Pell Grant...

<p>My daughter was initially awarded a $5500 Pell Grant. I was chosen for verification and submitted our documentation to several schools she applied to. We were verified and the pell grant remained @ $5500 for the school she committed to, but apparently another school made a change which resulted in a reduced grant of $3,600. I called the school and they assured me she would rcv the $5500 which just isn't sitting well with me being I rcvd a revised letter from FAFSA stating $3,600. I called FAFSA yesterday and they told me the school had the authority to credit us the original amount. This still isn't sitting well with me...if FAFSA is the funding source and the most recent letter I have says $3600 how would they give us $5500? Im concerned when all is said & done and I get the bill this summer, our aid (and Parent Plus loan) will be short by $1900.</p>

<p>FAFSA is not a funding source at all. It is just a form that you fill out that produces the EFC and sends it to the schools you designate. Each school determines your aid and awards it based on your EFC. If your school has determined that the FAFSA information they received was correct then they will award you aid based on that information. If they determine the original data was incorrect then they may adjust your aid. If the school says that they do not see a reason to adjust your aid then you should be fine. </p>

<p>As far as I can recall from the emails I have received from FAFSA after submitting a FAFSA, they say that the pell figure they mention is an estimate.</p>

<p>Oh, you just completely made my day! Thank you so much for your response :)</p>

<p>We have a similar situation going on. School “A” to which son has committed awarded his aid after reviewing our tax returns and w-2s. Now, today, we received notification from FAFSA that school “B” which son will not be attending made a “correction” to our FAFSA which resulted in a lower Pell Grant estimate. School “B” added in a retirement contribution which I have been told (by Kelsmom) we do not have to report because it is a “mandatory contribution” (government job.) I went in and “re-corrected” the amount and removed all the schools S will not be attending. I hope that is the end of it!</p>

<p>Memama, I hope we will be pros at all this one day! Right now, its the most confusing process ever.</p>

<p>Some schools will not load any FAFSA’s received after they verify a file until they have reviewed who made the changes - that way, they won’t load in another school’s changes. I work at a huge school, so we can’t do that (impossible to review every single change that comes our way). I usually suggest that students call the aid office at the school they will attend to let them know that a different school made an update that raised the EFC - the school can reset to their verified transaction if they are aware that there was a change made by another school.</p>