I am afraid that I might have made a mistake on my 20-21 FAFSA. Because I am 25 I filed as independent and at the time of filing I thought that meant I did not have to include parent info. I had also been considered independent on taxes for several years before because of my income. I do live with my parents but I thought I couldn’t find a way to change it to dependent and the person I asked to help me told me it was fine. I included in the support field the money they paid for bills in my name. I got the Pell grant and I thought that was fine but now I think I was mistaken and I shouldn’t qualify for the grant because I live at home. I did say i was living with parents on the housing part of the application so i thought it was taken into account but now im not sure. Is there a way to convert the grant to a loan I can pay off so that I’m not commiting fraud? How seriously did I mess up and can I fix it?
My understanding is that most schools don’t “auto-award” and would have to look at your eligibility before awarding you Pell Grant or Federal Direct Loans (sub or unsub). If the school awards wrong, they can get in a lot of trouble with other agencies and/or be audited (happened to a college near me a few years ago). If they weren’t sure about your information, they might ask for verification of data like income or housing.
I also thought that I would be contacted for verification. I never was so I thought it was fine and continued with my classes. But now I’m not sure and I’m really scared that I committed fraud without meaning to. I’d like to get it changed into a loan just for sanity sake at this point
Were you born before January 1, 1997?
Yes. 1995
Ok. So you were independent for FAFSA purposes when you completed the 2020-2021 FAFSA. That means you didn’t need to include parent financial information. Based on what you have reported here, you didn’t mess up. There’s nothing to fix.
I don’t mean to be doubtful, I would just like some reassurance to make things clear because I’m really worried.
Even though I live with my parents, it’s ok that I did not include their information on the FAFSA form? Is that correct? Is it okay that I received a Pell grant and used it for class tuition based off my low income even though I live with my parents?
Below is a link to the 2020-2021 FAFSA. Read it. Pay close attention to the Step Three instructions and question 45. Is this reassuring enough?
I am a retired financial aid director, and I can assure you that you did it correctly. You can relax!
Thank you all so much. I hadn’t been able to sleep from worrying about this so I’m really grateful for the reassurance.
First off…I agree with others…this student IS independent for FAFSA financial aid purposes.
The Pell Grant is actually automatically awarded IF you qualify for it. It is federally funded and is an entitlement. It’s based on parent income for dependent students, and student income for independent students.
Everyone can take a federally funded Direct Loan. The eligibility is you file a fafsa…and you are eligible to get the Direct Loan. Only a portion can be subsidized. For the direct Loan…your income doesn’t matter. You do have to have demonstrated need for a subsidized portion.
I want to thank you for your assistance. I know you said to relax but apparently I’m finding that hard to do because I’m still afraid I missed something on the application or misread or misunderstood something. Do you have any advice for me? If you had a student come to your office with their FAFSA halfway through the school year afraid they messed up, would you be able to look it over and if they had messed up, would you be able to convert the money to a loan the student could pay off? I’m really scared about this and I’m afraid of explaining wrong and I don’t know what to do. I never meant to mess up and I want to make it right if I did.
There are questions ON the FAFSA form that determine whether you are independent for financial aid purposes or not for FAFSA purposes. One criteria is age…and you meet that criteria.
If you are so sure you made a mistake and you really need to be certain what you did was OK…you need to call the financial aid department at all of the colleges to which you applied and ask them if you are an independent student for financial aid purposes. They will tell you.
If the school uses only the FAFSA, it appears you are independent due to your age.
Just an FYI…if your parents pay any of your bills, you might need to include those money amounts on future FAFSA forms. @BelknapPoint @kelsmom can you explain this?
Sorry, I’m done trying to explain things to OP. It’s like talking to someone who won’t take yes for an answer.
Yes, if it would put your mind at ease, please do talk to a financial aid advisor at your school.
I NEVER said the student was dependent or independent - that isn’t for me to say. OP knows when they were born and is perfectly capable of figuring that out. While entitlement to Pell is, as you claim, “automatically awarded” - a student has to qualify. The school has to confirm the student qualifies before disbursing the award, so while it may be an “automatic” entitlement based on FAFSA data for income, there is verification that happens. There are also certain events, like drug convictions, GPA, selective service registration, etc that may negate someone’s eligibility even if the qualify based on income, so again, not “automatic”.
Not everyone is eligible for Federal funds and it isn’t as simple as just filing a FAFSA, please see Federal Student Aid for clarification on your claim. Also, these loans do have caps for totals for the sub and unsub portion.
My mother has worked in a college financial aid office for years so I’m very familiar with the process for awards.
Pell is an entitlement assuming that the student qualifies for aid. That is an assumption that underlies all advice given in the financial aid forum. The student who asked this question does not cite anything that would lead anyone to believe that they do not meet the basic requirements to receive aid. They are just worried that they don’t deserve Pell … and they do deserve it, based on their automatic independent status due to age.
Pell is an “entitlement” based on EFC, not on based on “if they qualify for aid”. A student can qualify for many other types of aid without being eligible for Pell, for example merit aid or scholarships based on major (at some schools). It’s also why some schools ask for a CSS profile in addition to a FAFSA. You assume, based only on the OP asking about their status as independent, that they are eligible for Pell but you haven’t seen their actual data, if they have already reached the 8 term limit for Pell or if there are other factors that might disqualify them.
I worked in financial aid for many years. I understand the rules. I also understand why the concern posed by this particular student has nothing to do with the points you raise. This student has not been told by the school that there are any issues. The issue is purely dependency status, and it exists only in the mind of the student and only because the student does not understand the rules relating to age and dependency status. There is no need to throw things out just to show that you know other rules that are not related to the question at hand. Please do not make a mountain out of a molehill. I hope OP checks with their school so that they can be at ease.
You made a blanket statement that Pell is an entitlement if a student qualifies for aid. Your statement is wrong. A student can qualify for aid without being Pell eligible. That is a fact and I’m making a statement to correct your error so that people don’t think that just because they receive a merit or some other institution specific award they are also eligible for Pell. Yes, OP thinks they may have committed fraud and the advice they have received to contact their FA office at their institution is perfect because no one in this thread regardless of who they are or where they work knows the exact details of the OPs FAFSA.