While there are no strictly defined income requirements for receiving a Pell Grant, the amount that students receive depends on their income and assets or, if the students are dependents, their parents' income and assets. Interested students can fill out an application called the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which calculates their families' Expected Family Contribution (EFC) toward paying for higher education.
In addition to income and assets, the government considers a family's household size and how many children in the family are attending college; these burdens and expenses lower a family's EFC. In the end, the government takes the sum of a student's net income and assets, or the sum of the family's net income and assets if the student is a dependent, and then subtracts burdens and living expenses. The result is the EFC.
If the EFC equals or exceeds $3,850, then the student will receive no money from a Pell Grant. If the EFC is $0, then the student qualifies for the maximum grant amount, which is $5,350 as of February 2010. The minimum grant amount is $304.