<p>Hello.
My parents make combined gross income of less than 50k. No property, no retirement funds, just a bit of savings. I only qualified for loans.
My friend, whose parents make roughly the same amount, and have more than 1 million dollars worth of land property (I know because he told me), qualified for quite a bit of government grants. </p>
<p>I'm not upset, i'm glad he got the grants. And I'm quite happy with my EFC and eligibility for loans. But I was just curious, how does FASFA determine one's eligibility for grants?</p>
<p>What government grants? State government grants?</p>
<p>I ask because you can get grants from 3 different sources: the federal government, the state government, and the school itself. Federal grants (the Pell grant) are for very low income students. Eligibility for state grants varies from one state to another. And eligibility for institutional (school) grants can vary wildly from one school to the next.</p>
<p>Your friend might also have gotten merit scholarships based on his GPA and SAT/ACT scores. Those are offered by the schools themselves and most often have nothing to do with a student’s financial need.</p>
<ol>
<li>It was grants, not merit scholarships. It was the grant that is listed on your FASFA paper after you submit it. </li>
<li>now that I think about it, he has two siblings in college. Maybe that’s why he qualified for grants.</li>
</ol>
<p>Two siblings in college would make a big difference. Also, if your friend’s parents have less than $50k in income and one of a number of other qualifications they may qualify for the simplified means test where assets aren’t counted. Also, they may have just not reported the assets.</p>
<p>If that property is where their primary residence is located, it would not be listed on the FAFSA.</p>