Information for Fafsa and Pell Grant.

Paying for College
1

Hello, first time posting here but I have a question that has been driving me completely nuts.

I have recently applied and have been accepted by the whole FAFSA process and am currently just awaiting the rest of the process to take place for summer classes.

My question is, I am eligible for the full 5815 in Pell Grant funds for just this summer (or so I assume) as its what I was told. Does anyone know if I get paid all of the award that is NOT used for tuition? My classes will be about 800$ and my family has NO income whatsoever, So does this mean ill be receiving the rest of the 5000 for personal funds after the school takes the tuition from me?

Someone told me i will be paid

Federal Pell Grant eligibility (5815) - (800) for tuition, so in theory a full 5000 to me as this years aid will be 5000 extra

Plus the extra 5500 from loans

2

A Pell Grant is awarded to you for educational purposes for the year. It is not given to you to freely spend money and get a personal bank account.

How much is given?

https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/grants-scholarships/pell#how-much-money

3

How much is your tuition? Are you full time? You need to make sure they will award you the entire 2016-17 award if you are only going for the summer term. If you don’t have additional need, you won’t be able to take out the loan

4

Thank you for the reply guys, I would like to be full time however not sure. My advisor told me for summer 6 credit hours is full time, however, I’m going to be taking around 8 hours, 12 wouldn’t be a long stretch. My tuition for summer will be anywhere from 850 to 1300, I am eligible for the full 5815 pell for this 2016-2017 summer, and I will be taking 4 years as mostly full time (depending on what I can afford.)

5

The government doesn’t have much money.
The grant is for 12 months.

6

Also, Aunt Bea I am not sure how much any of this matters, but it will also be for expenses affiliated but not directly for school, such as transportation, study material, and room and board (if that counts) as I will be staying off campus.

7

Oh sorry i did not refresh i gave two replies :S so a pell grant for this summer could effect my 2017-2018 year?

8

Yes.
Also, if your summer school costs $800; that’s what you may get. It’s based on COA and EFC.

Pell eligibility limits you to the equivalent of 6 years.

So you need to plan well.

9

Thank you aunt bea, you are very helpful! you as well twoinanddone! have a goodnight

10

Schools have to decide whether summer is with the past school year or the next year. Sounds like your school includes it with the prior year. If you get the full Pell for 2016-17, good for you. However, your school will have a COA and they will not award more financial aid than that, except for Pell. So say your COA is $2500 for the summer, you’d get the pell but no loans. Come the fall, you’ll be into the next school year so your Pell grant will be recalculated but awarded over the school year, usually half in the fall, half in the spring and $0 for the summer.

You need to be aware of that for planning. This summer will be unique.

11

Oh, thank you, that’s the extra info I like to have, I am a very over-analytical person that needs way too much info. Though, I think I will not be fully satisfied until I get this all taken care of in the coming weeks. You have helped to ease my mind a bit. I am mentally disabled (PTSD not special need) so was trying to see how much (if any at all) I could possibly have to survive over the next few months to see if I can pay bills while not letting work stress take the better of me so I can focus on school only for a bit, which being an 8th grade drop-out is important to me (TMI though!). Thank you for helping.

Also, thank you for taking the time to write to me both of you, I cannot stretch that enough, you two are heroic.

12

Check with your school to make sure whether summer 2017 is part of school year 2016/17, or 2017/18.

If you take less than 12 credits, you might not get the whole amount of the Pell grant.

13

And if summer is part of the 2016-2017 academic year, you will need to submit a 2016-2017 fafsa.

14

The maximum you can get in any given semester is 1/2 the annual award. The amount you can actually receive is based on the number of credits in which you are enrolled. So if your annual award is $5815, you will get $2908 for 12+ credits … $2181 for 9-11 credits … $1454 for 6-8 credits … $727 for 1-5 credits. This assumes summer is the 2016-17 award year.