont give me anything anymore next semester. I am really just afraid.</p>
<h1>2 I honestly do not know if "they" check to see if you went out and bought yourself (for example) some new ink pens or something. However, those are Government funds and some people act dishonest about that sort of thing-which is bad. Therefore, you should just obey the rule about using that money for things pertaining to schooling and save your receipts to be on the safe side.Putting the rest of the money away for the summer or even the next semester is not a bad idea at all.</h1>
<h1>3 Do not be afraid at all. Your Uncle seems smart. He just seems like he wants to make sure you are alright.</h1>
<p>I think your Uncle is smart because sometimes students obtain a little surplus fin aid and go crazy with it. As long as you are nice and honest, you will be cool.</p>
<p>You are free to spend the grant money any way you like. Nobody will check, or care. As far as when the money is available to you, just check with the financial aid or cashier's office.</p>
<p>colorpurple -- the money that you are given (whether in grants or loans) is meant to pay for tuition, fees, books, educational expenses and cost of living. cost of living includes things like rent, transportation, utilities, groceries, personal goods. you are free to spend the money in whatever way you feel you need to. The only things that will get you into trouble were if you were to give the money away (to another person or charity) or if you were to use it for something clearly not educationally related (carribean cruise). Otherwise, it is yours to use as you see fit to further your education.</p>
<p>hsmomstef
Some folks, where I went to University before, would sorta disappear when they obtained their surplus fin aid checks. And come back, just like a week before mid terms, all tan or with fancy watches and clothes and stuff. </p>
<p>colorpurple...
seems like a nice kid and I hope she does not do that. My one younger brother, James, would tell you to hide that money in your sock drawer for later on:)</p>
<p>Hsmomstef, what is the authority for your statement that a grant or loan recipient will "get in trouble" if the money is spent one way instead of another? I don't believe that is correct.</p>
<p>The Pell Grant, for example, is a government entitlement that is paid upon a showing of need. The applicant shows need, then the government pays the money. That is the end of it. There is neither an obligation for the applicant to spend it in any particular way, nor a government enforcement bureau or process to monitor how it is spent.</p>
<p>How Pell Grant funds are spent is a non-issue in 99.99% of the cases, because the Grant is only around $4000, the money is paid directly to the school and used to satisfy school charges, and there is rarely any left for the applicant to receive. In the rare case, such as OP's, where there is a balance of the grant money left in the hands of the school, then that money can be received by the applicant and spent on anything, including lottery tickets or caribbean cruises.</p>
<p>the information came from a FAQ poster at my school's FA office, but I have also read in numerous places (including the us government site on FA) that Pell grants can be used for educational purposes. I do know that a student here used a Pell Grant as a down payment on a car and got into trouble. You are right, it is usually a non-issue because of the income level of the applicant -- but the OP was looking for specific info to share with others.</p>
<p>To make sure I understand, you heard that a student had a cash balance in his university account after the Pell Grant was paid, the student went to the cashier's office and got a check for the balance, the student then endorsed the check and used it directly as a down payment for a car purchase, and then someone in authority noticed this and caused the student some trouble? Have I got that right?</p>
<p>dt123 -- what I was told by a friend of the person who got into trouble was that the person in question received money back from the school (after tuition and fees were deducted) and that money was direct deposited into their account. They went to buy a car and in the haggling that went on -- they mentioned that they could afford a larger down payment and a nicer car thanks to the federal government. that they had money from a pell grant that they could use. an older adult overheard the discussion and managed to gather enough information to report this student to the school's FA office. I do not know the exact outcome -- since transportation is considered a living expense. I think the real issue that concerned the person who reported it was that due to the amount of money they got -- they could get more than what was necessary for transportation. and I am sure that there was more than just Pell Grants involved (most likely other grants and loans) but the words used by the student referred specifically to the federal government and Pell Grant and that is what set off the trouble.</p>
<p>The community college sent me another money for cal grant.. I am feeling guilty. I don't know what to do with the money. It's cool but at the same time makes me worried. I mean, free money. God bless America!!!</p>
<p>If you don't need the money to survive, you could consider cancelling some loans if you have them.... </p>
<p>Once you take your refund check from your university, you can spend it all on shoes and candy if you want. it's an entitlement, and frankly, it's not that much.</p>