Introduction

Need-based aid—including grants, scholarships, and loans—is available to students demonstrating financial need. To qualify for need-based aid, you must be eligible to receive Federal Student Aid (FSA) by filling out the FAFSA form. Many factors determine how much support each student gets, so ask about all options when filling out the FAFSA form.

How to determine eligibility for need-based aid

Need-based aid is financial aid that is based on your family’s financial needs. It’s not based on academic merit, so need-based aid might be an option if you have a 4.0 GPA but still need help to afford college.

Need-based aid covers tuition and fees, room and board (if living on campus), textbooks, and transportation costs between home and school – anything that other funding sources (like scholarships) can’t cover.

To qualify for need-based aid programs like Pell Grants or federal student loans (Stafford Loans), students must fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA determines eligibility for all types of federal student aid, including grants such as Pell Grants or subsidized Stafford Loans; unsubsidized Stafford Loans are available regardless of whether or not someone qualifies for other types of government assistance such as Pell Grants; PLUS loans are another type of loan that parents may take out in addition to their resources if necessary so long as they meet specific criteria set forth by law when submitting their application forms each year before June 30th deadline date set forth by Congress every year since 1965 when Lyndon B Johnson signed into law Public Law 89-329 establishing this program after realizing how important higher education was becoming throughout America during his time in office.

Step 1: Determine your dependency status.

To determine your dependency status, you must first be aware of the following facts:

• You are dependent if you are a student under 24 years old and unmarried or married but not legally separated.
• You are independent if you are 24 or older or have been married for at least three years and your spouse has died.

You may also be considered dependent if someone else claims an exemption for another reason (such as being dependent on their tax return).

Step 2: Make sure your income is under the income limit.

Next, you must ensure your family’s income is under the appropriate limit.

Income limits vary by state, so check with your financial aid office for more information. In general:

• The lower the number of people in your family and their ages, the higher your income can be before disqualifying you from receiving need-based aid. If only one parent is attending college or graduate school during an academic year, or if there are no parents attending college or graduate school during an academic year but there are other adults living with you (grandparents), then this increases the maximum allowable household gross income as follows:
• -$17,000/year if two people are living in the household; $20/hour ($40k/year) if three people are living in the home; $21/hour ($42k/year) if four people are living in the household; etc., up to $25/hour ($50k/year). This means that even though someone might earn more than these amounts per hour at their job(s), those earnings will still count towards determining whether they qualify for need-based financial aid because their overall annual salary would fall below this threshold regardless!

Step 3: Make sure you have qualified assets.

To qualify for need-based aid, you must have a financial need. The federal government defines financial need as the difference between your cost of attendance and your expected family contribution (EFC). Your EFC is calculated by subtracting your assets from your total income, including scholarships and grants that don’t have to be paid back.

• Assets are money in the bank, stocks, bonds, and real estate; they’re considered “non-qualified assets” if they aren’t used for education expenses or retirement savings. You can have up to $50000 without affecting your eligibility for need-based aid; anything above this amount may disqualify you from receiving financial assistance.

Step 4: Apply for financial aid by filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

The form determines eligibility for need-based assistance from all colleges and universities, including public institutions, private nonprofit schools, proprietary schools, and tribal colleges.

You can access the 2018-19 version of this form at fafsa.ed.gov. You’ll need to register with this site before you can fill out your application–it’s free but takes about 10 minutes or so to complete in full. Once registered, you should have access to all versions of past-year FAFSAs and tools to help guide you through filing your current year’s application wholly and accurately.

Students who are eligible for need-based aid will receive more financial assistance than those who are not eligible. Still, many factors determine how much support each student gets, so ask about all options when filling out the FAFSA form.

Need-based aid is based on your family’s income and assets. Many types of financial aid exist, including grants, scholarships, and loans. Completing the form annually is necessary to determine eligibility for need-based aid.

Need-based aid is not the same as merit-based aid–you can’t earn it just by being smart or talented! Need-based grants are awarded based on how much money your family makes compared with other families living in your area; therefore, if two students have identical qualifications, but one comes from a wealthy family while another comes from a poor one, then only one will receive any funding from their school’s need-based program because they will likely have more resources available at home than their classmate would have access too if they both lived alone without any parental support system available during college years.”

Conclusion

You should now be able to determine whether or not you are eligible for need-based aid. If you are, many different types of financial assistance are available, and you must apply for all of them! The FAFSA form is an essential step in this process because it will tell schools how much money they can offer each student based on their family’s income level and other factors such as assets or number of siblings enrolled in college at once time (less competition means more money). So make sure to fill out this form every year by April 15th – even if there aren’t any changes from last year (like graduating high school seniors.