<p>Hi everyone .. this is my first time on this forum so here goes</p>
<p>I was recently approved for student aid at a community college in Raleigh, NC. I applied for a student loan but got declined because I owe 650 dollars since my balance exceeds the subsidized loan principle balance. I have attended other schools in another state and had loans before. I called the lender and the 650 I have to pay on is actually interest incuring from 2 years ago, that I have not paid it since my loan is consolidated and I am making no payments right now since I am in school.</p>
<p>My financial aid office cancelled my financial aid at the last minute on the last day of work and will not be back until January 5th .. classes start January 7th (sigh). I had turned in all required documents on time and she contacts me at the last minute when I cannot get in touch with her </p>
<p>My question is ... I cannot pay this billl... but I need to if I am going to get financial aid again. It states on the letter that my financial aid has been cancelled until this matter has been resolved. I can pay on this account this friday. But I dont want to be out 650 dollars if I am not going to get my financial aid back in time for school for spring 2009. I would rather pay it off monthly as I have no job and just live on social security and I have three children as well.</p>
<p>Since I cannot ask the financial aid office until January 5 do you think I will get this financial aid back or not? Someone told me I would but it would be a 30 day delay. But the person who told me went to a four 4 and I am attending a two year right now. </p>
<p>Thanks and any info will be greatly appreciated</p>
<p>Did you borrow more than $23,000 in subsidized loans? (If you aren't sure, go to nslds.ed.gov and look up your loans.) If so, you were overawarded. Even if you consolidated, you may not have repaid enough of the consolidation to pay down the $650 overaward (I assume that's the amount you were overawarded, based on the info you gave). You will have to either repay the overaward amount or make satisfactory arrangements for repayment. See page 2 the pdf on this link, "Inadvertent Overawards": <a href="http://www.aessuccess.org/higher_ed/pdf/loan_notes/Vol_13_No_5.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.aessuccess.org/higher_ed/pdf/loan_notes/Vol_13_No_5.pdf</a>.</p>
<p>If you have reached the $23,000 aggregate sub loan maximum, you will only be eligible to borrow unsubsidized loans as an undergrad.</p>
<p>Thanks for responding... Yes you are right and I now understand... I do have another question, though I know you are not the financial aid officer at my school iso in your own opinion...</p>
<p>Do you think once I pay this I will immediately get this money back. She did say that my financial aid for the spring semester has been canceled until the matter is resolved. This does sound like once I pay I will be able to get my money back.. What do you think?</p>
<p>Reason why I am asking is because I know some schools work with you and some do not and I would like to pay on this Friday but will just wait until Monday when the financial aid officer comes in.</p>
<p>I can only tell you what we do at the school where I work ... if you brought us confirmation from your lender that the overaward had been satisfactorily resolved, we would go ahead and process your aid. However, it does take some time to get everything to process (the federal processor will not okay your loan until everything is straightened out). We do not drop students from classes. We just don't let them enroll for the next term if they owe a balance. If your school drops you from classes for nonpayment at a certain point, they may help you out if your aid is currently in process. Keep in touch with them.</p>
<p>If you are paying the overaward back, I would think that your aid office will work with you. They will be overwhelmed when the term first starts, though, so be patient & understanding.</p>
<p>If your school is like ours, they don't process the second semester loans until you are actually enrolled. We didn't even do transfer monitoring until right before break ... so your aid office isn't really behind. It's just that cases like yours are hard to pick up on. Once they come to light through all the checks & balances, the aid must be canceled until things get worked out. I know it's not comforting to know that if you are the one affected, but it really is not unusual to have last-minute adjustments.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind, though, if you were overawarded, then odds are, you may not have any additional eligibility. You will definately want to contact the school as soon as they open, to determine the extent of aid available once you have paid down the overaward. No sense getting in over your head for Spring semester if you don't have the funds available once the problem has been resolved.</p>
<p>She probably will have unsub eligibility, since the max was raised. I do agree that she needs to be sure she isn't getting in over her head ... with a family to consider, she needs to be careful not to overextend herself.</p>