Not eligible for grants

lynacc · 11-08-2012, 06:11 PM

This is my first post here. And I really hope to get some advice and feedback from u guys. My brother and i filed fafsa and he received some sort of grant but I didn't. Why's that so? Also my parents make only bout 50 grand. And my efc is so high. Wonder whys that.

thumper1 · 11-08-2012, 06:14 PM

Who was the grant from? Was it from your brothers college? Are you a college freshman now?

kelsmom · 11-08-2012, 10:27 PM

Do you mean that your brother's FAFSA comments said he was eligible for a Pell grant, but yours did not? What was your EFC? This is on the page you get when you submit the FAFSA successfully, as well as on the SAR you get once the FAFSA is processed.

mom2collegekids · 11-08-2012, 10:59 PM

Did you put that there would be two kids in college?

Did you accidentally put your parents' income in the "student income" box???

Do you (the student) have savings or a highish income for a student?

What was your brother's EFC and what was yours? What kind of grant did your bro get?

kelsmom · 11-08-2012, 11:07 PM

Lots of possible reasons, including indicating that you are working toward a graduate degree. Let's start with your EFC, and we can go from there.

lynacc · 11-09-2012, 08:04 PM

We filed it when we we were freshman. I'm a sophomore now. He was eligible for pell grant. My efc is a little over 13000. I was working and I still am but a part time. Didnt earn a lot at all. Had about $3000 back at that time in the checking. Don't know what ctitiria I need to meet to be eligible for aid.

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swimcatsmom · 11-09-2012, 08:20 PM

Did you refile for your sophomore year?

Your EFC is based on your parents' income and assets and your own income and assets. The part of the EFC generated by your parents' income and assets would be equally divided between the number of students in college. The part generated by the student's income and assets would belong entirely to that student.

Students have no asset protection and 20% of the student's assets go to the EFC. A student does have some income protection (currently around $6,000) and anything over that 50% goes to the EFC. If your brother had a low enough EFC for the pell and you did not, that would seem to indicate you had a fairly high income (or made some sort of mistake on your FAFSA)..

thumper1 · 11-09-2012, 08:22 PM

Did you put your brother as a member of your family attending college on YOUR FAFSA?

I would get both your form AND your brothers out for this academic year (I'm assuming you are saying he got a Pell THIS year and you did not). Check the figures and info line by line. The only thing that should be different is the info about STUDENT income/assets. His is probably not the same as yours.

How much DID you earn at your job?

mom2collegekids · 11-09-2012, 11:14 PM

???

How much did you earn? If he got a Pell grant then his EFC was likely under $5k. For yours to be $8k more, you would have had to have earned a LOT more.

How much did you earn in 2011? You say that you had $3k in checking when you filed FAFSA.

It sounds like you were working full time. The first $6k of your earnings wouldn't affect EFC, but I think about 50 cents for every dollar in excess of that would go towards EFC. So, that would suggest that you had to have earned more than $20k in 2011 (if I'm figuring correctly...lol )

lynacc · 11-09-2012, 11:36 PM

We filed it for 2010-2011. We were filing it at the same time. And yes I did add my brother to fafsa info. My efc back at that time was around 11000 and I don't remember my brother's. My earning was around 6 grand I'd say. And I just filed another fafsa this past august and my efc has increased to around 13000. Of course I'be earned a little bit more but not a lot and I always use my money on books and other expenses anw. I'm transferring to a state university next fall which by that time time I'll file another fafsa and I'm really afraid that if I'm still not qualified for any type of grant, I wont be able to afford it. Maybe its better to quit woking?

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swimcatsmom · 11-09-2012, 11:41 PM

You (or perhaps your brother) need to check the data you entered. A dependent student has around $6,000 in income protection so should have no impact on your EFC.

thumper1 · 11-10-2012, 09:59 AM

Put your FAFSA and your brothers side by side (from this year). Compare the entries line by line. The ONLY thing that should be different is the STUDENT information. Everything else should be the same (parent income, number in household, number of students in college, NO to all of the dependency questions, etc).

Check TODAY. The good news is that if you are entitled to a Pell grant, you can still receive it.

Something just isn't right...so check and let us know what exactly is different on your brother's FAFSA form for 2012-2013.

lynacc · 11-10-2012, 11:27 AM

We filed it it for 2010-2011. And it was our 3rd semester. He then left for air guard service. So of course he wasn't filing any more fafsa. The only difference I could think of is I was working and he wasn't.

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swimcatsmom · 11-10-2012, 11:41 AM

If your brother is no longer in school then the part of your EFC generated by your parent's income/assets will be double what it would be if your brother was in school. The cut off for any eligibility for the Pell is an EFC a little under 5,000 so you are a long way from qualifying for it.

lynacc · 11-10-2012, 12:07 PM

I just double checked and it was my mistake saying 2010-2011. It was 2011-2012. I compared my fafsa and his. And yeah looks like there r some differences. I pit "No" for question "is or was student in Legal Guardianship? "And his was "yes". And for him "student's # of family members in 2011-2012" was "1" and "student's # in college in 2011-2012: 1" my fafsa didn't say anything at all, not even zero. Just blank even though I rememered putting down #s. Another difference is I answered "off campus" for "Housing Plans" and his was "with patents ".. oh and his efc was 00000. Not a clue why ...

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