Pell Grant help

Paying for College
1

<p>hey guys i need help in understanding how i went from recieving full pell grant $5600 last academic school year to only 4200, my EFC score was 1337 for this year and last year was 0. My mom made 22,000 last year and only went up to 29,000....she is a single parent and this is the first year she hasnt recieved any child support. Did 7,000 $ really make that much of a diffrence into how much she is able to provide for me?</p>

2

<p>According to the state, YES. The increase could have very well changed your EFC, as well as any changes in YOUR income. Do you have a job too?</p>

<p>Also, financial aid packages tend to fluctuate. With the current state of the economy, I think all students are experiencing a little bit of downturn.</p>

<p>Call your aid office/FAFSA if you want a further explanation.</p>

3

<p>no i didnt make any money at all</p>

4

<p>anyone else have some further explanation?</p>

5

<p>It’s really rather simple. Your mom’s income passed the threshold for no longer having an EFC of any amount.</p>

<p>That number is often around $25k per year for about a family with 2 parents and 2 children. </p>

<p>I imagine that threshold is lower for a single parent household since it only includes one adult. So, about 1/3 to 1/4 of amount that exceeds that threshold is considered available for college costs. That is why your EFC is no longer 0, and therefore you no longer get the maximum Pell.</p>

<p>Your Pell amount is determined by EFC. There is a chart.</p>

6

<p>If your mom was eligible to file a 1040A or 1040EZ, or anyone in your household received federal means-tested benefits like food stamps, reduced/free school lunches, etc. anytime in 2008 or 2009, AND her adjusted gross income was $30K or less, you would qualify for an automatic 0 EFC. If not, then the EFC formulas calculate an EFC based on income and assets (if she didn’t meet the simplified needs criteria either). There are qualifying questions for Auto 0 and Simplified Needs on the FAFSA - make sure you answered them correctly!</p>

<p>Here are a couple of links that explain how EFC is calculated, and how Pell is distributed:
<a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111609EFCFormulaGuide20102011.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111609EFCFormulaGuide20102011.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/P1003PellPaymentSchedules.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/P1003PellPaymentSchedules.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;