How much does the government spend on student financial aid? Student Aid

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It varies from year to year. The President submits a budget for Department of Education expenditures. For FY2008, the President’s budget says: In 2008, the Federal Government will provide nearly $ 91 billion in financial aid to 10.4 million students to help pay for college (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy08/browse.html) You can also see how spending is projected by state: http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/statetables/index.html Hope that helps some!

My husband made around $ 30K last year but we have two kids and are married. I got a full Pell Grant to pay for my tuition and a student loan for books, etc. If your income was combined with theirs and it would equal around $ 30K-$ 35, you may get full paid tuition. You never said how much they made so it’s hard to say. Just apply and combine yours and your parent’s income and see what happens. That’s about all you can do. It varies depending on the income and people living in the home, etc. I’m not sure about the whole ‘two dollars over $ 3000 thing. I’ve never heard of that. All I’ve ever done is apply with the in rank I had.

Anyone can get “financial aid” by filling out the fafsa regardless of income (or parental income) in the form of Unsubsidized Stafford loans. So it is NOT TRUE that “some students don’t receive federal aid because their parent’s income is too high”. A dependent freshman can borrow up to 5,500 a year. You do not need a cosigner and you don’t have to pass a credit check to take out a Stafford loan. There is not a “Magic Number” of income limits to where someone would not get financial aid. Isn’t America GREAT???

There is no “maximum” amount of money that you can make. The formula for determining how much aid you qualify for is set in the law, and there is no dollar limit on it. It all depends on how your in rank calculates out using the formula. In order to qualify for a Federal Pell Grant for the 09/10 school year, the maximum EFC you can have is 4617. But that won’t get you the maximum Pell (which is $ 5350 for a year), only a small one. So if the school you’re attending costs more than whatever Pell Grant you qualify for (if you do), you’ll probably end up with some Stafford loans, which are included as federal student aid.

Soy: Generally speaking, all financial aid funds are disbursed directly to the school – I’m honestly surprised to learn that there are state grant funds that offer the option to have the funds sent directly to you. The “real” reason that funds are usually disbursed directly to the school is to prevent fraud. You can imagine how certain criminally-inclined minds might cook up a scheme to apply for learning grant funds, despite the fact that the applicants aren’t really attending school. By sending the money to the school, the funding organizations can insure that the money is only going to the benefit of actual students. From your perspective, the advantage of money going directly to the school is that the school will apply those funds to what you owe for your tuition and fees. To be honest, nothing else really matters if you don’t pay those. Students who don’t pay for their tuition and fees find themselves directorially dis-enrolled, and once that happens, what’s the point of textbooks, school supplies and campus housing and meals? If you’ve already covered the full cost of your tuition and fees, go ahead and have the money sent to you – your school is only going to forward it on to you, anyway. If your tuition and fees have not been paid, let the school get first crack at the money – once your account is paid off, they’ll send you the remainder. Your “extra” financial aid is not an accident or an over-estimation, and it’s certainly not a gift. It’s expected that you’ll qualify for more than enough to pay just your tuition and fees, because those two expenses are only a small part of the total learning expenses. The rest of that money is intended to help you pay for books, room and board, transportation expenses, school supplies, and even a computer. Use the money wisely, because your school (and state) gave you that money because they kind of reckon that you’re going to need it. Excellent luck to you – I hope that helped.

It really depends on what you need the money for. If the money is going towards your tuition/fees (which seems the most likely option), have it sent to the school for them to apply it directly to your student account. This saves you the hassle of having to cash the check and then send in money for tuition. If your tuition is already paid for whatever reason (like if you had a full erudition), you could have it sent directly to you to place towards books, transportation, food, etc. This is really the only situation in which I would recommend having the grant money sent to you directly. If your grant covers more than your tuition, have it sent to the school and have the school send you a refund check for the difference (or apply it to next semester/year). If you are not graduating, you will likely need to call the accounting office to request a refund check…most schools just roll over credits to your account. (In my case, they rolled over a balance from my apprentice account to my law school account! Kind of a nice surprise, but I would have rather had that money upfront…) Excellent luck! Delight in the grant money!