<p>I am planning to start at a community college in Jan of '08.
I have been awarded a Federal Pell Grant as well as a SSACI grant from the state of Indiana. </p>
<p>My question is: Will I be allowed to use both or will one grant be taken away from me?</p>
<p>The grants are for the same amount, and I really only need one to pay for books + tuition. But I heard you could get cash back from left over pell grants, and I wanted to know if I would be able to do that. ( I still need to buy a car before I start college, & I was planning on using any left over pell grant to put towards a car - If I get any $ back.)</p>
<p>Financial aid is based on the difference between your EFC (Estimated Family Contribution) and the schools COA (Cost Of Attendance). The COA generally includes tuition and fees, books, room and board and some other estimated costs such as travel, miscellaneous. </p>
<p>If the financial aid award from your school includes both the Pell and the SSACI then you have shown enough ‘need’ to get both offered to you. That being the case you should be able to keep both as long as you are doing the amount of hours you indicated in FAFSA (ie full time if you said full time).</p>
<p>Technically you are not supposed to spend financial aid on buying a car. In reality they do not keep track of how you spend it. Also remember you will pay tax on any grant money in excess of tuition, fees and (I think) books so keep that in mind.</p>