How much income impacts financial aid?

Question

In your experiences, where is the threshhold of income at which your financial aid was affected? That is, how much money did you have to earn before your eligibility for grants (Pell, etc) started disappearing? $10,000? $20,000?

I'm a single, independent-status student, so obviously my threshhold would be lower than that someone who has children or dependants, but higher than that of someone who is a dependent student living with parents.

My annual cost of attendance is just over $13k. It's a state school.

Answer 1

That is a tough question to answer because it depends on your school. If you are a single independent student, then depending on what you earn, your EFC (Expected Family Contribution) may be higher then, say, a single independent student who has a child. The FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) takes may factors into account when determining your EFC: your income, your household status (how many are in your household and of those how many attend college), any savings you may have, any government assistance you may receive, etc.

Once your EFC is determined, it depends on what your Cost of Attendence is at your school. You indicated that the COA is just over $13k. Say, for example, your EFC is 3000. The $13k - $3k would give you $10k of "gross need". And in this example with the EFC being 3000, you would be eligible for a $1360 Pell Grant award. That would bring your unmet need down to $8460. And your unmet need would continue to go down with each type of award you may receive (whether it be grants, scholarships, or loans).

Each school is different with the funds it has. Federal funds are apportioned to each school eligible to recieve and award federal funds. Then schools have their own instutional grants, scholarships, and loans with different criteria for awarding.

So, it's not just a question of how much money you earn before grants start disappearing. You should go ahead and complete the FAFSA (www.fafsa.ed.gov) and then talk to your financial aid counselor about what you may be eligible for.

Good luck!

Answer 2

The other answer is correct. Apply and see what you are eligibile for. You can list several schools when you apply. The Pell Grant will typically be the same school to school, though not ALWAYS.