Pell Grant and Residency Wavier

[natshar]

I'm about the fill out the FAFSA and I was told due to circumstances and my income I very likely qualify for the Pell Grant. So my question is would the Pell Grant be able to used towards the TESU residency waiver? What if I'm enrolled at TESU in a class would that make me eligible to use the Pell grant for the residency waiver? Also would I be able to use the Pell Grant for teceps?

[vetvso]

So yes it should be able to be used but you will need to talk with the financial aid office to be sure they use it the way you want. Also keep in mind you will have to pay and take classes. Full time at TESU is 6crds this Nov semester.

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Complete for FASA ASAP and have them evaluate you for everything. You can accept or deny each item later with TESU.

[MNomadic]

Whatever you get awarded for the Pell Grant gets split into 4 quarters. For a given quarter, you have to be taking 6 credits at tesu to be eligible to use that quarter's full amount. So hypothetically, if they awarded you $6000(the max possible), you'd get $1500 for a given quarter if you took 6 credits at tesu. 6 credits at tesu would cost $2000(with SDC discount or as a NJ resident) or $3000. Teceps don't count towards residency. So basically, you have to actually take classes through TESU and the Pell Grant would go straight to tuition. There wouldn't be any extra to put towards residency waiver unless you have other grants, scholarships etc as well.

[dfrecore]

I think what a lot of people here do is take their Pell to a CC, take courses there towards their Big 3 degree, save any extra cash (there may be quite a bit extra each term), and then use that cash to pay for ACE/NCCRS courses. And start saving up for the residency waiver, capstone, cornerstone, whatever the school you want to go to requires.

Here in CA, a 1-semester term for a resident is about $750, and you can get the max because they also add in living expenses. So there's a LOT left over to save up for a 4-yr school which won't be fully covered.

[natshar]

Yeah I guess what I was asking is say I earn all my credit through study.com, cleps etc. Would I be able to use the Pell grant for the waiver specifically even if don't take any classes (besides the capstone and cornerstone).

I already have an associates degree from community college

[Ideas]

No, because you can only use the Pell grant at a school that you're enrolled at least half-time at. Like someone said above, TESU costs so much per credit that the grant won't even pay for the courses. There's nothing left to go toward the waiver. So the answer is no, not directly.

As dfrecore was saying, which can be difficult to grasp at first, you can go the indirect route which involves a community college. The indirect route requires using the grant at the cheapest school you can find, which will be a community college. You have to take their classes just to get the Pell grant. Since they are a cheap school, you then get a check mailed to you for the difference between the grant and the tuition/fees. Then you can save this and spend it toward your TESU waiver. How much you will have leftover depends on how cheap you can get those classes for, which can depend on where you live.

[dfrecore]

And you can still take CC credits, to get your Pell grant money.

You could also decide to switch to COSC - there's no residency waiver, and you have to take the Cornerstone and Capstone anyway, so that's 2 courses - and their courses are cheaper than TESU.

[Ideas]

COSC could be a pain though, because of needing more upper level credits.

What degree are you interested in?

[natshar]

And you can still take CC credits, to get your Pell grant money.

You could also decide to switch to COSC - there's no residency waiver, and you have to take the Cornerstone and Capstone anyway, so that's 2 courses - and their courses are cheaper than TESU.

You guys have good points about the CC, maybe I'll take a couple, but I currently have 72 community college credits. I do plan on enrolling in a 3 credit class on Microsoft excel at community college in the winter semester (more for personal development for job skills then for the credit). However, maybe I'll take another 3 credit class so that I can be a half-time student. The community colleges where I live are cheap, this one is $100 a credit hour.

[vetvso]

Please keep in mind that some schools have a limit to the amount of community college credits you can transfer in.