Pell Grant Calculator, FAFSA EFC Compare College Costs
This Pell grant calculator (one of my free online calculators) uses the latest January 2012 payment schedule to determine awards for 2012-2013. Maximum and minimum payments will remain the same for 2012-2013, but some awards in the middle may be slightly different from last year.
The calculator is most useful if you've completed your Pell grant application.
After you apply for Pell grant funding funding, you should know your FAFSA EFC (given at the end of the Pell grant form) and have some idea of your cost of attendance (CoA).
Find out your award amount and start figuring out if it will be enough, or whether you will need college loans.
To use the Pell grant calculator you must have Javascript enabled. Simply enter your EFC number, the school's cost of attendance for one year and choose an enrollment status. (Just numbers- no commas or dollar signs.)
These figures are based on the January 2012 schedule for Pell Grant awards. Last year's schedules were changed because of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. There are some changes scheduled for 2012-2013 because of the omnibus spending bill passed by Congress Dec. 20, 2011. The EFC recalculations made last April will be changed so that:
the 2011-2012 (newly established last year) award for those students with an EFC of between 4618 and 5273 has been changed. Only students with an EFC equal to or under 4995 are eligible for a Pell award, now.
students who would have been eligible for an award with a very low cost of attendance in 2011, will not get an award for the 2012-2013 school year.
Regardless of these changes, you should still apply for Pell grant awards. If you just miss out, it is still possible to qualify for a state grant, because many of these use a higher EFC cutoff. What do you think about the federal Pell grant changes made by the health care bill?
Financial aid officers have some leeway in determining your award. It is the schools that set their cost of attendance and they can adjust your financial aid award under certain circumstances to increase your Pell grant amount. Likewise, it is the schools who determine whether you are meeting the Pell grant requirements so that you can continue to get your awards every year.
The award range for 2012-2013 is:
maximum award is $5,550
minimum award is $575
Federal Pell grant eligibility for a second award within the year for a summer session, has been canceled. But if you used this option in the past, you can use the Pell grant calculator to figure out if you were given the proper award amount.
If you are thinking about college and you are wondering if you can afford it, well that is what a Pell grant is for. If you know that Pell grant eligibility is not a problem and you meet the qualifications, then start figuring out what you can get.
The calculator can be useful if you want to compare college costs to see if one school would qualify you for a higher amount than another. Online schools will qualify you for the same amount that you would receive for attending a traditional school.
It may also help you decide whether to go to school full-time or part-time. If you are already receiving Pell grants and you want to see how much you would get if you (for instance) switched to part-time, this tool will tell you.
You can also use it to check an award amount given by your school, to make sure it is right. And in this economic recession, you can use it in your personal budgeting to make a decision about a college loan.
If you use a different Pell grant calculator, it may not be based on the latest numbers. If you do not see an option for "less than halftime", the calculator is using award numbers from before 2009-2010 (when this type of enrollment first qualified for a Pell grant).
This Pell grant calculator ensures the privacy of your information. All the calculations are done on your computer, not on my server. (This does not mean that any software will be added to your computer- it will not. All computers have this capability. Yours will simply be reading the code as it does with any web page.)
Be aware that this is not the case with many calculators online. Most will transmit any information you submit.
