How much money can a student earn before it affects Pell Grant?

Paying for College
1

<p>Hi there, </p>

<p>I got my first "real" job this year, and I'm concerned about how much I earn a year and how that affects my Pell and SEOG grants. </p>

<p>I currently get full Pell and a $2000/yr SEOG award along with another $5000/yr need-based grant from my institution. I also get $5600/yr in merit scholarships, and since I chose to commute this year, there's about $3400 a semester that gets refunded to me. </p>

<p>I work at my school's tutoring center and have only made about $1200 this semester, which is also my total income of 2013 along with the scholarship excess of $7800 that I will have. </p>

<p>Last year I paid my taxes on my refunds (a similar number since I chose to commute for winter semester) but didn't have a "real" job and still received full Pell. I babysit and work at farmer's markets under-the-table and don't declare this. (I made about 5k last year between my various jobs) </p>

<p>Next semester I would like to work more at the tutoring center instead of doing more babysitting, but if I work a lot more in the winter and then the following fall, will that intrude on my Pell eligibility? My EFC is 0 and my widowed mother makes about 18k a year, so what's the most I can make without it hurting my eligibility? </p>

<p>I know this might sound crooked, and I'm sorry. I just want to be smart about this, and I also don't want to be lazy and not work at all. </p>

<p>Thanks for your help.</p>

2

<p>A dependent student has a $6260 income allowance for the 2014-15 school year on fafsa. Any amount you report on taxes for excess scholarships/grants isn’t counted against you if you answer the fafsa question about that correctly. Also, the amount that is refunded to you isn’t necessarily the amount you have to declare as income. You report total scholarships/grants minus the total of tuition, mandatory fees and required books and supplies. If you aren’t billed by your school for books then the refunded amount may be greater than what you have to declare.</p>

<p>Edited to add: With your mom’s income if she can file a 1040A, you are probably qualifying for an auto 0 EFC in which case your income doesn’t matter.</p>

3

<p>Thank you so much for your reply! Those are just the numbers and figures I was looking for. </p>

<p>For school-related expenses, since I commute, can I put down gas expenses? I’ve been keeping track of it just in case, along with my book and school supply costs, but I’m not sure if that counts.</p>

4

<p>No, can’t use gas expenses.</p>