<p>I'm a grad student, in my last semester. I've got financial aid every semester of grad school, and I'm just at my wits end with this school. I got my award back in May 2010, and got a professional judgement increase for housing. After some confusion in the fall over that professional judgement, I did eventually get the full awarded amount, including the additional/supplemental amount for housing. I got a notice yesterday that my financial aid was being decreased, which I expected because I was awarded for full time and dropped to half time, which is a difference of about $500 (this has happened before). I emailed the financial aid counselor that I've worked with before, she called and said she fixed it, I verified the correct half time award amount with her and she said no, I'd be getting about $550 less than that, which has never happened before. She tried to explain it to me but it made no sense, she had a meeting to go to so I emailed her that I needed clarification. The numbers she sent me were correct, and showed the correct amount I was awarded and should be getting, but she still said I'd be getting $550 less. I asked again for explanation and I got the most circular, nonsensical response that I just gave up. I don't want to pitch a big fit right before disbursement, so I decided to wait until I have the refund and then ask where the rest of it is. But does anyone know, how can this happen? Nothing has changed with my schedule, my finances, nothing. I emailed this counselor in October and again the first of January, just to make sure nothing had happened or was going to happen to affect my financial aid, and I was reassured that everything was fine. My disclosure statement for Direct still shows the correct award amount, so that hasn't changed. Can the award change for no reason mid year? </p>
<p>I appreciate any help with this, I will definitely go to the financial aid department to get an answer once I get the money, but I'm just really curious if it is normal. Thank you.</p>
<p>Well…is it possible that what you think you should be getting is MORE than the cost of attendance for the term for a part time student. I believe that even for GRAD school, financial aid cannot be awarded in excess of the cost of attendance. If you dropped below 1/2 time, there would have to have been an adjustment in your financial aid award…because the costs would be less. I know this sounds “unfair” but perhaps there is an adjustment for part time students for the costs of housing as well.</p>
<p>Is there a reason you are going part time for this final term?</p>
<p>I only have five hours left, so I had to go halftime. I was awarded below the cost of attendance, the professional judgement brought my award to right at the cost of attendance for halftime. They did adjust for the decrease from fulltime to halftime, which is right around $500 and I expected that, it happened last semester too. The additional $550 decrease is what I’m questioning, and the counselor had no explanation for that decrease, she just said “it happens sometimes”. I guess with money involved, I’d like a more detailed explanation for the decrease.</p>
<p>What decreased? A school grant, a federal grant, a loan, what? If your school doesn’t meet full financial need for students (and most grad schools do not), they are not obligated to provide you with any amount of aid.</p>
<p>All I have are loans. I know they’re not obligated, I didn’t mean to suggest that. I’m curious why the amount I received is different from the amount I was awarded, and I’m just asking here to see if this happens often, because it hasn’t happened to me before. In the fall I received the amount I was awarded, and nothing has changed since then, so it just seemed odd to me. In fact, I have received the amount I was awarded every semester before this one, so that’s why I’m curious.</p>
<p>The only other thing I can think of…there IS a limit on the amount of Stafford loans a student can take in their college time…perhaps you reached that amount?</p>
<p>No, I checked that and I’m not close to reaching that limit. I would hope that if it was something that straightforward, the counselor could have just told me instead of being so vague, which is also disturbing. I’m fine with it as long as there’s a reason, I just haven’t heard of it happening before.</p>
<p>One possibility: When schools do a budget adjustment, they are required to use actual tuition and fees rather than estimated. It is possible that the original budget adjustment was calculated using full time estimated tuition for the current term. When you dropped to half time, using the actual billed tuition/fee amounts for the term rather than the estimates may have resulted in a decrease of $550. That may not be it, but it might be.</p>
<p>There can be other possibilities, but they would be more complicated. The best thing to do is to contact the FAO again & request an explanation. It shouldn’t be difficult for the FAO to give you that info - just make sure to catch her when she has time to talk.</p>
<p>Thanks for responding, Kelsmom. I asked the counselor for the exact figures/amounts used and she did email those to me, they matched up with my own calculations and showed that I should be getting exactly what I thought I should be getting. She asked me if those figures made sense, I emailed her back and said Yes! they do make sense, so I’m getting $XXX, right? She responded that no, I was getting $550 less that what her own figures showed I should be getting. That’s when I asked for a reason for the $550 decrease (the decrease from full to halftime had already been figured in by me and verified by her amounts), and she gave me a nonsensical answer that explained nothing. That’s where I stopped asking, because I didn’t want to delay disbursement. </p>
<p>I think I’ll have to call another counselor if I’m going to get any explanation; it was clear that this particular counselor either didn’t know or just wasn’t going to tell me. I do think there should be a reason, and that’s all I’m asking for. Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>My financial aid came in early this morning, and my refund is pending. The financial aid was not $550 less, as the counselor said it would be, but $1000 less than it should be (this is after the adjustment from full to halftime, I’m going by my halftime award amount). This is very frustrating. I know there’s nothing I can do about it today, but hopefully I can get some answers tomorrow. That is a big difference, for no obvious reason and with no explanation offered. </p>
<p>I appreciate the help I’ve gotten here, it helps sometimes to just vent about the financial aid system!</p>
<p>I am shaking, I am so upset. I asked a different financial aid counselor why my aid is $1000 less than it should be, and I got another circular response that didn’t clarify anything. But this one is trying to say that I did get my full award, I just got more in the fall and less in the spring. That makes no sense and its not true, I got the correct amount in the fall, which should be the same amount in the spring. </p>
<p>In addition to not being able to get a clear answer, I have emails from 10/28 and 1/4/11 where I specifically asked if I was still going to get the professional judgment I had been awarded for this year, even though I am halftime, and I was told yes, I still would. I also asked if ANYTHING was going to be different as far as my financial aid for spring 2011, and twice I was told no, everything was the same and everything looked fine. I explained this to the counselor today (via email), that I had asked these questions so that if needed I could adjust my class schedule and/or my budget, and I relied upon the accuracy of the answers - twice. That is what bothers me the most, this not only came out of nowhere, but as recently as Jan 4 I verified that my award had not changed. Is this typical, that you cannot rely on information from the financial aid counselors? </p>
<p>She hasn’t responded to my second email, it was close to the end of the day. I just don’t know what to do now. Can I appeal this? I have gone over and over the numbers, and the numbers they are throwing at me (which were different from each counselor) do not add up to the correct awarded amount. They don’t add up to the amount on the award or the disclosure statement. And to say that I was awarded more in the fall is just false. </p>
<p>Is there any use in pursuing this further, since I am getting the run around? I’m perfectly willing to take this to the director if I need to, I know $1000 may not be a lot to many people, but it is a lot to me, and I really think its wrong to reassure me for months that my award hadn’t changed then decrease it, without explanation, at the last minute. </p>
<p>Sheri, I just reread your older posts. You had the SAME issue (or a very similar one) in the fall term. How did you get it resolved in September? Perhaps you should go that route again.</p>
<p>I mentioned that to the counselor today, the same thing did happen in the fall, and all it took was a phone call for them to acknowledge the mistake and fix it. I still don’t know why it happened, but the same $1000 wasn’t included in the disbursment, but they added it right back in and I just had to wait a week to get it. I explained that today thinking that might clear everything up quickly if they would look back at the fall, but she didn’t address that at all. She just said I HAD received my full award, just not evenly distributed between semesters. That is not true, because after they fixed it in the fall that award was correct, not more than it should have been, and the numbers from the fall plus the numbers from the spring do not add up to the correct amount.</p>
<p>That adds to my frustration, because in the fall I was even told “if this happens again just let me know and I’ll fix it” but that same counselor now is talking in circles. I have now talked to the counselor that fixed it for me in the fall, plus another one, and have gotten nowhere.</p>
<p>I think so too. I absolutely hate to do that, I hate that it is this hard to get an answer. Fortunately I have saved every email from the financial aid office, all of which back up what I’ve been telling them. I just want a valid, logical explanation, and if there’s not one, I’d like the $1000 I was awarded. </p>
<p>Grad school is hard enough, financial aid shouldn’t be so difficult. I cannot imagine dealing with this as an undergrad in my twenties, I’d just give up.</p>
<p>Yes, you should take it up the chain of command. If you were awarded correctly, with more in the fall, they need to explain it to you so that you understand. If you were not awarded correctly, they need to fix it. It is not asking too much for someone to give you an explanation that clears up your concerns … or fix it, if it’s wrong.</p>
<p>Thank you. I have gone over the amounts, I was awarded correctly in the fall, not more, but exactly as I should have been. So the amount should be the same for spring. I will try one more follow up with the counselor I’ve been dealing with, only because I realize I need to give her time to respond, but then I’ll contact the director.</p>