<p>How common is it to be awarded over the maximum amount of unsubsidized/subsidized loans? </p>
<p>I am a transfer from a four-year university to a two-year college. I finished my freshman year with 28 credits at the four-year and am taking a total of six credits this summer at the two year college.</p>
<p>At the four-year university, I borrowed a total of $8000 (<em>cringe</em> xD) in federal and unsubsidized loans. ($5500 plus an additional $2500 in unsubsidized loans due to parents being unable to borrow PLUS loans). If my calculations are correct, I believe I am only eligible for approximately $1500 (max) more in loans for school year 2012-2013 (which includes this summer term).</p>
<p>I was stumped to have been awarded a total loan amount of $5500 in federal unsubsidized/subsidized loans for the summer and have been wondering if this was a mistake. After speaking to a financial aid counselor at the college, she claimed that the “U.S. Dept. of Ed.” approved the loan for this amount because there was no history of me having any loans on the website she referred to. </p>
<p>She then checked the NSLDS website and it confirmed that I was “awarded over the maximum limits.” She couldn’t give me an explanation directly, citing that she’ll need to double check with the “U.S. Dept. of Ed.,” so I won’t be hearing back until Monday--at the earliest. </p>
<p>Just wanting to hear feedback of whether or not this is normal. The financial aid office has a reputation for being sloppy and don’t want to touch the refunded amount until I hear back from them (for fear of being asked to immediately pay back the amount I will be using--money is tight around here). Also wondering (but have my doubts) if this $5500 could have been pulled from my sophomore year “maximum loan eligibility.” Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Many schools have the summer term end the academic year. Check to see if your school does this. If they do, then you should be awarded another amount for the 2013-2014 school year.</p>
<p>I have been over-awarded loans more than once during undergrad. It’s because some schools (including mine) participate in some weird system that allows for multiple years during each year. I don’t know how to explain it, but kelsmom would know what I’m talking about. </p>
<p>With that said, in your case it sounds like a mistake- or they’re pulling from sophomore eligibility. Many schools do use summer as part of the next year rather than previous year.</p>
<p>Remember, you CAN decline loans that you don’t need and still get FAid as needed in the future. I declined most loans for 6 years because living frugally, I only needed $3K over all the grants and scholarships I was awarded. </p>
<p>I always felt (and still do) that living below one!a means works well and allows for minimal debt.</p>
<p>It is very easy to be overawarded loans when you switch to a school in summer term when the new school has summer as the last term in the award year. This is because the school’s computer will automatically award your aid. If you accept the loan, you might even get a disbursement of that loan … but the actual loan may well have been rejected in the federal system & the school would never have received the loan money from the government as a result if the summer award put you over the annual max for year in school. Schools have to monitor loan reject reports to find these problems. When I first arrived at my former school, this happened a lot … in order to keep it from happening, we had to manually review all summer-start students. We had to go into NSLDS to find out what they had borrowed for fall/spring, then award accordingly for summer. While some students were mad that it took a while to be awarded, that is a whole lot easier than getting a disbursement that has to be paid back!</p>
<p>In your case, assuming your school has summer in the 12-13 year, you would have $1500 eligibility remaining … BUT your new school has to code your $1500 as additional unsub due to PLUS denial or the loan will reject. It is not possible for NSLDS to have loans on record for you without the loans being on COD (I assume this is the “website” the aid officer referred to as not having a record of the loan) - loans go first to COD, then to NSLDS. I suspect the aid officer does not truly understand the loan process … not her fault, as many aid officers do not actually do the loan processing. However, I am guessing the loan was not “approved by the Dept. of Education,” but rather slipped through the school’s system as a rejected loan that didn’t show up as rejected. </p>
<p>The bottom line is that if the summer session at the school is part of 12-13, you can get a loan of $1500 (assuming it fits within cost of attendance) … BUT the school must code it as additional unsub due to PLUS denial. Talk to an aid officer and ask to have that done.</p>
<p>If the summer session is part of 13-14, then you are dipping into your 13-14 award year annual eligibilty & will find yourself up a creek without a paddle come next spring.</p>
<p>(Romani, it doesn’t sound like they do the BBAY loans at this school, judging by the aid officer’s comments - but it is a possibility.)</p>