Updated FAFSA says not Pell eligible, but by EFC/COA appears to be?

<p>As we're trying to assess as closely as we can what next year's college costs will be for 2 students, we still can't figure out if our students qualify for a (small) Pell grant. </p>

<p>According to what I see on the charts for this year, they should be eligible, according to their EFCs and the school's cost of attendance. But after we updated the FAFSAs with the IRS tool, it says they are not Pell eligible - even though they seem to fall within the right numbers.</p>

<p>It's not a big deal, and perhaps I'm looking at it incorrectly, but I'm trying to get a closer estimate of what the costs will be for us, as our income has gone down a bit from last year.</p>

<p>Is there a reason why it would state they aren't eligible, such as things aren't finalized? Here is the link I was checking (used the link to the corresponding charts), if it's okay to post it - </p>

<p>IFAP</a> - Dear Colleague Letters</p>

<p>Are their individual EFCs under the 5081 cut off? If so, they should be eligible for some Pell according to the IFAP letter. (assuming they are otherwise eligible - not in grad school etc)</p>

<p>Pell eligibility has nothing to do with the cost of attendance at any college. It is based solely on your FAFSA EFC (cutoff noted above by Swimcatsmom ).</p>

<p>Yes, they are both under 5081. Not in grad school (one will be a 5th year, but no previous grants).</p>

<p>I just realized that the question about whether or not the parents are eligible to file a 1040A was left “blank” - and we can’t submit a correction for it. I was sure we had changed that to “yes”. The tax program we used generated a 1040 - but we did not itemize this year and could technically have filed a 1040A, I guess (unless receiving a state tax refund affected which form was used?). </p>

<p>The corrections we made haven’t been processed yet, but that question is totally grayed out. Is this something we should ask about correcting, perhaps it’s affecting something?</p>

<p>Yes, if you have to report a state tax refund as income this year you must file a 1040.</p>

<p>Thanks, Annoying Dad. I wasn’t sure as we’ve never had a state refund before in this miserly state! And a measly refund it was, too, lol. We don’t meet simplified means with income so I don’t imagine which form would make a difference anyway for us.</p>

<p>Appreciate the information. This is the first time we’ve had an EFC within Pell cut-offs, so it’s all new to me. I don’t know why it now says they don’t qualify.</p>

<p>Did you itemize last year (2011)? If so, then you do have to file a 1040 for a State refund.</p>

<p>Isn’t the Pell Grant based solely on EFC? I don’t think it matters which tax form you complete. That matters for simplified needs, and auto zero, but not Pell eligibility. Am I correct on this?</p>

<p>Op, what WERE your kids’ EFCs?</p>

<p>Thumper, they are 5017 and 5066 (after updating with the IRS tool). </p>

<p>It looked to me like they are (barely) under the cutoff, but they’ve never qualified for anything other than loans (and recently a school grant) before so I thought maybe I’m just clueless and not understanding how it works. Not a big deal, but I’m just trying to get a very good idea of what is likely to happen with any aid for next year so we can plan well. </p>

<p>And they still came up under verification again, even after using the tool. I’m not sure what’s triggered it - I would think “random” if it was just one student but it’s both, and never verified before. With the first FAFSA submission I thought it might be because it said they appeared to be Pell-eligible, but this time it says they aren’t but still marked with verification. Nothing has really changed from previous years except a bit lower income and a good bit less in the kids’ bank accounts (they made much less money last summer). It’s a tad aggravating! Thought that at least with kid #1 we’d gotten by pretty easily with the FAFSA without much hassle. Guess I got too comfortable after 5 previous FAFSAs with no issues! :-P</p>

<p>I wonder if there is a minimum Pell Grant. One of your kids would be eligible for $14, and the other about $60. (I subtracted the EFC you got from the max allowable for the Pell Grant).</p>

<p>I think cost of attendance does matter. When looking at the chart, I see that the first FAFSA submission we did, with the incorrect “taxes paid” amount, identified them each as Pell-eligible for $1200, and that amount is in the column under their original EFCs. So I assumed what apparently is considered the COA from that line.</p>

<p>When I look at the columns for their current “corrected” EFCs, it says zero dollars for what is apparently considered the cost of attendance. </p>

<p>So kid with the lower EFC now appears to miss the cutoff by $17 with our corrected “taxes paid” information. I guess COA does have something to do with it. At least I think I’m reading it correctly.</p>

<p>Funny, I’m pretty sure the COA is more than the $5500-5699 the chart appears to indicate! lol</p>

<p>Bummer.</p>

<p>If I am not mistaken, the Pell Grant is based on your FAFSA EFC, not on the cost of attendance at a school. The Pell grant is an entitlement…and is a grant you can receive (if eligible) even IF it exceeds the cost of attendance at your school. </p>

<p>Someone else here will tell me if I’m wrong…but the cost of attendance has no bearing on your EFC either.</p>

<p>There is no place to enter COA on fafsa so there is no way that’s the problem. For entering freshmen there could be 10 or 15 schools and Pell isn’t figured separately for each school’s COA. </p>

<p>Also, the verification asterisk doesn’t go away after using the tool. Verification is done by the schools. The tool only satisfies the income part of verification. There may be other steps. Last year when my son was verified there were 'to do’s on his school portal that would update as we complied with the school’s verification steps. He was a sophomore last year so I don’t know how it works with entering freshmen.</p>

<p>My understanding is that there is targeted verification this year. In other words, there will be specific things that are the reason for verification. The school(s) will tell you what to send them.</p>

<p>Just looked at the charts in your link and I don’t get why there’s a column for COA and don’t get how fafsa knows your school’s COA unless all schools send that to fafsa. Are either of your kids entering freshmen and what is the COA for each? According to the chart with those EFCs, COA would have to be over $5600 to get any Pell.</p>

<p>I’m sure kelsmom would know the answer to this.</p>

<p>This chart:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/201314PellGrantPaymentandDisbursementSchedules.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/201314PellGrantPaymentandDisbursementSchedules.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

</p>

<p>[Federal</a> Pell Grant Program](<a href=“http://www2.ed.gov/programs/fpg/index.html]Federal”>Federal Pell Grant Program)</p>

<p>That’s from 2011-12.</p>

<p>What IS the cost of attendance at your kids’ schools? Are they commuters to a community college? That is just about the only way I could imagine their COA being less than $5000 a year.</p>

<p>I believe all schools do send COA information to all the agencies that are dispensing money based on it. The schools are not particularly transparent in giving the info to the parent unless you ask directly, though there may be figures on the web site. To get the exact numbers in terms of maximum amount for your particular student, one does sometimes, maybe often, have to ask the school financial aid office. There are differentiations made for commuting students, upper classmen at some schools, </p>

<p>I have no idea, why the OP’s kids would not get the full amount of PELL as EFC would dictate since PELL would be independent of other awards that lower the COA. I don’t understand how the COA works with PELL either. as it appears to do so.</p>

<p>The kids would NOT get the FULL Pell amount unless their EFC was $0. The Pell is prorated based on your EFC. If the EFC is $5000, the kid would get a very small amount of
Pell money. If the EFC was $2500, the kid would get about the same in Pell money. If the EFC was $0, the kid would get the full Pell grant amount.</p>

<p>Unless something has really changed this year!</p>

<p>I’m glad I’m not the only one who is confused! I don’t feel quite so dense.</p>

<p>To help if you are trying to figure it out for your own situation - </p>

<p>Kids are not entering freshmen. One will be a 5th year senior. Neither has qualified for Pell before. They both attend full-time the same large state university away from home, living off campus.</p>

<p>When submitting the first estimated FAFSAs, we made an error in parent taxes paid, so their EFCs came up as 4337 and 4388. The SAR indicated they might be eligible for $1200 in Pell grants (same figure for both students).</p>

<p>After using the retrieval tool and submitting the correction - where the only change made was in “taxes paid” - the EFCs came back as 5017 and 5066. It now says neither is eligible for a Pell ("Based on the information we have on record for you, your EFC is 05017. You are not eligible for a Federal Pell Grant…).</p>

<p>So, I’m guessing we are missing something else that applies. The COA for full-time tuition alone is certainly more than what appears to be listed on the chart. Somehow there is another variable, I guess. This is the only year it will matter to us, since kid #1 will be graduating and affecting the EFC greatly, but it would have been nice to have a little help at least for one year of their college careers :)</p>

<p>Perhaps it is based on per-semester cost and not annual tuition? The school breakdown lists the instructional and required fees per semester this spring as $5018. (Obviously other costs always end up being factored in to what is charged). That’s the only thing I can figure out, although I’ve never heard of that in terms of EFC cutoffs and the Pell.</p>