<p>We have received several financial aid award letters. According to online charts, we qualify for Pell with regard to our AGI.</p>
<p>I thought if you were at a particular threshold, you automatically had your Pell award in your financial aid letter.</p>
<p>So far, only two of 6-8 received list it for us....</p>
<p>Can anyone advise how it works?</p>
<p>Pell is based on your EFC not your AGI. The EFC calculation takes a lot more than your AGI into account. For instance , parent assets and student income/assets are taken into account. Also certain things, like retirement contributions in the year, are added back to the AGI in the EFC formula. </p>
<p>What was your EFC from FAFSA? </p>
<p>I’m not sure of the EFC cut off this year. Last year the cut off was around an EFC of 5081. If your EFC is at that cut off or below, you are eligible for Pell. The max Pell is for those with a 0 EFC. As the EFC goes up, the Pell amount goes down until it phases out altogether once you meet the max EFC. If you are eligible for Pell, it should it to be the same at every school. </p>
<p>Sometimes a school may believe there is an error in your FAFSA. In that case they will change it and that may affect your Pell eligibility.</p>
<p>Thank you, swimcatsmom. This is helpful.</p>
<p>Our EFC is $3270. I think (without having the award letters with me) that the Pell amount awarded at the two letters received thus far is around $2400.</p>
<p>I have to figure out why those schools list them and why others do not.</p>
<p>We are also being verified, and to complicate matters further, I am awaiting a 1099 form to supply to schools showing that we had a rollover of $30K in 2013. We never saw the money whatsoever - it’s been in retirement accounts for 15-20 years, but we had to roll it over in 2013 and the data retrieval tool thru the IRS doesn’t note this. So to schools, I guess it looks like income.</p>
<p>But the Pell thing is still kind of a mystery. We have about 6 schools still in contention, so I guess I will need to call each one to find out … :-(</p>
<p>Pell is an entitlement. If you are eligible (based on your FAFSA EFC you are), you will get it, Some schools will not finalize their packages until they get the IRS transcript/IRS data retrieval information. Don’t worry, it will be added in to your package.</p>
<p>Thank you, sybbie719. This is helpful and appreciated.</p>
<p>I can see where others around us are rejoicing in their decisions and putting down residence hall deposits, we will be pushing this appeal process to the bitter end. </p>
<p>At least this tells me that I may be able to “keep my head in the game” …</p>