History

• Congress implemented the Basic Opportunity Grant Program in 1972 to provide a base with which low-income students could not only finance college, but have increased choice in schools. In 1980, the program was renamed the Federal Pell Grant Program, after Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island.
  
  

Eligibility

• Pell grants are designed for low-income students. The program does not publish income limits, but states that the program factors in tuition costs, the student's income, the family's income and assets, if the student is a dependent, the household size and the family's expected contribution to the cost of the student's education.
  
  

Limits

• Students can apply for consecutive grants but cannot receive more than 18 semesters of support and must be enrolled in a degree-granting institution at least part-time. There are no grade restrictions or criteria.
  
  

Special Programs

• If you are eligible for a Pell grant and your parent or guardian died in the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, or in the attacks on Sept. 11, you are automatically awarded the full amount. However, you must have been younger than 24 at the time of your parent's or guardian's death.
  
  

Application

• To apply for a Pell Grant, students should fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid well before the start of the school year. Students will need to know their income from the prior tax year, their parents' income from the prior tax year, if the student is a dependent, tuition costs and their family's expected financial contribution toward educational costs.