i'm getting a pell grant for the first time, and was wondering how much money i'll actually get. i'm attending wake tech, taking 8 credit hours. it says i'm eligible for up to $5350, which would be with a full load of classes. after $500 for actual tuition, how much extra money for living expenses (rent, utils, transportation, etc) would i probably get? i tried several online calculators, but they aren't very detailed. if you've got some experience with wake tech and pell grants, i'd really appreciate some input. thanks!

1/6/2010 7:38:58 PM

don't you typically get whatever you're eligible for? i'm in grad school at wssu, and i always receive the same amount that they say i'm eligible for

i've never done the pell grant, but i'm not sure why you wouldn't get whatever amount they come up with

[Edited on January 6, 2010 at 8:03 PM. Reason : .]

1/6/2010 8:02:02 PM

i figured i'd get the maximum for however many hours i ended up with, but i only got the estimate for full-time status... anyone know where one can find a calculator to figure out how much you'll get based on credit hours?

1/6/2010 8:03:38 PM

http://toolkit.collegepayway.com/pellgrantweb/default.aspx

It's based on cost of attendance, not credit hours. Some universities charge per credit hour. NC State was nice, as anything after 12 credit hours was "free". Unsure if Wake Tech is similar. Anyways. the credit hours will lower your cost of attendance, which may or may not affect your Pell Grant award, depending on Expected Family Contribution:
http://toolkit.collegepayway.com/pellgrantweb/default.aspx

Thus if your EFC is 0, and your cost of attendance is $3000, 3000 - 0 = $3000 for the Pell Grant. Lookup the expected COA from Wake Tech. The EFC you probably already have.

1/6/2010 9:57:34 PM

awesome, thank you perlith!

1/7/2010 2:01:40 AM