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Estimate Aid

Free aid check · 7 questions · no email to see results

See the aid you could stack before any school sees your name.

The aid check runs the federal Pell formula, your state’s grant and the loan limits for your year, then stacks them into one picture. You see it first. School matching comes after, only if you want it.

Build my aid stack Have your tax return? Get the exact SAI
  • Federal formula, not a guess
  • Result before any email
  • Partners never change a result

Program maximums · 2026-27

What a full aid stack can hold

FAFSA
If every layer you left on applies up to $26,895

These are each program’s published top amounts, not your award. An aid estimate is not an award. Your school determines its aid offer.

See which layers fit you
government source records
186
state grant programs
56
award years covered
2
to use any tool
$0

How the aid check works

Seven questions, three chapters, one stack.

Pell eligibility comes from the Student Aid Index, family size, poverty guidelines and your state, not income alone. So the check asks about each.

  1. You and school

    Your start date picks the FAFSA year, so the right year’s rules are used.

  2. Your household

    Household size and income band, the inputs the formula actually reads.

  3. Your result, then your choice

    Layer by layer, with sources. Matching with schools is optional and disclosed.

Start from your question

How much can I get? The aid check Pell, your state grant, campus grants, Work-Study and loans, stacked in about two minutes. Your answers carry into school matching so you don’t type them twice. Start the aid check SAI Calculator Type the numbers from your return for an exact Student Aid Index. Aid Letter Decoder Split your award letter into free money, loans and what you’d still owe. ROI Calculator Ten years of pay, staying put versus finishing, from BLS wage data. Employer Tuition Checker Employers can give up to $5,250 a year tax-free under IRC §127.

Why you can check our work

Every figure carries its receipt.

We don’t publish a dollar amount or an income limit without the government page it came from and the date we read it. When a rule changes, the tools change with it.

  • Primary sources first: Federal Student Aid, the IRS, the VA, BLS and state aid agencies.
  • Program facts, labelled: a top amount is shown as a top amount, never as what you’ll get.
  • Paid by referrals, not by results: a school partner can’t change what a tool tells you.

MethodologyEditorial policy

Source receipt Primary · Gov

$7,395

Maximum Federal Pell Grant, 2026-27 award year
Source
Federal Student Aid, Dear Colleague Letter GEN-26-01
Published
January 30, 2026
Last re-read
August 8, 2026
Used in
The aid check, the SAI Calculator and our grant guides
Open the source letter (GEN-26-01)

Guides that end in a number

Find out what’s free before you borrow.

Seven questions. Your result shows first, with every source.

Build my aid stack