Boston Univeristy financial aid office problems

Paying for College
1

<p>Hi. I am a rising sophomore in CAS. Anyway the main reason why I am making this post is mainly because I am mostly frustrated. If you are lucky, you may have been given a financial aid correspondent that actually cares about you and your situation. I was not. BU is very interesting - they make you believe that they are giving fair opportunities to the least fortunate students, but, in my honest opinion, they really don't. And I'm not basing this thought off of what happened to me, I'm just going off stories with my classmates and friends. It's weird. BU caters to families that are more affluent. Don't get me wrong. I know I am receiving a top education here and I wouldn't change my decision for the world. There are just things I have noticed after having to work with them for a year.</p>

<p>On to what happened to me...</p>

<p>I got a pretty hefty award when coming to BU and I received outside awards as well. To cut the story short, I practically had a full ride. So when it came time to receive my refund for fall semester, it was a really large refund, because I had extra money from outside awards. When it came time to receive my refund for spring semester, things got a little funky. I requested a little bit of refund, first and foremost to pay my housing deposit. I paid that. Then a few days after I was approved and given the refund, they called me back and told me they had made a mistake in giving me my refund. Which confused the mess out of me. How could they make a mistake in giving me MY money? They said I had gone over the cost of education budget and basically, due to federal regulations, they could not give me the rest of my refund. This also meant that, instead of receiving the rest of my refund, I now owed them that amount. Which still to this day confuses me. When I talked to them about it, they basically said that, because I had had a large refund the first semester so when my spring semester scholarship money came in, this placed me over the budget. So now I owe about $1500 to the financial aid office. It's a small amount in comparison to how much BU costs and it's an even smaller amount to deny someone a college education over, I think.</p>

<p>This mostly makes me really upset because I literally cannot go to my father to pay this bill like some other students may be able to. My family is poor and I only have work study and can't afford to live and make payments on my student account at the same time (my father doesn't send give me money so I relied on work study and my refund for living costs, going out, food, clothes, traveling home, etc).</p>

<p>I am living here in Boston for the summer, on campus. I'm doing a program that pays for my housing (since I can't afford it) and am looking for a job on campus or off campus. I'm having A LOT of difficulty with this - especially since they refused to give me a summer work study award because of the balance on my account. Literally this balance on my account is making everything about coming from a poor family more difficult than it should have been. I can't get summer work study; they also refuse to review my financial aid application, even if I have turned in FAFSA, CSS PROFILE, IDOC and whatever else by the deadline. Basically everything is halted until my balance is paid off, and mind you, it's not a large balance. I'm pretty sure that if I could just get summer work study, I could go back to making payments on it. OR, of course, finding a summer job off campus, but job hunting is harder than it looks. I could have used the loans that I didn't use during the school year (I only ended up having about $230 in loans at the end of the year), but again because I have a balance, they won't let me touch those loans. Also you have to take six credits of summer courses that count towards you major. And there aren't classes I could take, either because I can't find six credits to count toward my major and because I have a conflicting schedule. Plus in order to use those loans, it could only be in summer session one.</p>

<p>I am LITERALLY backed into a wall here. I don't know what to do, and I have until August 1st to pay off the entire balance. Besides, looking for a job, I don't know what to do.</p>

<p>What I don't understand is why the financial aid office would say I had X amount of refund, but ask for it back later. I don't get that. Once this spring semester, I talked to my financial aid correspondent, and she insinuated that I splurged the refund, which is very untrue. I used it on the regular things a student would use it on, especially if they don't have support from their parent(s). I really hated that she insinuated that - I felt horrible about the situation already. And I also feel like, with them being a FINANCIAL AID office, they would have advised against something like this. I think the fact that my parents are inaccessible, being so far way and all, is something the office is using to their advantage. I'm sure they would be a lot more fair and kind about the situation if I had a parent around. But then again, it is BU, and people warned me about the financial aid office before I came here.</p>

<p>I just have one question for you: Do you think I should really be held responsible for the balance that is on my account? Because I really don't think I should be penalized so harshly for this. I worked very hard to get to BU. There are many reasons why I left home and I really don't want to have to go back in August. I have so many things here in Boston: friends, school, so many things and places left to explore. I met my best friend at BU - I don't want to leave her so soon. It may sound like I am whining, but I am just really up in the air on what to do here and would genuinely like some feedback, please.</p>

2

<p>It’s a bit difficult to follow your post, but it sounds like your total aid, including outside awards, exceeded the cost of attendance for the school? If that is the case, then the school is obliged to correct the aid so that it does not exceed the COA. Also, if your aid already exceeded the COA, you would not be eligible for additional loans.</p>

3

<p>If you got outside scholarships, you were required to report them to BU. Your need would have been reduced because of those outside scholarships…and likely your need based aid would have been reduced.</p>

<p>MOST colleges do not allow financial aid to be awarded in excess of the cost of attendance. Most definitely, federally funded aid cannot be awarded in excess of the cost of attendance.</p>

<p>Did you report your outside scholarships to BU? Was your aid adjusted? Or did you just pay the bills with that outside,scholarship money, thus leaving a surplus in what BU was giving you in aid?</p>

<p>If you did the latter, it may very well be that you owe BU that money.</p>

4

<p>Thank you for replying. I get that I was over the COA. From my understanding from my correpondent, she said it is because of my refund in the fall. What I don’t get is why the financial aid office would give me a refund I was not supposed to have in the first place, and then ask for it back later? At least that is what I have been told.</p>

5

<p>Yes, I reported all of my outside awards to BU. Numerous times because they kept losing my information.</p>

6

<p>Check your student portal…was your financial aid award ever adjusted due to the outside awards? Did you receive a Pell grant? Did you take out any Direct or Perkins loans?</p>

7

<p>You were managing to have tuition, room, and board covered plus getting money back? That is basically like being paid to attend college, and that is not allowed when you are receiving financial aid to cover costs. When they realized with all your additional outside scholarship money finally coming in (sometimes it takes a while) that this was the case, of course things changed and they realized that basic FA regulations were being broken. Did FA at BU know from the start that you were getting the outside scholarship money as well? I’m sorry this is working out this way, but were you not aware of these rules? Is it too late to do something like find a job for the summer at a camp where you could have room and board and make money to pay back the school? Lots of camps are looking for counselors…do you like kids, or like swimming, outdoor hiking, teaching a skill or something? Look for camp jobs online. There are many right outside of Boston, so you wouldn’t have to go far. Hurry though, and move quickly of you decide to do this!</p>

8

<p>Yeah, I had the max on everything that isn’t a loan. I had like $200 in loans. Everything was fully adjusted.</p>

9

<p>Thank for your empathy, teachandmom. It means a lot, ma’am. I honestly can’t remember if I was told prematurely about the FA regulation or if I found out when the situation came about. I am looking for a job currently. Sending out many emails and phone calls and going to job fairs, etc. Nothing seems to be catching, and without financial aid, it is actually much harder than I thought to find a job. Coming from my home state, where the unemployment rate is very high, I was not expecting for it to be this difficult and obviously I am getting very worried and upset because now I only have two months to meet the deadline. Not to mention if you a balance is paid late, you could receive a deduction in financial aid, which knowing BU is more than likely to happen. This would actually be really bad, because if my award is reduced to the point in which I don’t have enough in federal loans to take out and I have to use private loans, this could get really bad. My father’s credit is not good enough to co-sign for a private loan.</p>

10

<p>What federal aid did you receive?</p>

<p>What institutional aid did you receive?</p>

<p>What merit scholarships did you receive.</p>

<p>If you had ONLY received Pell grants and merit scholarships in excess of COA, then it would have been ok for them to refund you money. However, it sounds like you rec’d fed loans even tho your other aid met COA, that is a problem. </p>

<p>You need to work as much as you can to pay off what you owe. You also need to tell your family. Even tho they are poor, they may be able to pitch in a bit to help you out.</p>

11

<p>I had the Pell grant, SEOG, and everything else I received from BU. I have talked to my family, but they really can’t help very much. I have two younger sisters and my two older sisters just graduated with a ton of loans from undergraduate and law school.</p>

12

<p>The Pell you get no matter what. The SEOG may be the problem. </p>

<p>What jobs can you do this summer. you may need to work TWO jobs to get everything right.</p>

<p>If you can’t come up with the money on time, you need to ask the school if you can take a semester off or something. </p>

<p>LOOK FOR WORK.</p>

13

<p>I AM willing to work TWO jobs to get it right. Problem is, I’m having trouble finding ONE. Talked to the school’s student employment office, but they really only gave me pointers that I already knew about. I’m looking on craigslist, walking up and down streets, turning in applications, doing walk-ins, looking oncampus for non-work study jobs, and obviously since this is the first time I am physically job hunting, it’s taking longer than expected. What I worry about when taking a semester off is whether they would reduce my financial aid, I can’t afford that.</p>

14

<p>I hesitate to ask this…but if you had a refund then your college bills,for fall were paid. What did you DO with that refund money?</p>

15

<p>That’s a really fair question and it’s totally okay that you asked. </p>

<p>Honestly, a good portion of it did get spent on whatever they budgeted it to be: transportation, food, books, my phone bill, I spent some on clothes (especially a lot on winter clothes! I’m from the south so I was not at all prepared for all the blizzards and rainstorms etc), my computer, printer, etc. I did a lot of exploring, I’ll admit, and shopping too. But I would say that most of it was spent on the things you would expect a student that is not getting any help from home to spend it on. And I’m not trying to use that as an excuse - I’m just being honest. When it came time to go home for winter break, I still had a good chunk of it left. Of course, once I was at home, I definitely used some of it (since I had my own money my father didn’t pay for anything and I don’t blame him), and then I had some unexpected expenses over the break. When I came back for spring, I used the rest of it on books, some phone bills (since it took a while for my spring scholarship money to come in) transportation, and food too. And probably something I can’t remember. And then I got some of my spring refund and that’s when I was notified. </p>

<p>Some of this is on me. I know that. I’m only 19, but it’s no excuse and this has certainly taught me something about money and BU’s financial aid office. I get that and I feel horrible about this whole thing, especially because so much is at stake. But contrary to what my financial aid correspondent insinuated, I definitely didn’t splurge all the money. </p>

<p>So why, why, why would they wait until the spring scholarship money comes in to tell me they made a mistake in approving my refund and that they should have given me less when they knew how much my scholarships were back in July before school had even started. Then again, they did keep losing my information and I had to keep going back in and giving them copies of my scholarship letters…</p>

<p>It’s just…it’s a financial aid office. Wouldn’t they advise against something like this - I would assume they would help with things like this. That’s all.</p>

16

<p>They will work something out with you. You need to go and talk to them…calmly. How much exactly do you owe them? This might be a summer when you have to work and NOT take classes or do anything else. </p>

<p>When my kid was at BU, there were always dining hall jobs open…not glamorous but they do pay a wage.</p>

17

<p>I have talked to them many times, in-person and via email and telephone. Perhaps it is just my financial aid correspondent. I owe them $1500, which isn’t very much in relation to the cost of BU, but it does seem like a small amount to deny a student a college education over, to me. I’m not taking classes, and I volunteer maybe 7-10 hours a week at Boston Medical Center. The program I volunteer in is giving me free housing, thankfully. That way I didn’t have to worry about that and could focus on working and paying off this bill. </p>

<p>I actually got a reply from the dining service and I think they’re just trying to see whether they can fit me in. Since the dining hall is open at select times instead of all day during the summer, it makes it a little harder to work for them. But I have applied there and many other places as well, and am basically always just waiting on replies. </p>

<p>I will definitely go in and talk to them again though. Maybe I should speak to someone different instead of my financial aid correspondent…</p>

18

<p>To get better clarification of all of your options, you may need to move up the food chain so to speak. See if you can meet with the head of financial aid rather than just your immediate account supervisor.</p>

19

<p>Considering it was their mistake I agree they should be flexible. I am confused why you were given a loan when your monies exceeded COA. In general it seems like a poorly executed package from their end. Is it possible you can borrow 1500 in student loans to repay them? I would definitely speak to someone higher up.</p>

20

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<p>(1) Under federal law, BU doesn’t have the discretion to be “flexible” regarding federal aid that exceeds the cost of attendance. It isn’t permitted. Period. No exceptions.</p>

<p>(2) As to “why” BU gave the OP funds s/he wasn’t entitled to, it happens all the time. The school gives the student the loan or award first, and sorts out the remaining paperwork later. If and when the school discovers a mistake, it takes action to correct it. The alternative would be to make students wait until all the paperwork has been processed . . . and that would likely result in some students not being able to enroll in classes at the beginning of the year. Yes, it would be nice if everything moved quickly enough that every last piece of paper was in order before classes start . . . but it just doesn’t always work out that way.</p>

<p>However, as for the lack of assistance the student is now getting from the financial aid office, I would absolutely agree with Happymomof1 that it’s time to “move up the food chain,” so to speak. Ask to speak with your financial aid rep’s supervisor, and if you still feel you’re not getting the help you need, then ask for a meeting with the director of the financial aid office.</p>

<p>There’s a limit to what the financial aid office can do for you. You cannot be awarded federal loans, grants, or work study funds to make up the shortfall. You can ask if the school itself would be willing to extend you a loan, on a short term basis, with strict repayment terms. Some schools will do that; most probably won’t. But it doesn’t hurt to ask!</p>

<p>You’re right - $1,500 is a small amount of money. But whether your outstanding balance is $1,500 or $15,000, school policy would prevent you from enrolling in classes for the fall if it’s not paid.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, about that job hunt . . . you’ve locked yourself into looking for jobs in Boston only, because of your volunteer position there and the free housing it affords you. The volunteer position/free housing is a smart idea, and may end up working out quite well for you . . . but it’s time to also consider jobs outside the city. As noted above, many summer camps are still looking for staff - and that will give you free housing plus free food!</p>

<p>Go to craigslist in NH, Maine, and VT, and search in the job category for the word “summer” and see what you find. Last time I looked (a week or so ago) there were a lot of opportunities. You’ll still have to figure out housing in Boston for the gap immediately before and after the summer camp opens and closes . . . but you might be able to sign on to do general cleanup after the end of camp, and get an extra several days of housing (plus pay!) that way. My guess is that most summer camp employees are just itching to get back home to hang out with their friends. If you’re willing to arrive at camp several days early (to do set up) and also stay late, you might be someone’s dream employee!</p>