If some of your grant dollars are unused, the school will issue you a Pell Grant refund. You may receive a check for the remaining amount, or the school may transfer it via direct deposit into your bank account or student account.
Because Pell Grants are need-based aid, applicants must prove their income is low enough to receive the funds. This discourages many people from even applying, but the application takes into account the number of students in a household who are enrolled in college, as well as other factors.
Degree Status A professional degree or bachelor's degree automatically disqualifies you from Pell Grant funding unless you plan to enroll in a teaching program that leads to certification.
GPA Requirement There is no minimum GPA required to receive the Pell Grant, though a student can lose funding by not maintaining what the specific institution defines as satisfactory academic progress. Typically, this status requires students to earn, at minimum, a 2.0 GPA.
Completion of a bachelor's or graduate degree If you earned or completed a bachelor's or graduate degree, you're not eligible for any government grants.
Also, the family may have special circumstances that affect their ability to pay for college. Eligible students may also qualify for other forms of financial aid, such as institutional grants. For example, some students whose parents earn $100,000 or more will qualify for grants from their college.
Incarceration, misdemeanors, arrests, and more serious crimes can all affect a student's aid. Smaller offenses won't necessarily cut off a student from all aid, but it will limit the programs they qualify for as well as the amount of aid they could receive. Larger offenses can disqualify a student entirely.
If you receive some Pell Grant funding but drop courses after the add/drop date, you will be required to pay the money back. You will have to either return the grant if you have not spent it, use any money in your school account to pay back the government, or be billed by your school.
The federal government dictates if you drop out before the 60% point of the semester, you will have to repay part of the grants you've received. If you wait until the 60% mark or after, you won't have to repay any grants you've received.
If failing grades pull you below academic standards or part-time student status, you can lose future Pell Grant funding. This can also mean you will have to pay some of the funds back. Initially, you may be issued a warning, which gives you a chance to get your grades up.
Pell Grants vs FAFSA The Pell Grant is a financial aid grant for college tuition and expenses that, unlike other loans, does not need to be repaid. The FAFSA is the application process that the U.S. Department of Education uses to evaluate and determine the need for financial aid for the applicant's higher education.
Income Limit To be eligible for the Pell Grant for the 2021-2022 academic year, your EFC needs to be at or below $5,846. Because of this, there is no set income cutoff for Pell Grant eligibility.