Pell Grant

I am in no means a financial aid officer - had to put that out there :) I know my Pell Grants were dependant on how many course hours I had this semester. The minimum being 6 - max being 12. The adjusted according to need based on credit hours taken.

Not sure if its that way all the time.

You will likely get the extra disbursed to you. Financial aid is not based on the cost of tuition alone, but on the "cost of attendance". Even at my super cheap community college, the cost of attendance includes housing, books, transportation, etc.

https://fafsa.ed.gov/help/costatt.htm

My daughter is a college student and she received a check for the excess amount, including the Pell.

If your pell grant is more than you owe the school you should get a refund check sometime this semester. It will come from the college, and the financial aid dept can tell you what date they are dispersed on.

I attended a community college for my pre-reqs and after the 1st semester I was given a full ride scholarship (books included) by the school for my 4.0. They sent me a check about midsemeter every semester for the full amount of my pell (well 1/2 of my pell I guess, since you get 1/2 of your pell for each semester, as long as you are going 12 hours or more).

That money is yours to use as needed, you don't have to keep track of what you spend it on. You do have to claim it on your taxes though :)

Nice! I was curious too if any extra money from your pell grant, seo grant etc can be used for off-campus expenses. It seems like dorms are costly with meal tickets and its better to live off off campus . I am looking into a resident advisor job for partial or full rent paid while going to school. any thoughts?

I get disbursement off mine when it is excess. You are free to use the money for your needs or wants. I use my leftovers for my car payment, food, rent, etc.

Nice. Thank you Livetoride! I am hoping to find a resident advisor part time job for exchange for partial or full rent reduction. That will take care of housing. lol

Congrats on all your hard work!!

I currently have a 4.0 (working on keeping that for summer session as we speak) I was not offered a scholarship.

Maybe I will later on. Let's just hope for the best :)

It needs to be related to school. Room & board and transportation are related expenses. Buying a yacht not so much.

If off campus your expenses are considered higher and you may qualify for more financial aid.

If not used for educational expenses: lab fees, books (IRS has a list of what qualifies) it's taxable. This is where you need to keep track of spending if questioned later and you claim you spent it on directly related items like texts