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The US government has always been a benevolent one that appreciates that the future of the country is in the hands of its youth. Education is the best means of ensuring that the youth of the country grow to be respectful citizens who can contribute to the society in some way or other.

One of the efforts to this cause has been the free grant that the federal government provides for tertiary education to the various schools and certified education programs. These free grants are meant especially for those people who would like to avail of further education but do not have the financial capability to fund their own education.

The US federal government provides these grants to a wide variety of educational institutions. These include various schools, educational programs, universities, small arts colleges, technical schools, vocational programs, trade schools and even community colleges. The magnanimous sum of $67 billion is distributed among the institutions that have been identified each year. This is done in the form of loans, grants, campus-based aid and the like. It is the duty of the educational institutions to forward these grants to the eligible and deserving students in their programs. The dissemination of these grants could be done each semester, trimester or quarter based on the educational institution.

The federal Pell Grant is one of the many grants that form a part of this philanthropic exercise. The beneficiaries of this grant are not expected to return the aid in any manner. The specific amount of money that is doled out per student depends on the financial need of the individual but the maximum amount that can be given to one particular person is dictated by the Congress each year.

Free grants also come in the guise of campus based aid programs. The known associated for this kind of a free grant are the Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), Federal Work-Study (FWS) and Federal Perkins Loan programs. These kinds of grants are provided to the programs that are managed directly by the financial aid office.

For a student to be awarded a free grant, some eligibility criteria needs to be fulfilled. The beneficiary needs to be a citizen of the United States or an eligible non-citizen and should have a valid Social Security Number. A high school diploma or a General Education Development certificate is a must. If these are not available a special test for ‘ability to benefit’ can be used which the expectant student needs to pass. To avail the grant the student needs to enroll in the program as a regular student and apply for the grant later. Male students in the age group of 18 to 25 years need to register for ‘Selective’ and be ‘eligible’ or ‘partially eligible’ on the Drug Conviction question.