<p>Hi,</p>
<p>Someone told me that if you are a middle class family, both parents are retired, then it is basically a for sure thing that you will be eligible for the Pell Grant. Is this true.</p>
<p>Would I be eligible for the Pell Grant, because both my parents are retired and I have an EFC of $20000, but still need another $32000 to attend college?</p>
<p>Please and Thank You</p>
<p>No, not true. The EFC is based on income and assets. if they are high then the EFC will be high, whether parents are retired or not.</p>
<p>For 2009-2010 the maximum EFC for the Pell was 4617. With an EFC of 20,000 you will not be eligible for the Pell.</p>
<p>But doesn’t the Pell Grant take the total cost of college into account too to determine if someone is eligible for the grant?
If it is my above question in true, is there any hope of myself to still receive the Pell Grant?</p>
<p>Please and Thank You</p>
<p>Absolutely not. Pell Grants are for the very low income, someone with a $20K EFC is not even close to being eligible.</p>
<p>No they don’t take the cost of the college into account at all when awarding the Pell grant. Just your EFC.</p>
<p>Someone told me that if you are a middle class family, both parents are retired, then it is basically a for sure thing that you will be eligible for the Pell Grant. Is this true.</p>
<p>Please tell whoever told you that very wrong information that Pell is for low income families. Most middle-class families do not qualify, and certainly no one with a $20,000 EFC would qualify.</p>
<p>The point of Pell is not so that students can afford pricey $50k schools. One of the purposes of Pell is to provide an amount that would about pay the tuition for many local state schools.</p>