Pell Grant
This is the government grant that is based on income, the cost of living at your school and hours you are taking at college, and it’s processed from the FAFSA website through your school’s financial aid section. Remember to apply early, because it can take eight to 12 weeks to get the funds approved and sent to your school’s account.
Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education Grant (TEACH Grant)
This is a program that provides grants up to $4,000 per year to students who agree to teach in a high-need, low-income area for four years as a full-time teacher. You need to sign an agreement to get the grant, and if you don’t fulfill the agreement it will revert to a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan.
Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)
The FSEOG is for students with exceptional financial needs. It is processed the same way your Pell Grant is processed, but your school has a set amount of funds it can distribute so apply early.
Raise the Nation
This organization helps single mothers, especially those who teach or volunteer in their communities. It offers a scholarship program to help those women who were denied enough resources to go to school.
Individual college scholarships and grants
Each school has its own set of grants and scholarships, and those schools that were founded for women and have a reputation for serving women often have excellent programs to support young single mothers, including grants, child-care and other support services.
Paying for school isn’t the only concern that single mothers have. They need food, medical care, childcare and housing, too. There are several programs that can help pay for those things so that a single mom can go to school full time.
Medicaid
This is federally funded medical care for pregnant women, young children and adults who care for young children, but they must fall below the federal poverty line or 133 percent of the federal poverty line for pregnant women and children under age 6.
CHIP
Children’s Medicaid. If you can’t qualify for Medicaid, you might be able to get CHIP for your kids. It’s a premium-based insurance program, the fees are minimal and the co-pays and prescription drugs are as low as $3.
Food Stamps
This is a federally funded program that assists families with very low income with help to purchase food.
WIC
Also good for providing food for women, infants and children, this program supplements certain healthy food items into the diet of pregnant and nursing mothers and infants.
CCMS (Texas)
This is a child-care assistance program and the money is paid directly to the vendor. They pay for all, or a part, of the tuition at an approved child-care facility in the area, and you get to choose which facility your child goes to.