I applied for the Pell Grant and was given EFC 00000. I am looking to go to my local community college to get a nursing associates degree. I’m taking my pre requisite classes in summer 2018 and if I’m accepted I will start in fall 2018. My pre reqs amount to $2000 and my school awarded me $2960 through the pell grant. If I add more classes will they pay for more is my first question. My second question is do I need to pay for my summer and fall classes with the pell grant at the same time (not sure I can concidering I need to be accepted to the nursing program first and I have to finish my pre reqs first) or can I pay for the summer and then the fall with the same pell grant (2017-2018) at different times (If I dont exceed the official pell grant yearly max). I tried talking to my schools financial aid rep on the phone and they seemed to not know what they were talking about.
Pell maximum funds are $5920 per year. That’s it. It’s federal funding, which is not a lot.
That means that when you divide that amount in half (per semester) it comes out to $2960, which is what you received.
If you are taking classes in the summer, you need to make your dollars stretch or get a part time job. They won’t dispense the second half until you are in the second semester.
Have you been officially accepted as a matriculated(degree seeking ) student. You must be a matriculatedstudent in order to receive federal aid. Please check with your admissions and financial aid office.
As @“aunt bea” said, any pell that you use over the summer will leave you less money to use for the school year
How many credits are you taking over the summer?
If you spend $2000 over, you will be spending almost half of your allocation for the entire school year, which means you will not have any money to pay for one term of school
There has been a change to Pell grants. It is now possible to get three semesters worth of Pell in one 12 month period.
The $2960 for summer 2018 quoted above is half of the 2017-18 award amount, making it appear OP will also receive the full 2018-19 amount of $6095 for fall and spring.
@mdw4298 please verify this with the college. If you already have received a financial award letter for fall and spring, it should show $6095 and you would probably have a separate letter showing the $2960 for summer. It is worth making an sppointment to go in person to the FinAid office and make sure you fully and accurately understand your financial aid and any additional amounts you may owe.
You only get 12 semesters of aid for Pell, so be careful how you use it. I’d only use it for full semesters so you don’t run out of money before you graduate.
The Pell Grant for the year won’t be increased if you take more classes. Is that what you are asking?