Presently there are currently 9 federally backed university grant programs accessible in the nation, and over six hundred state subsidized programs. This article will briefly go over the three most popular federal provided programs having need based qualifications. Federal merit based grants will be discussed in a future post. The approach for application for most of them starts much the same way which is to submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA form needs to be filled out every year if the college student will be applying for assistance for that forthcoming year. Awards are usually arranged in one of two categories: Need based and merit based. Need based grants are the types where the university student will need to meet certain financial disadvantages wherein they would not be able to enroll in higher education because of lack of funds. Merit based grants are the ones where the college student qualified in accordance with one performance accomplishment or another. Below are a list of grants in the need based category along with a short description of each.
Need Based Grants:
Pell Grant Pell grants are granted based upon financial need because they are only obtainable to students whose family household income is $50,000 or less. While this sum appears low, The United States Government distributes millions of dollars each year via the Pell Grant program. Pell grants are paid out straight to the student’s university and if there is funds left over after tuition, room and board, and expenses are paid, the student may decide how the remaining money is designated.
Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) This specific need based grant is much like the Pell Grant with the principal distinction being that the school a student attends holds the authority to figure out how much money is assigned to the student. Because of this there is commonly a range in the household family income limit which decides eligibility for the grant.
Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) The Academic Competitiveness Grant is based on financial need; however there’s an academic performance component to it as well. Students who are eligible for the Pell Grant can also be eligible for the Academic Competitiveness Grant. As in the FSEOG Grant, the school decides how much grant money awarded to the student but bases the calculation on the student’s performance.
All of these grants require the student to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form which can be done on the U.S. Department of Education’s website or by printing out the forms and mailing them in. Once the forms have been submitted and reviewed the college student will receive the Student Aid Report (SAR) which enables them to figure out how much they may be eligible for and how much their Expected Family Contributions (EFC) is. Dependent on the information contained in the SAR, each university you’ve expressed an interest in will prepare an award notice, a financial aid package they are willing to provide you in return for gaining you as a student.
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