Can someone please tell me if Pell Grants or Federal Loans are in any way affected if the kid takes a gap year but his financial situation does not substantially change?
If the kid takes a gap year, he will need to apply again for financial aid for the year he wants to attend. If he still qualifies for a Pell Grant, he will get it. And the Direct Loan as well.
No issues taking a gap year.
One issue is that the loans already taken will go into repayment status. They’ll go back to deferment status once the student returns to school, but they will go into repayment after the first 6 months out of school.
I assumed this was a gap prior to starting college so no loans would have been taken…based on posts on other threads.
@rfm512 can you calrify?
@thumper1 This question is largely unrelated to my other posts on other threads - this is a general question for a family friend. He wants to take a gap year prior to freshman year of college and qualifies for pell grants. His mother was afraid he would lose his opportunity to receive a pell grant if he delayed enrollment for a year. I didn’t think that was the case but wanted to check here to be sure.
Pell grants have to be applied for every year.
There are some awards, mostly state grants, that may be forfeited if not used within a certain time. In Florida, you have 2 years from h.s. graduation to start using the BF, which really comes out to less than 2 years if you grad in May and don’t start school for 2 years, in Sept, you might be too late.
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