You have to confirm your Federal Pell Grant eligibility before spending your time collecting the required information that you need to provide.  Several factors can influence your Federal Pell Grant eligibility result and if you are hesitating, then you have to look for ways to be interviewed by the financial aid office or school counselor in your college or university.

Before you can avail of any grant money, you need to fill-out a FAFSA form that verifies that you will use the Federal Pell Grant mainly for the purpose of education.  You also have to attest that you are not in default of other Federal student grants or loans.  In order to avail Federal Pell Grant eligibility, the individual should be enrolled in an accredited course and on the way with his very first professional certificate or first bachelor’s degree.  The undergraduate student must also prove that he is working hard to progress with his studies.

Federal Pell Grant eligibility will be evaluated depending on these criteria:

1. The student should be in a position of financial need.  Many Pell Grants are given to students whose family income is less than $20,000, but there are usually some exceptions.
2. Another important thing is that you need to have a GED or a high school diploma to take advantage of this program.
3. You should have an official Social Security number.
4. You need to be a permanent resident or a US citizen to avail this grant.

Please check all the conditions for the Federal Pell Grant eligibility before you consider applying. The undergraduate student should live and legally attend school in the United States.  Once you established your Pell Grant eligibility, you can now start your application procedure.  This will begin by filling-out the Application for Federal Student Aid form.  You can do this online to make the process simple.  The Federal processor has to match the data in your application with the other records of different federal agencies.

The financial aid office will be notified of the results within two weeks.  At this point, you have to submit the essential documents to the financial aid office which include the W-2, federal tax returns, Social Security, untaxed income verification, mortgage information, bank statements and business records.

The entire procedure will take about 8 weeks, so you have to apply 10 weeks before the semester starts.  You may apply for Federal Pell Grant every year; just make sure that you always meet their requirements.

You may apply for several Federal Pell Grant eligibility, but only one grant will be awarded per school year.