Government Grants School Loans

Government grants are issued to eligible students for pursuing higher education. Unlike loans, grants and scholarships need not be repaid. There are different kinds of government grants available in the United States, such as

• Federal Pell Grant -- This grant is awarded to those undergraduate students who have not earned a bachelor's degree as yet. A student borrower can add financial aid from other federal and non federal sources to Pell grant. The grant amount depends on the financial need of the borrower as well as on the tuition fees, school fees and maintenance costs.

• Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) -- This grant is awarded to those undergraduates who have been identified to have exceptional financial needs and no financial support from family.

• The Academic Competitiveness Grant -- This grant has been started recently and is awarded to those first year college students who had graduated from high school after January 1, 2006, and for those second year college students who had graduated from high school after January 1, 2005. This grant is awarded to an eligible student in addition to the Federal Pell Grant.

• The National Science & Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant (National SMART Grant) -- This grant is awarded to the third and fourth year undergraduate students who are enrolled as full-time students majoring in any of the following subject areas - physical, life, or computer sciences, mathematics, technology, or engineering or in any foreign language that is considered critical to the national security. The student must be a recipient of the Federal Pell Grant and must also have maintained a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0 during the entire coursework.

• Institutional Grants - This grant is awarded to those students who have excelled in academics or to those students whose families demonstrate genuine financial need. These grants are very useful to cover the money deficit between college costs and family contributions (including income, loans, savings, or even student earnings).

Students can even apply for federal student loans such as Perkins Loan, Stafford loan, Family Education Loans, or Federal student consolidation loans if their educational expenses are not covered under the federal grants or if they are adjudged as ineligible for receiving federal grants. As in the case of any other loan, borrowers in this case need to repay the borrowed loan amount.