How do you go about doing this?
This is for the semester starting in Sept 2015.
You fill out the FAFSA and have it sent to your college. The FA office at the college will process it (do a verification, make sure the tax forms are sent either electronically or by mail).
Certainly not too late for fall 2015. You submit the 2015-2016 FAFSA to a school and if the FAFSA determined EFC is low enough to be eligible for a Pell it will be applied towards the school bill when the semester begins.
ETA: Not all FAFSAs are selected for verification and if they are either the IRS Data Retrieval Tool needs to be used or an IRS Tax Return Transcript needs to be sent to the school to satisfy part of verification. Sending tax return copies to the school no longer satisfies that part of verification.
Annoyingdad, thanks.
Oh, I get it --the OP is perhaps making an April Fool’s post asking about how to apply for a Pell grant while being a frequent and knowledgeable contributor to the wealthy retirement thread in the Parent Cafe!
Just FYI…the FAFSA EFC needs to be under $5000 to qualify for a small Pell. For the full $5730 Pell, the EFC would need to be $0.
Just asking…did this student starting college September 2015 NOT complete a FAFSA already? If so, what was their EFC? If not…why not? If you think you would be Pell eligible, you likely would need financial aid to attend college. Have them check their SAR…the EFC is on it.
@dstark are you asking for a friend?
Or this^^
And any student can complete a FAFSA at any time during the actual academic year. The Pell is an entitlement. If the student qualifies, they WILL receive their eligibility amount.
So for a student starting in September, 2015, they can file a FAFSA anytime before the academic year ends in late spring 2016.
@thumper1, @Madison85, I am asking for a young woman. I have no idea how this works.
If this woman made $20,000 in 2014 and $15,000 in 2015… Because she is going to go to school…
Does she have a shot at receiving a Pell Grant? She is in Cal. Tuition is $6,000 a year.
How old is she? Is she independent for financial aid purposes? Is she married and/or does she have dependents she supports more than 50%? If she is under 24 and single with no dependents most likely she will need to include her parent’s financial information. The year 2014 is what matters for the 2015-2016 FAFSA.
This explains everything needed to know about FAFSA. She can run the numbers manually for her situation to get her EFC.
http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/090214EFCFormulaGuide1516.pdf
This chart shows how large a Pell a student would get based on FAFSA EFC, COA of the school and enrollment status.
http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/GEN1502Attach.pdf
Is she an independent student, or not…for financial aid purposes?
If independent for financial aid purposes, she might get at least a portion of the Pell. It would be based on her 2014 taxes and income…not 2015.
If she is dependent for financial aid purposes, she needs to include parent info.
@dstark - if she’s attending community college, it’s possible that she may also be eligible for state aid. She should contact the college to find out.
I don’t know her that well. The young woman works with those with special needs. I was asked to help out. I am passing this information on…
Thanks.
Thanks.