Assuming that I go part-time student, will the amount of FAFSA that I am eligible to be cut in half? Or would it depend on your college?
You do not get an amount of FAFSA. FAFSA determines your eligibility for Pell grants and federal loans.
But the answer is yes.
I don’t know the exact particulars but part time students get lower Pell grants, etc. Google “part time Pell” for more info. Check out the FAQ on the FAFSA webpage.
Thank You alooknac. My next question is, if I used my FAFSA for summer instead of spring, and my university says 3 credits is part time and 6 credits is full time, would my FAFSA still adjust accordingly?
Summer is a whole other ball game. At the college where I worked Pell grants did not work for summer and yet sometimes they could juggle things so Pell did apply in summer after all. Definitely a question for the college’s FinAid dept.
Pell grants will work for summer as long as the student has eligibility remaining for the year (if summer is the trailer semester). If there is no annual eligibility remaining, there will not be a Pell grant in summer.
In the OP’s scenario: FAFSA does not give aid - it only determines eligibility for federal grants & the EFC is used to determine the components of the overall financial aid package offered by the school. For Pell, it doesn’t matter what the school considers part or full time … what matters is the number of credits in which you are enrolled for the semester. If summer is a trailer (that is, part of 2016-2017 award year), and if you have not used 100% of your Pell grant for 2016-2017, you would be eligible to receive a Pell grant for the number of credits in which you are enrolled - unless you are only eligible for a reduced Pell grant because you used your full annual award already.
Let’s say you took 12 credits in fall & your annual Pell grant award is $5,600. You would have received a grant of $2,800 in fall. You have $2,800 remaining for 2016-2017. If you don’t take any classes in spring, and if the school uses the 2016-2017 FAFSA for summer awards, you are eligible for UP TO $2,800 in the summer. If you take 1-5 credits, your Pell award is $700; 6-8 credits=$1,400; 9-11 credits=$2,100; 12+ credits=$2,800.
The formula for determining loans is a bit more complicated, and you will need to contact your school to find out how much loan you qualify for in summer … it should be the amount remaining for your annual award based on year in school, but if part time is 3 credits, the EFC will be recalculated & will be lower … meaning you may not have eligibility for all of the remaining annual loan award because of the COA cap.