Question about financial aid?
If I am approved to receive financial aid, what is the range amount that I could be receiving? Can I get financial aid and the Pell Grant both at the same time?
Also, is financial aid only to pay for higher education, because I have a child, and I am going to be in school full time, and don’t have the time to work and take care of my newborn, while in school full time…Does financial aid cover living expenses as well?
(In the U.S.) Thanks
CQ:
The single largest source of financial assistance to US college students is the US Department of Education. The Federal Student Aid system provides billions of dollars in financial aid every year, and the majority of students receive one or more forms of this aid.
There are many different programs within the FSA system, some of which are available to everyone who applies, and others which are available only to those applicants who demonstrate particularly “exceptional need”.
The Pell Grant is one of those exceptional need programs, and though it’s the largest of the need-based aid programs, there are several other grant programs, as well. There are also two special loan programs for the neediest students (subsidized Stafford and Perkins), and the Federal Work Study program, which offers the opportunity to earn money working in a part-time, usually on-campus job while you are attending school.
The FAFSA is used to determine whether you qualify for the need-based aid programs. When the Department of Education has reviewed your application, they will compute a personal financial aid index score known as the EFC (Expected Family Contribution). The EFC is a measure of your need – the lower your score, the greater your need. The lowest possible score is zero.
If your EFC is 4041 or below, you are said to have demonstrated exceptional need, and you qualify for need-based forms of aid.
The only need-based aid that is guaranteed to you is the Pell Grant. All “exceptional need” applicants will receive a Pell Grant, but the amount can range from a few hundred dollars to $5350, depending on your EFC score and your registration status (full-time, part-time).
The Department does not actually put together your financial aid package – that is the responsibility of your school. They will receive your EFC from the Department, and use it to figure out how much aid you need, and how much they have available to offer. They’ll tell you what they can provide in an “aid offer letter”, that you will receive from the financial aid office at the school.
When your school is analyzing your need, they evaluate what’s known as your Cost of Attendance – an estimate of what it will cost an average student to attend that school for a year. Cost of Attendance represents all of your direct educational costs, including tuition, fees, books, school supplies, room and board and a very modest allowance for various personal expenses. In the case of a student who will require child care to enable attendance, an allowance for reasonable child care expenses is included in the Cost of Attendance estimate, as well.
Understand that these estimates are not based on your actual expenses – your aid will be based on your school’s analysis of “average” and “modest” and “reasonable” costs. Also understand that your unrelated living expenses (medical insurance, credit card bills, utilities, car insurance, car payments, etc.) are not included in your Cost of Attendance, and financial aid is not intended to pay for any of those.
I hope this helps – good luck!
