Are there any other options out there besides private loans?

Paying for College
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<p>I have pretty much exhausted all of my financial aid options, this is the last year that I will qualify for government aid. I have about 7,750 in aid this year, but I won't have any aid for next year. Its a long story but I transferred colleges and when I transferred in my transcript was incorrect. I did not catch the mistake and began borrowing at a junior level. I am working to appeal the situation but I don't know what the future holds. I have no scholarships apart from some need based grants. I would wait until next year but I feel like its a good idea to get everything established now while I can, I changed my major and I still have another year to go after this one. I have applied for scholarships but it will be months before I find out if I received that money or not. </p>

<p>I currently live at home to save money but my parents' are probably relocating for a new job situation. I cannot move with them because there are no accredited 4 year universities where they are going and I really do not want to transfer because I still have 2 years of school left.</p>

<p>I am looking into private loans. I have been rate shopping and so far the best I can find is 9.625% variable with fixed payments at Sallie Mae. I do not have an eligible co signer and my books this semester are VERY expensive, not to mention transportation, housing and other issues. I have a part time job but even that is not enough at times. Are there any other options out there besides private loans?</p>

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<p>Not sure I understand the part about the transcript and borrowing as a junior…either you have enough credits to have junior standing, or you don’t. Anyway, how much are you looking to borrow? Are your parents willing to apply for a Parent Plus loan? They’re fairly easy to get and if they are turned down you would be eligible for an additional $4K in Stafford unsubsidized loans.</p>

3

<p>I had AP/IB credits that were transferred in and counted towards my fulfilled hours even though they were not paid for by financial aid. </p>

<p>My parents have terrible credit and I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t qualify. They have so much medical debt because my mom is so ill.</p>

<p>I need quite a bit of money, at least 7,000 a semester for the next 2 years.</p>

4

<p>Class standing is determined by the total number of college credits you have, regardless of the source. Your school’s website should have info as to how many it takes to be considered a junior (typically it’s over 59, less than 90). Doesn’t matter a whit how they were paid for.</p>

<p>Anyway, an extra $14K/year might not be found easily without a Parent Plus loan or cosigner (assuming you don’t have a steady income and good credit score)…tho some students report having success getting private loans on their own. I hope you don’t mind my saying this, but that seems a bit excessive for a commuter, if you’re already getting federal/state aid and your parents haven’t moved yet as your OP implies…is this a private school? If so, have you investigated your instate publics for transfer potential?</p>

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<p>Like I said in the above post, my parents are relocating so I have to find my own housing. I have a decent credit score (not amazing) but enough to qualify for a sallie mae loan. Tuition is about 5,000 not including books. I won’t be getting any more aid after this semester.</p>

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<p>Can you explain why you say that you wouldn’t qualify for any aid even though you’re still an undergrad? By “aid”, do you mean federal loans or need based grants like Pell and are you saying that, with this fall’s loans, you’ve already hit the aggregate undergrad Stafford limit of $31K? Have you filed an actual appeal with the school based on your parents’ high medical expenses to lower your EFC? Unless you’ve been in school a loonng time, you would not be out of Pell eligibility if your EFC qualifies you for that.</p>

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<p>I mean government loans. I have a small pell grant this year but as of spring I will hit my aggregate limit because I took summer classes for 2 years. The problem is I have duplicate credits on my transcript from AP/IB classes which count towards my credit hours and eat quite a bit of my available hours up. I’m also a transfer student so I only had a set number of hours that the school would give me to finish my degree. I will have to appeal those to get any more aid. When I talked to the financial aid officer her response is that those appeals are so overwhelming at our college that they are really selective.</p>

<p>I’m guessing private loans are pretty much my only option at this point. Do you know of any that have no requirements for SAP (because I have hit my limited # of hours).</p>

<p>The back story is as a freshman I went out of state to a private college that only accepted two out of all my AP/IB credits. After freshman year when I transferred to a state school closer to home I transferred all my AP/IB hours to them too. They took ALL 60 of those credits even though most of them are useless independent study credits or for classes I never needed in the first place. I was still technically a freshman when I transferred but when I transferred with those credits put me at a junior level status. So then I only had 90 hours to complete a 4 year degree that requires a minimum of 120 hours…most of the classes from IB were english, history, math and psychology. Most of those credits didn’t count towards my degree or pre reqs because I was a political science major and then i switched to biology.</p>

<p>My parents really haven’t contributed any money towards my degree other than letting me move back in with them for a few semesters. I wish I could claim independency but I talked to a fin aid officer and that is not feasible because the requirements are so stringent.</p>

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<p>How many credits will you have by the end of fall semester? I am not an expert on SAP issues (you might PM or search posts on this forum by kelsmom) but was under the impression that most schools use 180 credit hours…do you have a copy of your school’s SAP policy? I would suggest appealing anyway - you have nothing to lose and my guess is that the majority of SAP appeals they receive are due to failing grades, not excess credits due to IB/AP. If you’re exceeding academic expectations, I think your appeal would have a greater chance of success.</p>

<p>I have never heard/read of a student being turned down for a private loan due to SAP issues.</p>

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<p>Because I transferred in at junior status I only get 90 hours to complete my degree. I’m not doing the best I could academically right now, I had a bad semester that set me back but I am far above the minimum GPA for academic progress. I have about a 3.0 with 61 credits to go.</p>

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<p>OP, be wary of the above poster–new to CC, very sketchy home page, doesn’t “smell” right to me.</p>

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<p>MommaJ, who are you talking about? Biologynerd is the OP and I’ve certainly been around for some time…wrong thread?</p>

<p>OP, any chance you can copy and paste your school’s exact SAP policy here? I’m thinking an appeal would have a good chance of success since you’re not in academic jeapordy and have successfully completed 67% of the credits you’ve attempted. Most schools have a cap of 180 hours (150% of standard degree requirements is the federal guideline), but sounds like your school may have capped it at 150 and grants the remaining 30 on appeal. Try to find out if you’d need to wait until next semester, when you’re officially out of hours, to file an appeal.</p>

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<p>sk8rmom, there used to be a post between #9 and #10 that was deleted, most likely by moderators. It was a spam/advertisement for a supposed “private loan” company. The poster, “Bill” was asking people to Email or PM for more info. That is what was “sketchy.”</p>

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<p>Thanks sk8ermom, I left out the university name for privacy purposes but here it is.</p>

<p>Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)</p>

<p>Federal regulations require the University to establish Standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress as a general eligibility requirement for financial aid. A student must maintain satisfactory academic progress in a course of study regardless of whether the student previously received financial aid.</p>

<p>To meet the standards adopted by the -----, a student must:
Complete a minimum of 70% of the attempted hours taken during the course of the year. Compliance of this requirement is checked at the end of each spring term. If students fail to meet this requirement or were not enrolled during the last monitoring period (fall/spring), a review of total hours taken at —will occur to determine if a 70% completion rate was attained for all attempted —course work. If students fail to pass both of these reviews, they will be placed on Satisfactory Academic Progress cancellation status.
Graduate within the number of hours allowed by the Satisfactory Academic Progress policy. Students are allowed a specific number of ----- attempted hours, based on their academic level at the time of admission to ----(see chart below).</p>

<p>Classification Maximum — Hours Allowed For Completing Degree</p>

<p>Undergraduate
All Freshman 180 Attempted ----Hours
Transfer Sophomores 135 Attempted — Hours
Transfer Juniors 90 Attempted ---- Hours
Transfer Seniors 45 Attempted ----Hours
Second Degree 60 Attempted Hours
Masters 70 Attempted Hours
Specialist Degree-Seeking 100 Attempted Hours
(Including all Graduate Hours)
Doctoral 120 Attempted Hours
(Including all Graduate Hours)
Re-establishing Eligibility after Cancellation</p>

<p>Any student with extenuating circumstances, (i.e., death of a relative, an illness or injury of the student, etc.), who is placed on cancellation status may appeal to the Financial Aid Review Committee for reinstatement based on his/her special case.</p>

<p>If the student was canceled for the failure to complete 70% of the attempted hours and since cancellation, he/she has brought up the percentage to a minimum of 70%, the student may appeal to the committee for reinstatement, at that time.</p>

<p>To appeal, the student must:</p>

<p>Complete the Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal Form; (available on the Office of Student Financial Assistance website at: ------, under Forms).
Attach documentation that supports specific circumstance(s) to the appeal form; and,
Submit the appeal and the supporting documentation to the Office of Student Financial Assistance. After a thorough evaluation of the written request and all supporting documentation, the Financial Aid Review Committee will notify the student of the decision by e-mail communication or the student may view the updated status on ----, under View Financial Aid Status.
Students reinstated on financial aid probation will be required to have an academic plan that must be monitored.</p>

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<p>I talked to a fin aid officer and they said I wait until I’ve been cancelled but I’m not sure if that’s correct or not because I was rushed out of the office (they don’t take appointments for another 3 weeks) and not given enough time to actually sit down and talk to someone since the beginning of the semester is always so busy.</p>

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<p>I have changed my major 3 times and they said that would be held against me, but it was honestly impossible for me to know exactly what I wanted to do without taking a few classes first to see if it interested me. I am in a program now and I have 61 credits to go after this semester. I have an academic plan roughly drawn up but do you think I have a good chance?</p>

<p>They replicated 9 credits. (with the AP/IB scores) and those 9 credits are the difference between my status as a transfer junior or sophomore. I wish financial aid had been more clear about this when I transferred. I got so much convoluted information when I first transferred that I didn’t realize I didn’t have the same amount of time to complete a degree.</p>

<p>Other than the financial aid cancellation, the SAP does nothing to negatively affect my diploma correct? I don’t want this to affect my chances for grad school or anything.</p>

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<p>Sorry, the post I was replying to was removed some time after I posted–it was a commercial come-on. Wish the mods had also removed my reply so it didn’t look so weird!</p>

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<p>^No problem, Momma, I should have thought of that!</p>

<p>I would have a conversation with someone and see if it’s ever possible to have AP/IB transferred credits backed out. Start with your advisor. I’m not sure why they would apply “duplicate” credits to your transcript…do you mean that they actually gave you transfer credit for the same course more than once? </p>

<p>Since you’re Pell eligible, are you also state aid eligible? It does not sound like you’re out of Pell eligibility and you may have a case for an adjustment of EFC based on what sounds like high medical expenses.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, you may be stuck if you can’t get a private loan on your own and your folks aren’t willing/able to cosign (and I’m not saying they should be). At that point, you’re probably looking at taking a course or two a semester and working to pay living expenses and tuition. Is there any chance you could finish a degree within the allotted number of hours and pursue your new field via grad studies? You would still have more loans, but at least they would be going toward an advanced degree.</p>

<p>What are your thoughts on places to live? Do you have relatives you could stay with in exchange for services? If not,watch for roommate wanted postings and/or RA selection info if you intend to stay there after your folks leave…I think that paying R&B on top of the $14K tuition would be crippling.</p>

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<p>Yes, I mean they actually counted English Comp 1 & 2 twice and General Psych twice on my transcript which comes out to 9 credits and 60-9 = 51 which would have put me at a transfer sophomore level. I have gone to financial aid, undergraduate studies, my adviser and the registrar all about the duplicate credits. They all continue to pass the buck and will not help me. I even talked to the lady who is in charge of transferring IB and AP credits. She was so rude to me and wouldn’t even point me in the right direction, I had to figure it all out on my own. Ive just been given the run around.</p>

<p>I’m not sure about the state aid policy, I can’t get an appointment for another 3 weeks so I’m struggling to find answers on my own.</p>

<p>I qualify for private loans but they are HIGH interest and variable rates. I’m scared to death of the consequences of those types of loans in my future. I have no relatives I could live with. I am looking into applying for an RA position. I really can’t afford to work full time and drop to part time because I will never graduate and my school has a limited amount of time you can go there without tuition penalties. I can’t pursue my current major Microbio from anything else (I was poli sci for 1 semester and psychology for 2). Plus, even if I do graduate with a psych degree there is no way I am going to be happy in that field and I will not make enough to justify the loans I have already taken out.</p>

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<p>I’m just really frustrated and scared of not graduating. I really didn’t realize how much IB/AP would set me back. They said they can’t do anything to remove those credits because they are part of my permanent record and cannot be amended. I even went to admissions to see if I could appeal adding my IB transcript and start from scratch but they said there is no way to possibly do that.</p>

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<p>If you are unable to have the clock turned back at the university, you are faced with making a plan based on less than optimal choices. That happens sometimes in life… the 2 or 3 paths available all have what you consider significant down sides. You don’t want to transfer again, you don’t want to take out private loans, you don’t want to revert to a prior major, you don’t want to incur extra tuition costs from dropping to part-time, etc etc etc.</p>

<p>You may have to take one of these less-desirable paths–if so, weed through the choices carefully. For example, it may be better in the long run to go part-time (and incur extra expenses) in order to A) avoid high-rate private loans and B) to avoid getting stuck in a prior major.</p>

<p>Since you have <em>2</em> years left on your current major, perhaps transferring to a cheaper state and working for a year to gain residency and finish elsewhere might actually be a reasonable route in face of several “unreasonable” options at the moment. Etc.</p>

<p>No easy answers here. Good luck.</p>