<p>I recently applied for FAFSA. I'am a senior at a highschool in Illinois. I am going to be college next year fall (2010). I just recieved an email form FAFSA, and it stated that I am not eligible for Pell Grant. So this mean that I cannot get finacial help from the government. I really need understand this thing. So, will I be able to help from the government still, or will I have to do something else. Am I still eligible for other scholarship and other help.</p>
<p>First - the FAFSA currently available is for the 2009-2010 school year - the current one. The FAFSA for the 2010-2011 school year is not available until January. If you have completed the 2009-2010 FAFSA you have not applied for aid for 2010-2011. 2009-2010 FAFSA does not make you eligible for aid for 2010-2011 and will not count as having met any deadlines for 2010-2011 aid. The 2010-2011 FAFSA requires 2009 income.</p>
<p>The email means your EFC is too high for the Pell grant which is the main federal grant (a grant is aid that does not have to be repaid). To be eligible for the Pell grant requires a EFC of less that 4617 for the 2009-2010 school year (2010-2011 is not out yet). Most other federal grant aid requires Pell eligibility or an even lower EFC than the Pell so it is likely you will not be eligible for federal grants.</p>
<p>You will still be eligible for federal loans. The main federal student loan is the Stafford loan which is a maximum of $5500 for a freshman. You * *be eligible for federal work study, depending on how high your EFC is and what your school COA (cost of attendance) is. You *may *still be eligible for scholarships, State aid or institutional aid. This would depending on the criteria for those programs.</p>
<p>What did FAFSA calculate your EFC to be? I’ve never heard of the Office of Federal Student Aid sending out emails telling someone they don’t qualify for Pell, but I suppose it’s possible. I thought they just send out notification when your SAR has been processed and then your school takes that information, performs any additional calculations on their end, and then presents a financial aid package to you. What school will you be attending in the fall? Your financial aid advisor there should be available to go over your SAR/EFC and what aid is available, you should call and make an appointment to answer all of your questions.</p>
<p>You should still qualify for some student loans, and scholarships are not associated with your FAFSA, although a lot require a demonstrated financial need.</p>
<p>Swimcats - very good point about the availability of the 2010-2011 FAFSA. Maybe that’s why rizwan received an email stating s/he is not eligible, because the period for which they applied is through spring, when they will still be in high school?</p>
<p>Good point. When we have done FAFSAs we have just received an email with a link to the SAR and EFC on the FAFSA web site. The email has never said anything about any aid eligibility. The link might say whether we were eligible for the Pell - I can’t remember. But no we have never received any email saying that. I would be surprised if they would send one saying that for any reason - it is usually up to the schools to relay information about what aid a student is eligible for.</p>
<p>It’s odd. OP - you didn’t use some pay for site like FAFSA.com did you?</p>
<p>The “pay-for” site reminds me … next year, the web address is supposed to be shortened to fafsa.gov. Hopefully, that will help a little & not so many students/parents will fall for the .com site’s underhanded tactics.</p>
<p>Many scholarships have nothing to do with FAFSA. Many merit schools will award scholarships based on stats. Some will ask for a FAFSA, but you don’t necessarily have to be LOW income to get the scholarship.</p>
<p>And…as others have said…don’t use FAFSA.com - that isn’t the real FAFSA site.</p>