Pell Grants

The Federal Pell Grant Program provides need-based grants to low-income undergraduate and certain post baccalaureate students to promote access to postsecondary education. Students may use their grants at any one of approximately 5,400 participating postsecondary 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 U.S. 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 postsecondary institutions. The EFC is the sum of: (1) a percentage of net income (remaining income after subtracting allowances for basic living expenses and taxes) and (2) a percentage of net assets (assets remaining after subtracting an asset protection allowance). Different assessment rates and allowances are used for dependent students, independent students without dependents, and independent students with dependents. After filing a FAFSA, the student receives a Student Aid Report (SAR), or the institution receives an Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR), which notifies the student if he or she is eligible for a Federal Pell Grant and provides the student's EFC.

FSA Handbook Federal Pell Grant Program

Federal Pell Grants are direct grants awarded through participating institutions to students with financial need who have not received their first bachelor's degree or who are enrolled in certain postbaccalaureate programs that lead to teacher certification or licensure. Participating institutions either credit the Federal Pell Grant funds to the student's school account, pay the student directly (usually by check) or combine these methods. Students must be paid at least once per term (semester, trimester, or quarter); schools that do not use formally defined terms must pay the student at least twice per academic year.

Who Gives Out the Federal Pell Grant Money?

There are over 20,000 grant sources, and the first place to start to learn about them, and find out about them, is the US Government website at www.grants.gov.

There is a huge amount of information to be found on the site. You can find about about the various sources of Pell Grant funding and you can discover which Federal Pell Grants to apply for. You can make applications at the site and monitor them.

This process is grueling; the US web site is slow and complex, and it takes time, there is huge amount of information to sift through and a lot to discover and learn.

After an hour or two into the process it can be most disheartening, and it is easy to give up.

Luckily there are software programs to automate the entire process!

Claiming Pell Grants 

Using automation to get your grant money!

 

This software will guide you through every Federal Pell Grant available to you and give you templates and tips for writing applications.
They have help lines and step by step instructions.
They make it very easy.
It's virtually done for you in a fraction of the time it would take if you could actually wade through to the finish yourself.