Northeast‘s Financial Aid Director, Nick Willmon, stated today, “It is essential that all college students be aware that Pell Grants must be renewed before each fall semester.” Director Willmon continued, “For Northeast, the priority deadline for fall 2012 is July 15, 2012. This will insure that funds arrive in time to pay tuition and purchase books for the beginning of the fall semester. We can still process requests after that time, but the priority date gives the student peace of mind about financial aid concerns.”

Northeast offers sessions every Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. in the Student Center (SC 111) to assist students with applying for financial aid. Although year round Pell Grants are a thing of the past, many students can still get a grant for the summer by filing out the 2011-2012 FAFSA (Free Application for Student Aid) using 2010 tax information. May 2012 graduates are eligible as well as those students who have not exhausted their Pell Grant award for the 2011-2012 year.

For the fall 2012 semester, students need to apply for the 2012-2013 year by using 2011 tax information. There have been many changes to the Pell Grants, but the annual maximum award has remained at $5550.00. In regard to changes, Director Willmon had this warning, “When filling out the FAFSAs, students should always use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool when prompted. This will speed up the process of verifying the tax data. This tool is also a convenience for students in entering tax information and saves them from waiting for up to six weeks for an IRS Tax Transcript.”

Director Willmon added, “In addition to the sessions held every Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. in SC 111, we are happy to offer access to a very helpful video entitled SEVEN EASY STEPS TO THE FAFSA(http://www.finaid.ucsb.edu/FAFSASimplification/index.html). This step-by-step guide to filling out the FAFSA is very user friendly. I would like everyone to feel free to contact us in the Northeast Financial Aid Office for assistance with all financial aid questions.” This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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