Student Success Center

Another Federal Grant for Students that show exceptional financial need is the “Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant” or (SEOG). The Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program makes awards to students that show exceptional need, and can add $100 to $4,000 in grant money to the student’s financial aid package.

Priority is typically given to students that are already receiving a Pell Grant. Only Undergraduate Students are eligible. The award amount is set by your schools financial aid office and will depend on the schools availability of funds. That is why is better the sooner you complete your FAFSA, so that funds are not depleted from the school you are choosing to attend. Another variable in determining the amount of your award can be the amount of other aid you are receiving from that school.

Application process: You must apply through the Financial Aid Office at the school you choose to attend. They will use your FAFSA results to then determine the size of your award. It is important to apply as early as possible, because deadlines very from school to school.

Once you know what type of Financial Aid for College that you qualify for, it is time to search the different options out. As you review the different types of Government Financial Aid that there are, it is important to research which ones fit your needs best.
The first area to research is Federal Financial Aid sources. There are many sources of Federal Financial Aid, the first areas I am going to talk about are the ones that a student must show financial need for.

The first is the “Federal Pell Grant”. This is a grant and does not need to be re-paid. It is available to undergraduates who are pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree and they use it at almost any college in the United States. For those that qualify and show financial need for this grant, they may receive up to a maximum award of $5,550 annually. The actual award amount is based on the COA, EFC and their enrollment status. Students with family income up to $60,000 may be eligible for Federal Pell Grants, however most awards go to families that show exceptional financial need and are lower income families.

Application process: You apply for the federal Pell Grant when you fill out your FAFSA. The sooner you complete the FAFSA the better. You have from January 1, 2011 to June 30, 2011 to receive a Pell Grant for the 2011-2012 School year. Students must apply to renew their grants each year.

Once you have completed your FAFSA the government will use a formula to calculate what they call your EFC or “Expected Financial Commitment”. This is an amount that the government tells schools that the student and parents should be able to afford to spend on a yearly basis towards the student’s college expenses. We previously talked about the COA or “Cost of Attendance” for a college, once you know the COA of the school you want to attend, you can then subtract your EFC from that total and the amount you get is what you can expect to receive in Financial Aid from that college, typically this will be in the form of grants and scholarships and possibly some work study.

One of the big myths we talked about in earlier articles is was that many people feel they cannot afford to go to college. Let me give you an example of attending 3 different schools with much different COA’s and how it will cost you basically the same to attend any of these schools.

For example; after having filled out the FAFSA you find out that your EFC is $18,000. This is what a parent and student can be expected to pay yearly for college. School # 1 has a COA of $18,000. School #2 has a COA of $24,000 to attend and school #3 is a private school with a COA of $42,000 a year. Typically people will look at these 3 schools and say that School #1 is the most affordable. However once you are accepted at these schools they will put together a financial aid package that will cover your COA up to the $18,000. In this scenario, School #1 would not give you any Financial Aid, because their COA is the same as your EFC. However, school #2 would set up a financial aid package of $6,000 that would still leave you with you EFC amount of $18,000 to pay. School #3 would create a financial aid package of $24,000 that would still make your EFC amount of $18,000.

As you can see the net cost to you will still be the same to attend any of these colleges. So do not narrow your selections to schools that on the surface you think are the only ones you can afford, once you get a Financial aid package back from a school, you may find out that there is no difference in actual cost you between a $42,000 a year school and an $18,000 a year College.