How many credits do you have to have at a community college for a pell grant?

Answer 1

I will try to answer your question, but I am not quite sure exactly what you are asking:

If you are asking if you must have college credits before you can be awarded a Pell Grant, the answer is no. A high school graduate entering college for the first time can be awarded a Pell Grant.

If you are asking how many credits you have to carry for each semester that you are awarded a Pell Grant, then that depends on your enrollment status-whether the number of courses you are enrolled in for each semester adds up to enough credit hours to be considered a full-time or part-time student. Both full-time and part-time students can be awarded Pell Grants. I don't believe students of less than part-time status qualify.

Finally, if you have too many prior credits, as in, you have already been awarded a Bachelor's Degree in another area of study, then you would not qualify for a Pell Grant at all.

Pell Grant awards are based mainly on financial need.

More specifically, Pell Grants are awarded based on the student meeting the requirements in four categories:

Financial Need:
Whether your financial status is above or below a certain level - the calculation is called the "Expected Family Contribution" and is based on your income, and in some cases, depending on your age, whether or not you still live at home, etc., your parent's income.

Enrollment Status:
Whether or not your course load/credit hours puts you in the status of a full- or part-time student. I don't think students carrying less than a part-time course load qualify for federal student aid.
This is where "credits" come in. Generally speaking, at a two year institution, a student requires approximately 72 credit hours to graduate with an Associate Level Degree. The curriculum is based on the concept that if a student carries a full course load, they will complete the curriculum and graduate in two years. If you take less than a full-time course load, you can still be eligible for a Pell Grant, but the funds will be spread out over the amount of time it takes you to complete your degree program, based on the number of credit hours you take each semester. In other words, as long as your income calculation remains the same during your entire college career, you will receive the same amount of money from your grant whether you finish the two year degree in two years as a full-time student, or in four years as a part-time student-in that case the funds will just spread out over the longer period of time.

Attendance:
Whether or not the student attends the school for a full academic year. Examples include if you change your enrollment status mid-year, or drop out for a semester; or, if you have already completed some of your credits at another school and you dropped out, moved, etc., and you actually only need a few additional credits upon enrolling at another school in order to finish up your degree requirements, you may not be eligible for any more grant money-especially if some of the courses you are taking at your current school are courses you have to repeat because they did not qualify for transfer from your other institution.

Tuition Requirements:
How much the tuition fees and other costs are at your particular school. Obviously, if you attend a school with tuition that is lower than at another school, you are not going to receive as much money as someone with the same financial need who attends the more expensive school.

The financial aid counselors at your community college should be able to provide much more detailed information, and explain what financial aid is available for students attending that school.

There is also a lot of information at the US Department of Education's web site, in the financial aid section:
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/fsa/index.html

In addition, your description of a "community college" is not entirely clear, but generally that term indicates a college that offers Two Year Associate Level A.A. and A.S. degrees. Other colleges and all universities are Four Year Institutions that award Bachelor Level B.A. and B.S. degrees. Both types of colleges, and universities, can offer Pell Grants, if they have met the requirements to participate in the Federal Student Aid programs.

Many students that are seeking a Four Year Bachelor's Degree take their freshman and sophomore year courses at a community college, because the tuition is usually more affordable, and in most cases, the quality of the education is comparable. This is not always the case, however, and you need to determine your school's accreditation status, the credit transfer policy at the Four Year Institution with regards to the community college, along with determining if the community college meets the other criteria required for an institution to offer Federal Financial Aid packages, such as the Pell Grant and the Stafford Loan.

I am fortunate to live in an area where the community college has an excellent reputation and works well with the state university system so that in most cases all credit hours--and financial aid packages--transfer when you move on to your junior year at one of the universities in the state system.

There are also some schools in my community that do not meet the requirements for offering Federal Student Aid, and some of them are accredited by rather dubious accrediting bodies. To get a quality education (as in, getting your money's worth-you want your education to give you a great deal more than an attractive certificate to hang on your wall) it is always a good idea to check out a lot more than just a school's ability to provide financial aid.

The Princeton Review is an excellent source of information for researching and comparing all aspects of different schools-including everything from tuition price to campus size to the qualifications/experience of the teaching staff to student life to whether or not there is a debate club or a Basketball team, or good food in the cafeteria...the Princeton Review will give you information regarding just about anything you can think of that you might want to know about a school, and that site is:
http://www.princetonreview.com/

An education is one of the few things that no one can ever take away from you.
Best of luck in your endeavors.