What is the average amount a full time student is offered.?

I am planning to go to school full time but the only info Mrs. Crankypants at the Financial aid office would give me was that I could get $4700.00 a year for Pell grant. I hope that is not all because I did the calculations and it costs like $16,000.00 with tuition, books, Room & board. I cant find a job, I am broke and only made $3,000.00 last year. I am also an independent. Will I be able to get enough funding to not be a homeless Collage student??? :(

Well I am 29 so parent plus is out besides the fact my parents would not do it if they could. I don't mind borrowing money as long as they give me till graduation to start paying. I am actually trying to get cought up and enter Advanced ROTC but since im over 27 I have to sweat the first 2 years on my own.

First off if you're independent you will get a lot more financial aid than a dependent student. The Pell grant is also not the only aid you will be getting more than likely. You're better off than most right now. Fill out the FAFSA as early as possible. You probably also being getting Stafford loan and various other grants and loans from your university but they can't know exactly what you'll get until you fill out the fafsa. You can fill out here. www.fafsa.ed.gov
More than likely you'll get more than enough to go to school and get an apartment or live on campus. Also the Federal loans don't have to be paid back until AFTER GRADUATION. So yeah, file your fafsa.

You should be able to get student loans, but of course you have to pay those back later...not sure how much grant money you would qualify for, but it does tend to be less than tuition. Are there any scholorships you can apply for? You can surf the net for scholorships and your financial aid office could give you a list too. If you dont want to borrow the money and you cant get a scholorship you could consider army. The GI bill is pretty awesome.

You should speak with somebody else in financial aid at that school! It is a rather sad fact that with most schools the available aid does not meet expenses. However, there are many private schools which will knock themselves out for their students! You might want to check into other schools -- financial aid is actually better at the more expensive private schools.

Also have your parents apply for the Parent Plus loan through FAFSA I think. They dont have to accept the loan but if they get denied you can take out more loans.

Fill out the FAFSA. You can apply online and it automatically qualifies you for state/federal aid. You can also get work study at like all colleges - they're made especially for students like you.