Pell cutoff and Raise at work

swimcatsmom
Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:48:33 +0000

The maximum EFC for 2009-2010 for the Pell was around 4617. The cut off has not been announced yet for 2010-2011. It may go up a little as the Pell max is scheduled to increase a little ($200ish I think but that can change of course) next year. But one year the Pell went up and the cut off went down for some odd reason so who knows with the govt. You can use the FAFSA forecaster on the FAFSA website to get a rough estimate. Also college board has one you can use.

Keep in mind that the Pell is prorated according to your EFC. It is not a case of EFC 0 - 4617 you get $5350 and 4620 you get nothing. With a 0 EFC you get the maximum $5350 (this year) but as the EFC increases the Pell amount reduces accordingly - for instance at EFC 200 the Pell is reduced to $3400 -not inverse $ for $ but close) until it is 0 at around 4619. So you may be better off with the pay raise even if some pell eligibility is lost.

Though eligibility for other aid that requires Pell eligibility is something to think of. For instance my daughter gets the SMART grant, a grant for Juniors/Seniors majoring in certain areas - the grant is $4000 so losing Pell eligibiltiy would cause her to lose the SMART as well as the Pell. And students applying for certain major scholarships such as the Gates must be pell eligible.