I think this might be a talking point from certain fake news sources to undermine Pell grants.
You have 16 APs. What were your scores on the AP exams you have taken?
My daughter was able to bring in 28 credits because of her 4 and 5 scores on the AP exams. Combined with taking a couple of summer courses, she will graduate in only 3 years, which saves a significant amount of money.
I may have been mistaken about the Pell Grant thing.
studentaid.ed.gov says “The amount you get, though, will depend on your financial need, your cost of attendance, your status as a full-time or part-time student, and your plans to attend school for a full academic year or less.”
I don’t have a verified source on whether or not schools exaggerate their cost of attendance.
UGA’s reported cost of attendance is very high many students are able to live comfortably off campus for around $21k.
I do think the COAs are inflated, but not to cause eligibility for a Pell grant. The schools would rather overestimate than underestimate and have students run out of money for toothpaste in March. Also the financial aid packages can be filled up to the COA, so students can take out loans or get WS up to that amount. And the COAs did spike three years ago when the NCAA started allowing student athletes to get a stipend up to the COA. Several schools raised their COAs by $3-4k, developed different COAs for instate and OOS students (to make up travel costs), on and off campus, etc. This was mostly done by the Power 5 conference schools, including UGa.
There is padding there, which is good news for a student trying to come in under the COA.
For my D, the CoA is calculated based on the standard double room R&B which is quite expensive. One may find it cheaper to live off campus with roommate(s). At the same time, some richer students may rent those luxury apartment on campus which are even more expensive than the R&B. So it is not an over-estimate or inflated number but one can certain live with a lower cost.