Pell Grants are reserved for students with the highest level of financial need, with the majority going to students with family incomes less than $30,000 a year. However, students with family incomes up to $60,000 may qualify based on their family's individual financial circumstances and their school's yearly cost of attendance.
Pell Grant recipients must be United States citizens or 'eligible non-citizens'. For federal financial aid purposes, an eligible non-citizen is one of the following:
-a United States permanent resident or conditional permanent resident;
-a refugee, asylee, parolee, or victim of human trafficking with the appropriate documentation;
-a citizen of Palau, the Marshall Islands, or the Federated States of Micronesia.
All students who are not United States citizens must have current legal documentation to prove their eligibility for aid. For permanent residents, this would be the I-551 Alien Registration Card, commonly known as a "green card." For students in the United States under other circumstances, such as refugee or asylee status, they will need to present an I-94 card with the correct stamp. Citizens of Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia only need their valid passport.
Students must have earned their high school diploma or GED to receive a Pell Grant. To continue receiving grant money each term, they must be enrolled full or part-time in an eligible program of study at an accredited school and maintaining satisfactory academic progress. Satisfactory academic progress is defined differently by each institution, so students should check with their school to make sure they are meeting this standard. Students cannot receive Pell Grants for more than the equivalent of 18 full-time semesters.
-Males age 18 and older must have registered with the Selective Service to receive Pell Grants or any other form of federal financial aid.
-Students who are convicted of a drug offense while receiving Pell Grants may become ineligible for future aid.
-Students who have failed to make timely payments on a previous student loan may not receive Pell Grants.
-Pell Grants are not available to incarcerated students.
To receive Pell Grants or any other form of federal financial aid, students must fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly known as the FAFSA, and submit it on time each academic year. Each state has a different deadline, so students should check with their financial aid counselor at their college to make sure they submit their FAFSA on time.