Pell Grant eligibility for a newly independent student.

Paying for College
1

<p>I have run through most of the Pell Grant threads in this forum (within the last 1.5 years), and haven't seen something close to my situation. So my situation and questions follow.</p>

<p>I am on a 7-year undergraduate plan. I changed my major to engineering at the end of my junior year, and have transferred schools since then. On my current transcript (after transfer), I have 99 credits, and will graduate with my BSE in the spring of 2012.</p>

<p>I will be independent for the 2011-2012 school year (my "senior" year), and am hoping that I will qualify for the Pell/SMART grants. As an independent, I will definitely qualify under the EFC requirements, but I'm worried about the previous years I've spent as a non-engineering major.</p>

<p>I did not fill out a FAFSA until last year, if that makes any difference. My cost of attendance is around $30,000/year, though I'm pretty sure that doesn't matter.</p>

<p>Now, I'm not someone trying to leach off the system just because I will be an independent. My parents just retired this year, and will no longer have an income to support me. All of their savings are supposed to go to their retirement.</p>

<p>So my question is, will I qualify for a Pell Grant during my "senior" year? It will actually be my 7th year as an undergraduate, but only my 4th year in an engineering program.</p>

<p>Please let me know if more information is needed to answer this question.</p>

2

<p>I don’t think there will be any SMART grants for that school year. I think they end this year.</p>

3

<p>^^yes the SMART grant goes away after the 2010-2011 school year.</p>

<p>You should be eligible for the Pell grant if your EFC is low enough.</p>

<p>The thing you might have to check with the school is that you meet their own SAP (satisfactory academic progress) policy which they use to determine whether you are eligible for financial aid. The SAP policy can include number of credits attempted (including any Ws) including satisfactory completion of a certain % of attempted credits and not having attempted more than a certain number of credits, GPA, etc etc. You would have to check with the school as each school determines their own SAP.</p>