<p>Hey everyone, I'll get right to the question. My EFC is 0, and the cost of attending my school is over $30,000. For some reason..I only got $2,000 pell grant for the year, and no SEOG. Is it up to the school, or the federal government whether or not I get these things? And why didn't I get them. The gap between the aid and the cost is over $16,000, and that is including the $5,000 in loans!!</p>
<p>Both the Pell grant and SEOG are federal programs. It is my understanding that the funds available to the institutions for these programs are actually disbursed through the individual schools under federally set guidelines. Each school has only x amount of Pell and SEOG dollars per year, and according to what I was told, they're allocated by the schools on a first come, first served basis. </p>
<p>If your financial info was past the deadline or missing critical info, it may have affected your package.</p>
<p>I could be wrong. There are more knowledgeable souls here than I.</p>
<p>From what I understand, it is up to the school to decide who to disperse those funds to. Does the school claim to meet 100% of need?</p>
<p>No...I don't think so. But still, it doesn't make much sense. My FAFSA was on time, in fact I submitted it in Jan.</p>
<p>My understanding is that the Pell grant is awarded direct from the government and you should get full grant you are eligible for based on the EFC. i.e. the funds are not limited at the school. With SEOG a certain amount of SEOG money is awarded to the school and they decided how to allocate it so you may or may not get that. </p>
<p>I would definitely ask why you did not get the full Pell grant ($4310)</p>
<p>you need to recheck your SAR through FAFSA. Sign back into the FAFSA and see if any changes were made.</p>
<p>The Pell Grant has a guaranteed amount depending on your EFC and with your states EFC of $0, you would have received the full amount. The SEOG funds are limited and the school can choose how to award those -- so you weren't chosen.</p>
<p>I suspect that your FAFSA report was changed by the school -- they have the right to do that based on any information they received. Did you submit paperwork for verification? It is common for schools to rework a FAFSA using the verification paperwork and change numbers that were originally entered -- mistakes are not that unusual. By changing those numbers, your EFC can change -- dramatically in some cases. You should have been notified via email of this change in your EFC, but that doesn't always happen and it isn't a requirement that the school notify you.</p>
<p>The amount of your Pell Grant is also determined by the number of credits you will be completing each semester. 12+ should qualify you for the maximum, 9 to 11 would be three-quarter time, 6-8 would be half-time and less than 6 would be less than half-time. Verify that the FAFSA hasn't changes, as hsmom has suggested and, if it hasn't, verify your enrollment status with the school.</p>
<p>another thing that might be the problem is if your FA package is per semester and not per year -- check to see that the $2000 is for the whole year, maybe it is $2000 for the first semester.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your replys..but still..</p>
<p>I will be a full-time student.
It is by year, not semester, I just checked.
I also checked my FAFSA, and it is still EFC of 0.</p>
<p>So...I just...don't know. The school is University of Connecticut - Storrs (Main Campus).</p>
<p>well -- you eliminated all the reasons that make sense, so you are going to have to call and ask them what gives. Make sure you post back here and tell us what happened -- I am really curious!</p>
<p>As HSM says - you need to call the school and ask. it does not make sense.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I'll post tommorow and tell you what they said.</p>
<p>soccer_guy472 what state are you from, have you applied to EOP. That may just be a NY thing</p>
<p>My EFC is 619 ~ I received $3660 Pell Grant for the full year... I am still waiting on the Federal ACG or SMART grants (mid June or July). You should receive the full Pell Grant amount if your EFC is 0. </p>
<p>I am waiting to hear from soccer_guy472 to see what his FA office has to say...</p>
<p>Hey. Just called the financial aid office, they said I needed to speak to a counselor and they would call me back within the hour. So..I'll be posting soon.</p>
<p>Ok, I talked to the financial aid office. They said that there is simply no money left to give, and that the reason I didn't get the full Pell Grant was because another school had tweaked my numbers on the FAFSA to give me the full amount. I obviously won't be attending now...it's simply too much money.</p>
<p>That makes no sense. My daughters school changed our FAFSA numbers but only after we provided extensive documentation supporting loss of income and large medical bills. It resulted in her getting a higher Pell than originally offered. I have to say I don't much like the sound of the financial aid dept at your school - if they are this unhelpful now they would be unlikely to improve once you are a student there. I think you are better off elsewhere though it is probably hard for you to realise it right now. I am sure you are very dissapointed and I am so sorry. But take a couple of days to 'mourn' then pick yourself up and look into your other options - preferably ones that do not leave you drowning in debt. Good luck - and keep us posted.</p>
<p>what about eop.</p>
<p>soccer_guy -- honestly, I think this is for the best. This school would have continued to screw you over for four years.</p>
<p>as a side note -- what she said about the pell grant is BS! there is no tweaking numbers -- FAFSA is a federal program with very specific guidelines, an FA office can't just make up numbers to change the EFC. they can tweak their own institutional EFC, but not the federal -- and Pell Grants are awarded according to the Federal EFC.</p>
<p>They can change the number input to the federal FAFSA. We entered our AGI and other income as reported on our income taxes and the financial aid officer reduced the AGI by our medical expenses and the other income by the benefits lost for this year. So our federal EFC was changed. But, as HSM said, there are very specific guidelines.</p>