Starting today, July 1, 2010, the government will launch the Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants.
These grants award students who are not eligible for a Pell Grant, but whose parent or guardian was a member of the U.S. Armed Forces and died as a result of service performed in Iraq or Afghanistan after September 11, 2001.
Visit the Student Aid on the Web website for more information on the Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant.
An additional one million students will be eligible for the Pell Grant this year, thanks to the federal government’s expansion of the program. While we know that there is no “one size fits all” Pell Grant recipient, it doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do to make yourself a little bit more attractive to the formula that determines whether or not you receive one. The amount of your Pell Grant award is based on a number of factors, including your Expected Family Contribution (EFC), which is the amount that the federal government determines your family can pay toward college costs, as well as the Cost of Attendance (COA) for your school of choice and whether you enroll in school full-time or part-time.
This week, we shared a press release that outlined four tips on increasing your eligibility to receive a Pell Grant award. Here’s a peek:
To read the full release: EducationGrant.com Offers Tips on Increasing Eligibility for the Pell Grant
On Wednesday, President Obama proposed more money for Pell Grants that help qualified low-income students afford college. Starting in 2011, the maximum award will automatically increase alongside the rising cost-of-living, which would increase the maximum federal Pell Grant to $6,900 by 2019.
In the 2005-06 school year, the number of Pell Grant recipients grew to 6.2 million from 4.7 million. The average Pell Grant awarded also grew to $2,223 from $1,885. So, the proposed increase that President Obama mentioned on Wednesday would mean even more Pell grant money for even more qualified students!
So what does it take to meet pell grant qualifications?
Well, there is no “one size fits all” recipient.
Keep in mind, the Pell Grant is awarded to undergraduates with a high degree of unmet financial need; most Pell money goes to students with a total family income around or below $20,000. But, students whose families have a total income of up to $50,000 may be eligible too. In 2005-2006, students with family incomes of less than $20,000 accounted for 57% of Pell Grant recipients.
Your eligibility is determined by the FAFSA, and in order to meet Pell grant qualifications for the 2010-2011 school year, the highest your EFC should be around 4617, per Vicki Klinowski, of College Loan Consultant, who also provided the graph below. An EFC is the amount you or your family can be expected to contribute toward your college tuition.
2007-2008 Pell Grant Recipients by Income Level
Pell Grant qualifications can be affected by a student’s enrollment status as well as income earned through employment, too. Think about it – if you are enrolled half-time, your tuition is less and therefore you will require less aid. Undergraduates who work while they are enrolled are more likely to have incomes that decrease their eligibility for federal need-based aid (ahh, didn’t think of that, did you?). Some low-income students may even find themselves ineligible for Pell Grants because they are enrolled part time at very low cost colleges, or they work while they are enrolled, or do both.
In the 2003-2004 school year, more than 1.5 million college students who likely were eligible to receive Pell Grants didn’t bother applying for them because they found the FAFSA form too confusing. Don’t count yourself out! A number of changes have been made to the new FAFSA for the 2010-2011 school year which include simplifying the form.
The 2010 Pell Grant is the most widely available grant program for undergraduate students. The 2010 Pell Grant maximum amount was raised to $5,500 for students enrolling for the 2010-2011 school year – that’s $150 more than last year’s maximum, meaning more good news for cash-strapped students!
Now, not all students will receive the full $5,500 amount; some will qualify for a percentage. The amount you receive is directly affected by your Expected Family Contribution (EFC), the cost of attending your school of choice, your enrollment status (full time, part time, etc.), and whether or not you are attending for a full academic year.
To apply for a Pell Grant, you must complete a FAFSA form. Completing your FAFSA will determine your eligibility not only for the 2010 Pell Grant but also for other loan and aid programs. One of the latest changes made to the process this year is the ability to get an initial estimate of your financial aid eligibility immediately after you’ve electronically signed and submitted your FAFSA. This Student Aid Report (SAR) indicates which federal grants you can expect to receive, as well as what student loans you are eligible for. In the past, you would’ve had to wait at least three weeks for this information.
If you do qualify for a Pell Grant, your SAR will say something along the lines of:
Based on your EFC of [amount], you appear to be eligible for the following:
- A federal Pell Grant of up to $5350
- Other federal grants, low-interest student loans and work study
For more information on Pell Grants including eligibility and applying, check out:
Our Guide to Finding Scholarships & Grants for College is available! We set out to create a guide to financial aid that would help you understand the difference between scholarships and grants and what to expect about financial aid overall. Before we knew it, we had over 50 pages of private scholarships, tips on successfully applying for scholarships, information on federal education grants, and so much more.
Along the way, we came to realize that there was an underlying reason why our grant guide was so important. It wasn’t just to provide you with information that clarifies the different types of financial aid, but to help you identify the legitimate sources of grants and scholarships. You wouldn’t believe some of the scams we came across.
You’ve probably seen Internet or TV ads touting free government grants for school. The ads claim that, if you qualify to receive a “free grant” for your education, your application is guaranteed to be accepted, and you never have to repay the money – all they request is a processing fee in order to send you an application package that “is chock full of proprietary information” about getting this free money for school. The truth is, their application package is filled with general information and agency contacts that you can find online with a simple Google search.
These ads are tempting – the last couple years have been financially difficult (sometimes impossible) for most of us, so we’re lured by the possibility of free money. FinAid.org reports two-thirds of bachelor’s degree recipients last year graduated with an average debt of $23,000, so any extra funding to avoid this level of student loan or credit card debt is appealing.
But, armed with the right information like our guide to financial aid, you can quickly identify grant scams, and find that legitimate federal assistance and private and federal scholarships are freely available and accessible with a little diligence.
Click here to download the college grant guide!
Sometimes, financial aid seems so complicated that it ought to come with a how-to manual. For example, how do you find out what’s going on with your Pell Grant or other financial aid awards if they don’t arrive by the time you need them?
Jessica, an EducationGrant reader, asked that question, which is a good one. If you’re not sure which federal grants you qualified for or how the money gets to you, here are 4 ideas about where to look for answers.
1) Recheck your Student Aid Report. After you filed your FAFSA, you should have received a federal Student Aid Report (SAR) that told you what your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) to your college costs would be. If you qualified for a Pell Grant or any other federal grant, it would be noted in your SAR.
This doesn’t necessarily mean you would get a check for the Pell Grant amount, though. Usually, Pell Grants are sent straight to your school, who applies the money directly to your bill: your tuition, fees, and other costs of attendance.
2) Recheck your Financial Aid Award Letter. The school or schools you applied to each sends you an Award Letter to let you know how much financial aid that school can provide you.
The amount of financial aid you qualify for is based on your “unmet need” — the difference between your school’s cost of attendance and your EFC. But even if your EFC is zero, how much aid you actually get depends on whether you’re a fulltime or part-time student, the length of your program, and the amount of need-based funding your school has to offer.
If you qualified for a Pell Grant, your school’s Award Letter will confirm it and include the amount in your total financial aid package.
3) Talk to your school’s financial aid office. If your SAR and Award Letter note that you qualified for a Pell Grant, talk to your financial aid administrator to confirm that your school received the money from the federal government. If they did, then your Pell Grant probably went straight to the school’s Finance office, where it was applied as needed to your tuition, fees, and other attendance charges.
If your cost of attendance was equal to or more than your Pell Grant, you wouldn’t have gotten any “change” back, but if your Pell Grant was more than your cost of attendance, your school would likely have sent you the leftover money. In either case, your financial aid office should be able to determine where your Pell Grant went.
4) Call the U.S. Student Aid Information Center. If you think you must have qualified for a Pell Grant but don’t see any mention of one on your SAR or Award Letter, or if your financial aid office has no record of one, call the federal financial aid Information Center at 1-800-433-3243, 1-800-730-8913 (TTY), or 1-319-337-5665. (You may be asked for your FAFSA PIN.) They may be able to review your FAFSA with you or give you other instructions for checking your federal financial aid status online.
By the way, don’t forget that your FAFSA doesn’t automatically renew every year. You’ll need to file a FAFSA for each year you’re in school.
Paying for college is not a simple matter these days. College tuition is up across the country, even at state universities, along with just about every other college-related expense. At some community colleges, not even the new maximum Pell Grant ($5,350 in 2009 and $5,500 in 2010) may be enough to cover the entire cost of attendance.
No matter what’s going on with your financial aid situation, your school’s financial aid office is likely to be your best resource. Look to them for help with navigating your award package, finding potential scholarship opportunities, and appealing for more federal aid if your circumstances allow it.
The week is starting with some financial aid good news: it looks like Illinois students are going to get their MAP College Grants back.
A few months ago, state budget gaps and an earlier-than-usual application deadline resulted in depriving more than 130,000 low-income students of the Illinois Monetary Award Program college grants they were counting on. Yesterday, the Illinois governor signed legislation that approved the restoration of the MAP program’s 2009-2010 funding. The only thing is: no one’s exactly sure yet where the $200 million is going to come from.
The governor thinks he and the Illinois legislature can figure out a way to borrow it from a state bank account or two that ended up with more money than they needed this year. But however they manage it, it must be a relief to Illinois college students to know that they’ll get their MAP college grants after all, and that they won’t be forced to drop out of school.
If you’re a student in a state where it doesn’t look like state financial aid is coming back any time soon, you can always appeal to your school’s financial aid office for help. If you can prove that student aid you were counting on fell through due to true economic hardship, your school may be able to get you more federal financial aid.
As far as Illinois is concerned, it appears that the budget cuts’ impact on college students (and the resulting publicity) has renewed state officials’ commitment to higher education, which is good news for everyone. The state’s only way back to a working economy is through education and training for new industries and new jobs. Both current students and workers who were laid off too late to make the state financial aid deadline last spring will benefit from restored MAP college grants, and in the long run, so will Illinois.
Believe it or not, if you’re thinking about continuing your education with a graduate degree, it’s already time to start researching grants for grad school. Scholarships and grants for grad school are highly competitive, so it may work to your advantage to prepare and apply as early as you can. Due to the extensive review process, many deadlines for the first round of grad school grant competitions are in the fall.
Grants for Grad School are Merit-based Aid
Grants and scholarships for grad school may have some need-based component to them, but they are usually merit-based. These are financial aid awards for students who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement and professional promise in their fields, or who in other ways than financial need prove that they meet the intense eligibility criteria of the grad school grant or scholarship sponsor.
Many grants for grad school are classed as stipends, intended to cover education expenses ranging from cost of attendance to housing and living bills.
Grants for Grad School Sponsors: Colleges and Foundations
Individual colleges and universities are a primary source of grants for grad school because most graduate financial aid is department-specific. Many academic departments create their own graduate scholarships for students who excel in those fields. These days, there is a growing supply of department grad scholarships specifically for financially needy students.
Public and private sponsors, including nonprofit foundations, institutions, and corporations, are another source of scholarships and grants for grad school. There are any number of prestigious national foundations looking for the next generation of world leaders, game changers, and scholars for their equally prestigious graduate fellowships.
No Pell Grants for Grad Students
Graduate students do not qualify for Pell Grants, which are reserved for pre-bachelor degree undergraduates only. Grad students are eligible for federal TEACH grants, however, if you plan to pursuing a graduate teaching degree and are willing to teach low-income children in a designated teacher shortage area for 4 years post-graduation. Graduate students in teaching can get TEACH grants up to $8,000.
Searchable Grants for Grad School Database on the Federal Student Aid Website
The Federal Student Aid website maintains a scholarship database that lists thousands of grants and scholarships offered by both individual schools and private foundations.
The best way to search for suitable grants for grad school is by the subject you intend to get your graduate degree in. For example, a search on the subject keyword “communications” turned up 46 university and private scholarships. Not all were grants for grad school, but the extensive database brings into one place opportunities from all the best-known private sources as well as hundreds of colleges and universities.
In July, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission launched a new effort to crack down on Internet scams of all types: government grant offers, get-rich-quick come-ons, home-based businesses for single moms, guaranteed debt relief, guaranteed foreclosure prevention:
Well, we here at EducationGrant could drone on about get-rich-quick schemes all day, but identifying grant scams is like playing Whack-A-Mole: for every scam that gets whacked, a new one pops up:
Instead, here’s a description of cybercrime right from the horse’s mouth. The subject is fake business opportunities, but it applies equally to education grant scams, mortgage scams, and debt relief scams:
Courtesy of the Federal Trade Commission
Have a safe schoolyear, everyone!
Several months ago, EducationGrant alerted readers about online con artists flooding the Internet with grant scam websites that claim special access to thousands of dollars in free government grants and offering you exclusive secrets to getting your hands on some of that money. Fortunately, once you know how to recognize an Internet grant scam website, the con is not hard to spot.
Well, 6 months later, the pictures of the president are gone, but the internet grant scam sites are still out there (still displaying logos of all the impressive TV news that supposedly endorse the site), still preying on people who are easily fooled by loud promises of easy money and inside information that will propel their grant applications to the head of the line.
How to Investigate an Internet Grant Site
I saw a “press release” for one of these helpful grant sites the other day and followed its trail. (Some press release websites allow you to publish your own press release for a fee.) Clicking on the link in the “press release” took me to GovernmentGrantSource, which looks very similar to countless other helpful grant sites that have since been identified as scams.
It even has a .net web address, which gives the impression that it’s a nonprofit, public service site, rather than a commercial site.
This website’s membership services will cost you $4 for a trial period and $40/month unless you cancel within a certain amount of time. (Hmm, sounds familiar.)
The site is careful to state its fees a little more clearly than similar sites did six months ago. But since they’re asking us for money up front, I thought I’d do a little homework on the company. I went onto the Internet and searched for the phone number listed in the press release’s Contact Information section. (Not the website’s free 888 phone number, but the contact number of the person who published the press release.)
It turns out that the area code is in Canada and phone number is for a cell phone reseller. OK, maybe both the helpful grant site and the cell phone reseller site are owned by the same larger company.
A little more exploration of my search results eventually led me to a site where I found the Canadian phone number together with an email address. The name in the email address matched the name in the press release’s Contact Information box.
Sounds like a clue.
Next, to see if there was a company website matching the email address, I changed the email address (name@) to a website address (www.) and put that address into my browser. Here’s where I ended up.
It’s certainly possible that this website owner has government grant information and application tips worth $40 a month (forever), but there’s no question that he also enjoys cars.
Check out what the Federal Trade Commission has to say about Internet scams:
How to Recognize an Internet Grant Scam Website
Watch out for any site and/or any customer service phone rep that:
How to Find a Legitimate Government Grant Site: Look for .gov
How to Recognize an Internet Grant Scam Website: Do Your Homework
Don’t accept an Internet site’s flashy promises and lures of exclusive offers and information at face value. Do some investigation and remember that no legitimate website will ever charge you for information available for free on a federal or state government site.
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