The Pell Grant Amounts You Must Be Aware Of

When you consider attending college, you will be presented with several funding options. You can pay out of pocket, use student loans, seek scholarships and grants for specified programs, or even use the Pell Grant. With many funding sources, you are going to be repaying them within a specific length of time from graduation, many attached with high interest fees. Well, what if you could get free money to pay some of these education costs with? The Pell Grant is the answer. The Pell Grant offers federal funding towards your education at no cost to you, free to be used for any of your costs for college. So what is the maximum award, right? Of course this is a concern for you.

The maximum award amount of the actual Pell Grant itself annually increases, incorporating price inflations during the year. For instance, the Pell award increased to $5,350 for the ’09-’10 academic year defined by the grant. The ’10-’11 academic year will see a maximum award amount possible of $5,500 per the stimulus package President Obama signed in ’09. The maximum award amount is based on an EFC of 0, which demonstrates that you are not financially able to pay for your education costs, per the government guidelines.
When discussing maximum Pell award amounts, you also have to consider a few factors that greatly affect your maximum award amount individually. For instance, your amount awarded depends on:

• Months during academic year in attendance
• Student enrollment status, full or part time
• EFC score
• Actual costs of attending determined by school (cost of attendance or coa)

If you have a higher EFC score, you will see a smaller Pell Grant award as your income shows that you aren’t as in great of a need for the funding as a student with an EFC of zero would be. Once your EFC reaches 4,617 you will be disqualified from receiving any Pell Grant aid, as this is the maximum cutoff threshold for the 2010 school year.

Getting the maximum award amount means that you are financially needy for the funding and must have financial aid to afford your education. The Pell Grant can be a great way to get all of your school supplies and even campus housing as well, so get to work and fill out your FAFSA.