Almost all students have no idea that one of the most ideal sources of college and university funding available is the Federal Pell Grant program. The awesome thing about this particular program is that it is not like most government based loan programs, you do not have to pay this one back!
Another wonderful aspect of the Federal Pell Grant program is that you can get the maximum amount available for each and every year that you attend college. In this article we will look at a few of the ways that you can qualify for the maximum amount available to you.
The first thing that you need to know about is the EFC. That stands for; Expected Family Contribution. In other words your Pell Grant amount will be based upon the amount of money given to you by your family to help you with your college tuition. So; the less amount of money you and your family have for your college tuition, the larger the amount of your Pell Grant.
Lets look at a few tips that you can easily implement to make sure that you receive the maximum sized Government Pell Grant available for every year you are in college.
When you fill out the FAFSA form do not include any retirement plans or income on this form. The reason is that almost all retirement plans are established with pretax dollars, so you can't touch them before you are 59 and half years of age. Hopefully your out of school before then! If you do have a retirement plan remember, if you take that money out early you will be penalized.
Make sure you have as little money in your bank accounts as possible before you fill out the FAFSA form. Any money you do have in your account when you fill out the form you will have to report. So use it before you fill out the form.
Do you have college age siblings? Well here is a great tip. The more siblings in a family that are in college at the same time the better. This is really a great benefit, because for each family member in school the EPC is reduced by half! What that means to you is great. If your Expected Family Contribution was lets say $5000 for just you, if you have a sibling in school to the EFC will be reduced to just $2500.
For the school year of 2011 the maximum Pell Grant amount has risen from $5,350 to the new amount of $5,550. But remember this amount is dependent on your bank savings and the amount that your family will contribute to your education. Be sure to consider the cost of the school that you wish to attend. Look at all your schooling options. Ask yourself this too, are you attending fulltime or part time?
Be sure to get all of the information that you possibly can before filling out the FAFSA form. Getting all of the information you can before hand will greatly help in receiving the maximum Pell Grant available to you. Be sure to got to this very helpful site for more information;
www.MyPellGrant.net
