how do you qualify for a college grant?

Answer 1

Qualification for most grants is need-based, and you stand a greater chance of getting one if your income or your family's income is low.

I suggest you explore all federal funding and grant options at the Federal Student Aid website http://federalstudentaid.ed.gov/

You may also want to read the Handbook of the Pell Grant -- this is an 86 page document that contains everything about the grant
http://ifap.ed.gov/sfahandbooks/attachments/0203Vo3MasterFile.pdf

Or you can call the Federal Student Aid Information Center http://www.ed.gov/programs/fpg/gtepfpg.pdf at 1-800-433-3243 and inquire about the process of getting grants for school

Aside from FAFSA http://www.fafsa.ed.gov and Pell Grant http://www.ed.gov/programs/fpg/index.html , you may want to explore private foundation grants

For private grants, you may want to check the Foundation Center's Foundation Grants for Individuals Online http://gtionline.fdncenter.org . It's a subscription based website ($9.95 per month) and their opening blurb says that the database is ideal for "students, artists, academic researchers, libraries and financial aid offices." You may be able to find grants for you.

Answer 2

grants are normally based on income, so the poorer you and your family are, the more you will get, you will also need to file the fafsa.

Answer 3

Pell grand.. info here.
http://www.clovis.edu/FinancialInfoAid/FinancialAssistance/TypesOfAid/pell.asp