Is there any way I can get my Pell Grant back?

Question

In the Spring of '04 I receiced a Pell Grant and started school. I chose to work instead of going to school, which was a stupid mistake on my behalf. I didn't drop my classes and I just quit going to school so I lost my Pell Grant and the next semester that I went to school, which was Fall '05 I had to pay for it. So is there any way I can earn my Pell Grant back? And am I still eligible to get a scholarship if I raise my GPA enough?

Answer 1

Your Pell Grant was most likely taken away because you did not maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress. See, in order to obtain most types of federal student (financial) aid, a student must maintain "Satisfactory Academic Progress" (SAP). Every school has an SAP policy and, at most schools, this means that you need either

(a) pass a a certain percentage of your classes,
(b) pass a certain number of classes,
(c) maintain a certain GPA or
(d) a combination of 1 or more of the above

It sounds like in Spring 2004, you didn't do any of the above. As a result, you lost your Pell Grant.

Federal regulations state that a student who fails to maintain SAP will become ineligible for federal student aid during the semester that follows their "unsatisfactory" record. The good news is that if you do well during that semester, you will regain your eligibility for your Pell Grant during the semester after that. To summarize, you did poorly in Spring 2004 and became ineligible for Pell for the next semester you attended -- Fall 2005. If you did well in Fall 2005, though, you should have become eligible for Pell Grant again in Spring 2006.

Keep in mind, though, that Pell Grants are ALSO (primarily, in fact) based on Financial need. If you have been doing well in school and still haven't been offered a Pell Grant, it might be because you earned "too much" money during the time you were away from school. Pell grants are reserved only for students who show a LOT of financial need, so it's possible that a few thousand dollars in savings might have made you ineligible. Check your most recent FAFSA results to see what your EFC is. If it's higher than $3850, you aren't eligible for Pell even if you get straight A's...

As for your scholarship... The eligibility criteria for scholarship aid is usually determined by the college, so you will need to talk to your school's Financial Aid Office to see what you can do to get it back. Make sure you apply on time, fill out the FAFSA according to your school's deadlines. If you think something's missing from your Financial Aid package, give them a call and find out why.

Answer 2

Contact your financial aid office. They can pull your file and give you specifics.

As for scholarship eligibility...guess it depends on what the requirements of the schoarlship you're thinking about applying say....

Contact the FAID office...they can give you the best direction. :)