GRANTS GUIDE - Grants Money Made Easy!

For those students of low-income families, Pell grants are an option for financing your college degrees. Many students over-look this as an option for financing their college years because they do not know that pell grants even exist. Yet, it is through pell grants that many students are able to attend post-secondary institutions and earn their degrees. This in turn leads to them having very successful and rewarding careers.

The terrific news is that you never have to pay back this type of educational funding. Pell grants are strictly on a low-income need basis. The goal of the pell grants are to make it possible for every socio-economic level of students to obtain a college degree and this funding was named after the famous United States Senator, Claiborne Pell. This type of funding is only awarded to students that attend accredited schools and universities. The institution uses the funds to cover the cost of tuition and fees. Typically the school is paid first and sometimes you will receive money directly from the funds once a semester to help cover additional expenses.

How much funding can students receive through pell grants? The amount awarded per student varies on the level of family income, the actual cost of tuition for the school and if the student is going to attend the university full time or just on a part time basis. However, there is a cap on the maximum about available per academic calendar year. This amount changes each year so it can vary depending on the available government funding for the Pell grants. You can expect the maximum amount awarded to increase each year as the cost of living and the cost of tuition rises.

To find out whether you qualify to receive Pell grants you need to fill out the free application provided by the Federal Student Aid which can be located at your college’s financial aid office or even on the Internet. To complete the form out on the Internet you should go to www.pin.ed.gov to receive a personal identification number. Prior to filling out the form gather your social security card, driver’s license, your income records including W-2 forms and income tax forms. It is handy to have these gathered prior to sitting down to fill out the applications.

Once you have completed the Federal Student Aid form, it is important to complete the Student Aid Report to help ascertain if you are indeed eligible for pell grants. Traditionally the deadline is the end of June of the year prior to the year that you will enroll as a student. Since it takes a while for grants to be awarded, it is important to get in all of your information and applications as quickly as possible to not only miss the deadline but to make certain you will have the endowment in time for your academic registration.