Earlier in the week, I accepted a financial aid package offered by Texas Tech University. It looked really good, only 6k in loans per year and the rest were scholarships and grants, it covered 100% of my need. I accepted it online, completed the requirements needed for that aid and figured it was a done deal. Yesterday, I was going to print a copy and send it to my dad when I noticed that Tech edited my financial aid package and didn’t even tell me. They took away a grant that was a huge part of my package, and increased my loan amount to 10k per year. Now there’s a 5k gap and I’m upset. Can they legally do that?
Did the requirements you completed include updated financial information?
The requirements were just filling out paper work and acknowledging the terms and conditions of the scholarships, including writing a thank you letter. It didn’t include me updating financial information.
Weird! Call the financial aid office on Monday.
The short answer is yes, a college can edit your fin aid package after you accept it. Even if you’ve used the DRT, new info may come in. For instance, my youngest just accepted her package, but we know it will change. Once she receives notification of her outside scholarship and we submit that to the fin aid office, they will have to repackage her, removing a portion of the state grant and the sub loan.
Any number of things may be in play here. Call the school and ask about the change. But as for it being “illegal” to do so? No.
What they gave you is just an estimated financial aid package. Nothing is solid until they have done the verification. I don’t think they are bait and switch, but they may just found something does not match up with your submission and tax return. It may also happen that you checked the package right at the transition time when they are putting aids together. When my D got an external scholarship, it was shown on my D’s package as additional aid for a couple days. Then the grant was reduced for the exact amount when they recalculate the need based aid.
Yes, they can. If your verification comes in differently from the info you sent, there often HAS to be an adjustement. Say, you were PELL eligible, according to your info, but your income actually comes out over that threshhold. You CAN NOT get PELL because it is strictly income dependent. Same with a number of other grants and subsidized loans, as well as eligibility for work study.
BUt call the financial aid office and find out the reason. It might not be for what I am guessing it is.
I must be missing it. Was this student selected for verification?
Also, when you link to the IRS DRT, your info could be different too!
^ Sometimes it is not a real verification, but the aid was calculated with the estimated FAFSA data. They school may send out an estimated aid package before the FAFSA is done with DRT. So it is a kind of verification by DRT.
I got a full Pell Grant, and I’m certain it has nothing to do with my income/tax filings. I didn’t make hardly anything last year. I worked a part time summer job and didn’t bring home more than a couple thousand. I’ll call on Monday and see what’s going on.
@billcsho I think that might be the cause. The aid they offered showed up on Monday and remained there until yesterday.