While there are a huge number of college grants available, Pell grants for single mothers are among the most popular and can certainly be a tremendous help in meeting the financial burden of college tuition. While a Federal Pell grant will award up to $5,380 through FAFSA to successful applicants that is still a long short of being able to completely cover your college expenses. So what should you do?
Well the answer is to combine different college grants for women together. If you qualify for a Pell grant then it’s more than likely that you’ll also be eligible for other federal school grants including state aid directly through the school you wish to go to. The criteria is that you must be among the most needy for financial aid (your families financial situation will also be looked at) and the school you wish to attend must be participating in the program. There are about 5,500 of them to choose from and you can also qualify for online university courses too.
How To Apply For A Pell Grant
In order to qualify for any kind of federal college aid you’ll need to pass a benchmarking test based upon your personal situation. The form to fill out is called a FAFSA which stands for Free Application For Federal Student Aid. It’s online so you can apply anywhere, anytime. The deadlines for submission are from January 1st of this year to June 30th of the following year.
For each year you are attending college you’ll need to complete and submit the form in order to continue receiving the Pell grant aid.
Quick Tip: Many schools will have a cutoff time for when they will accept new FAFSA forms for each school year so the best practice is to submit your application in January. The deadline set by the federal government is not going to be same as the one set by your school so make sure you know the date directly from the school itself. A good place to check is the State Financial Deadline on the FAFSA website.
Filling In The FAFSA Form
So this is the painful part! The form is quite long and you’ll need to provide not only your personal details and explanations but also upload copies of your financial documents in order to provide proof to support your claims of need financial help. If you just can’t deal with it then it is allowed for someone else to fill it out for you. The person must state that they are the ‘preparer’ on the FAFSA form and must also provide their Social Security Number or Employer Identification Number (EIN).
After You Submit The Form
Remember that Pell grants for single mothers are not all you can apply for! You also stand a good chance of being approved for others and that’s the real secret to maximizing what the federal college grant programs can give you.
You should also apply for the Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant[FSEOG] as well as the Academic Competitive Grant. The ACG is based upon your performance and grades in high school and so is merit based while the FSEOG is a grant in the truest sense. A nice side benefit of applying to FAFSA for free grants for single mothers is that they will also look at your eligibility for for government loans. Both subsidized and non-subsidized are on offer with very low rates of interest making them the most affordable on the market especially when compared to private student loans.
It must be mentioned here that while the former is a financial need grant,the latter is rather a merit based grant whose eligibility will obviously be based on your high school performance.
Besides the free grants for single mothers,FAFSA will determine your eligibility for the government loans that includes both the subsidized as well as the non-subsidized loans.Both these loans have really low interest rates and will be most affordable to you when compared to the private student loans out there.
There are also “work study programs” which are wonderful for working your way through college.
Finally, don’t forget about student aid through your school. The person to talk to about this will be the financial aid counselor at the school itself.
They are the experts on what kind of direct help you could be entitled to receive from the school or educational institution. You may also find this information on the schools website.
Assistance For Single Moms In College
You know, it’s only when you go digging under the surface that you find out there’s actually a lot of financial assistance programs for women given directly from the state and federal government. These are custom built to help you with meeting the expenses of further education and college tuition fees. The best practice is to do an online search for all the programs available for single parents.
Obviously Pell grants for single mothers are the most preferable when compared to loans as you won’t ever have to pay them back however depending upon your own situation and that of your family you may have no choice but to apply for a private student loan in order to attend college. The most important thing here is to do your necessary leg work and compare all the student loans available. There are many of them out there all competing against each other
which is good news for you.