The Federal Pell Grant Program provides grants to undergraduate students who come from low-income families to help them gain access to post-secondary education. These grants are need-based and can be used at nearly 5,400 colleges and universities.
The value of the grants vary based on the expected financial contribution of the student's family to his education, on the cost of attendance at the student's chosen post-secondary school and on the student's full-time or part-time status.
Financial need for each applicant is determined by the information provided on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). FAFSA combines information about the student's income, parent income, household size and number of family members attending post-secondary school. This information also helps to determine the expected financial contribution for the student's family.
More information about the grant is available at the web site for the U.S. Department of Education.
The Sallie Mae Fund, which is known for providing loans and scholarships to students pursuing secondary education, also provides Unmet Need scholarships for low-income undergraduate students.
These scholarships are available to students whose families earn a combined income of $30,000 or less, and is designed to help students whose financial aid package from loans and scholarships falls more than $1,000 short of the actual needs for financing. The value of the scholarships range between $1,000 and $3,000.
Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents and be accepted or enrolled as full-time undergraduate students at accredited colleges or universities. Students must have a minimum grade-point average of 2.5.
More information about the Unmet Need scholarship is available at Sallie Mae's web site or by contacting Scholarship America at [email protected].
The Gates Millennium Scholars fund was started in 1999 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. These scholarships, which are designed to meet the unmet financial needs for low-income students, are renewable based on academic progress and can even provide graduate school funding beyond regular post-secondary education.
Students are eligible for these scholarships if they are legal U.S. citizens or permanent residents and are members of a minority ethnic group (African-American, American India/Alaska Native, Asian and Pacific Islander American or Hispanic American). Students must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.3 and must be enrolling for the first time in an accredited college or university as a full-time student.
Recipients should demonstrate leadership in community service or other extracurricular activities and meet the eligibility criteria for the Federal Pell Grant.
More information is available at the Gates Millennium Scholars web site.