Pell Grant

<p>Hello--</p>

<p>I've been unemployed for the past year and believe I will receive a lower EFC than what my SAR initially stated. I submitted a revision request form to my local community college, and according to the financial aid advisor, I may be eligible to receive an auto 0. I am nearly finished with my AA transfer degree-- next quarter will be the last that I will need to attend full-time. </p>

<p>My question is, if I have full-time status next quarter, I will be given 100% of whatever awards I am found eligible for. But I only need a few more classes the following quarter, so I will only be attending part-time. I read that once the initial tuition payments are made, the remaining grant money is dispersed via check. Will I have to pay part of it back if my status changes from full-time to part-time the quarter after next?</p>

<p>Any insight is greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>Are you an independent student or a dependent student (needing your parent’s information) for the fafsa?</p>

<p>If you are a independent student (just you or just you+ spouse) you would not eligible for an automatic ) EFC.</p>

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<p>For example: If you were to receive 4000 Pell, it would break out to 1000 per quarter.</p>

<p>You would receive the full pell (1000) disbursement this quarter. If you only attend part time next quarter, you would only receive one half of your pell (500) award for the quarter.</p>

<p>Thanks, I understand now. I thought it was awarded up front. I am an independent student-- I read that some schools are offering auto 0 EFC for those with a significant loss of income due to being laid off?</p>

<p>Students who are independent with no dependents other than a spouse do not get the benefit of the automatic 0 EFC, but that doesn’t mean your EFC might not be 0, anyway. If you have no earnings other than unemployment, the school is allowed per federal regulations to adjust your EFC to 0 (not all schools do that, but they are allowed to do so).</p>

<p>Pell payments are made by term, and the amount is based on the number of credits you are enrolled in each term. Let’s say you get a $4000 Pell for the year, and you are in a quarter school. You will be eligible to receive up to $1000 per term. You will get 100% of that amount if you have 12+ credits ($1000), 75% if you take 9-11 credits ($750), 50% if you take 6-8 credits ($500), and 25% if you take five or fewer credits ($250). Each term, it works that way based on the enrollment in that particular term.</p>

<p>Thanks for the responses! I only received unemployment this year-- however I also had one-time income from my 401k distribution at the time of my severance. I was told by a FA advisor that this income can also be included on the revision request form? Apparently I am also required to state how the money was used.</p>