Double Pell Grant; How to get it?

Paying for College
1

<p>Hey, I’m new and my name is Adam.</p>

<p>I’m a sophomore student at Bergen Community College in Paramus NJ. I live out of County, and thus pay out of county rates (which comes to just under twice the amount for in county students).</p>

<p>My EFC is incredibly low (Filling out my FAFSA showed an EFC of $200). This makes sense because we live in Northern NJ, my dad doesn’t make alot, and I have 4 siblings (lots of mouths to feed).</p>

<p>I received an email from my community college stating that i may be eligible for a double pell. Attempting to research this on google is pretty much worthless, as I can’t find anything!!! :(</p>

<p>I checked the requirements, and it looks like I might actually meet them:</p>

<p>Took 15 credits in the Fall 2010 Semester
Taking 15 credits in this current Spring 2011 semester</p>

<p>My GPA is a 3.58, and at the end of this semester I am hoping it’ll move up to at least 3.6 (will end up with a couple of B’s, but we’ll see).</p>

<p>my goal is to transfer to the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in either Spring 2012 or Fall 2012.</p>

<p>But back to NOW… How does this double pell help me? If i take 6 credits worth of courses of the summer, how much additional would I receive towards these classes?</p>

<p>My pell estimate for the 2011-2012 semester is $5400</p>

<p>My pell award for the 2010-2011 semester was $5350</p>

<p>If I take the summer courses, what would I end up with?</p>

<p>Adam</p>

2

<p>I’m curious too about second Pell grants status right now with the federal budget uncertainty. Are college financial aid offices counting on or offering second Pells to continuing undergraduate students this summer if the students received Pell grants for spring and fall semesters already this school year?</p>

3

<p>You would have to take full time classes to be eligible for a full semester’s worth of summer Pell. That would be half the annual amount. At the schools I am familiar with full time for a semester (including summer) is 12 credit hours (though check with your school). For 6 credit hours you would probably receive half a semester’s worth. </p>

<p>But Summer Pell is on the chopping block with the budget negations. No one knows yet if it will actually be available this summer or not. It is also possible that 2011-2012 Pell amounts will be reduced below the amounts currently anticipated.</p>

4

<p>my school considers 12 credits full time, so I would have to take 6 over the summer. There are 3 summer sessions available at my CC, but i’m running into an issue that I only have 6 classes left before I graduate CC (About 15-18 credits worth or so), and most of them are not available over the summer courses (except for a Wellness and Exercise course that I need to take).</p>

<p>Unless I take some classes that would aid my schooling at my transfer-to school.</p>