<p>Hello,
Last week, I finally completed FAFSA. Today, I received my SAR, and it said that my EFC was 00930, and that I am eligible to receive a Federal Pell Grant of up to $4600 for the 2010-2011 school year. </p>
<p>I am going to CNM, New Mexico's community college, as a full-time student this Fall. I don't expect this year's COA to be near $4600. As I understand it, the EFC is the amount I should be expecting to pay <em>after</em> FA. I hope you can see my confusion.</p>
<p>Should I expect to have everything fully covered (with some extra for disbursement), or should I expect to be paying $930 out of pocket? </p>
<p>Any help would be immensely appreciated.</p>
<p>Since Pell grants are an entitlement, you’ll get that money to use towards tuition, books, transportation, etc.</p>
<p>Since your CC is low cost, then you shouldn’t have to pay anything.</p>
<p>As I understand it, the EFC is the amount I should be expecting to pay <em>after</em> FA.</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>For instance, when you transfer to a 4 year, unless it’s a school that meets 100% of need (few schools do), you can’t expect to only pay your EFC. You may have to pay more. </p>
<p>You may end up at a university that costs - say $20k per year - but the school can only give you your Pell grant, a Stafford Loan, and some work study - which total to about $12k. You may still owe $8k…which is much higher than your EFC.</p>
<p>The school will take out its tuition and fees and give you a refund for the amount. </p>
<p>You can get financial aid (scholarships, grants or loans) up to something called the school’s “cost of attendance.” Each school determines its cost of attendance which is the actual fees (tuition, fees), estimated expenses like books, transportation and room and board (or, if you live off-campus, an estimated imaginary amount that they estimate students can live on). Notice, I didn’t say you would get aid up to that amount, just that that is the most you <em>can</em> get. Since your tuition is less than the money you’ve been awarded and it’s under your cost of attendance , you get it back. If you were to be awarded any additional grants or scholarships (from the state, from a scholarship competition), you would get that back in cash on top of the Pell Grant you got. Students can also take out loans up to the cost of attendance. </p>
<p>[CNM’s</a> Cost of Attendance](<a href=“http://www.cnm.edu/depts/fass/requirements/costofattendance.php]CNM’s”>http://www.cnm.edu/depts/fass/requirements/costofattendance.php)</p>
<p>Well, that really clears things up!
Thanks guys. :)</p>
<p>The Pell estimate given on the SAR is based on full time attendance and a COA of at least $5550. Idk how many terms CNM has in a normal academic year but, if the COA they list for your situation is less than $5550, your Pell grant might be slightly less than the $4600 estimate. The school will tell you how much but you can also find it easily on this schedule:
<a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/P1003PellPaymentSchedules.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/P1003PellPaymentSchedules.pdf</a></p>