Federal Pell Grant Program
The Federal Pell Grant program can be of tremendous assistance to college students who come from lower income households as the loans do not have to be repaid.
As you might expect the qualifying standards for the Pell Grants are rather exacting. In addition, the total amount of the grants are capped at a level that is not sufficient to pay all the costs of attending many colleges and universities.
A brief description of the Pell Grant program from the U.S. Department of Education website is as follows:
“The Federal Pell Grant Program provides need-based grants to low-income undergraduate and certain post baccalaureate students to promote access to post secondary education. Students may use their grants at any one of approximately 5,400 participating post secondary institutions. Grant amounts are dependent on: the student’s expected family contribution (EFC) (see below); the cost of attendance (as determined by the institution); the student’s enrollment status (full time or part time); and whether the student attends for a full academic year or less. Students may not receive Federal Pell Grant funds from more than one school at a time.
Financial need is determined by the Department of Education using a standard formula, established by Congress, to evaluate the financial information reported on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and to determine the family EFC. The fundamental elements in this standard formula are the student’s income (and assets if the student is independent), the parents’ income and assets (if the student is dependent), the family’s household size, and the number of family members (excluding parents) attending post secondary institutions.”
While that may seem like a lot of qualifying factors the fact that the loans do not have to be repaid makes the Pell Grant program well worth looking into if you come from a low family income background and require funds to attend college.
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