GLow Income College Students: Find Excellent Grant Sources

Don't Put Your College Education on the Line

Many, many grant programs are designed to help low income students get a leg up in a college education. Without assistance millions of students would risk a life with no hope of higher education. And part of the mission of this country is to provide a better opportunity.

Excellent sources for grants suited to students from low-income backgrounds include:

  • Federal and state sources
  • Colleges and Universities

and State Student Grant Sources for Financially Disadvantaged Students

Both federal and state governments are excellent providers of grant money. In most cases government student grants go where the money is most needed—into the pockets of low income students.

  • Federal Pell Grant program is one of the largest and most popular in the country. MILLIONS of American college undergrads qualify for Pell Grant aid each year. This is free college money that does not have to be paid back, in contrast to the low-interest Federal loans like the Stafford Loans. But low-income is not necessarily a qualifying factor. In fact, plenty of students from middle-income households also qualify for Pell Grants based on the suite of variables used to calculate a family’s ability to pay for college in any given academic year. But suffice to say many low-income students DO in fact qualify for the Pell.
  • The federal grant money available to students in the Work Study program is based as well on who gets the Pell Grant. This on-campus aid is available to millions of students in undergraduate and graduate programs that need financial assistance to make it through college.
  • The Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) is awarded to academically talented students during their first two years of undergraduate study. Eligible candidates must be receiving the Pell Grant to qualify.
  • The National SMART Grant is awarded to academically talented students during their junior and senior years of undergraduate study. Eligible candidates must be pursuing a degree in a science, math, engineering, or technology field and must be receiving the Pell Grant to qualify for this award.
  • National TEACH Grant is offered to students pursuing education and teaching degrees. This is a grant for service agreement. Students must first prove financial need. Further requirements include the intent to teach a high-need subject—science, math, technology, special education, or foreign language—and the willingness to teach in a low-income public or private school.

Example of state grant aid aimed at low-income students:

CalGrants is one of California’s largest student aid programs. Eligible students may earn over $9,500 annually to help meet college costs. This aid makes it possible for low-income and otherwise disadvantaged students overcome one of the most prohibitive hurdles on the pathway to college—CASH.

Check with your state government’s Higher Education office—many have very easy to use websites. Find out what types of low-income grant programs may be available for you.

Grants from Colleges and Universities

Don’t overlook the grants available from colleges and universities, either. In fact if you think you won’t be able to pay the price for tuition at any of your dream colleges, give them at least a chance to offer you a financial aid package if they accept you. Truth is many give very lucrative grant money to students they’d like to have on board.

In fact more and more of the high-dollar or elite universities and colleges have slashed tuition for low-income and disadvantaged students, instead giving outright grants so academically talented students have no obstacles to attendance.