I have received a full scholarship that covers all “mandatory” costs of my school. I have inquired to financial aid about using my Pell and SEO grants to cover the other “not mandatory” costs that I have (books, extra housing fees, parking pass, etc. They told me that they will use all grants and scholarship that I am awarded (and that are made payable to the school, like the grants are) for the mandatory costs before they go anywhere near the not mandatory costs (less than $1,000). The problem is, I don’t even have to be filling out my FAFSA, but I have been doing so to get the grants in case I have other additional fees. The college has used my grants by reducing the amount of money the full scholarship is awarded for (though it clearly states that it will cover all mandatory costs) and uses the grants for mandatory costs. Are they allowed to do this? They are basically reimbursing themselves for money they already told me would be covered by the full scholarship. Why isn’t the grant money going to me or the other costs that the scholarship will not cover? I have contacted FAFSA and their representatives have told me to talk to financial aid, but the college doesn’t seem very willing to help me.
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No FAFSA, no Pell grants or any other Federal aid for you!
This is quite typical.
Many schools will not allow aid to exceed a certain maximum, often the cost of tuition, rarely but if you’re lucky the total cost of attendance. They also usually are pretty clear about the fact that outside grants or scholarships will be applied against the scholarship you have received from the school. I turned down some one-year local scholarship awards because they would have impacted my scholarship. I also didn’t work work-study, since any work-study money I earned would have been deducted from my scholarship.
Oftentimes schools will REQUIRE you to complete the FAFSA and apply for federal aid in order to receive scholarship money. That’s because they guaranteed you would be able to attend the school with all mandatory costs covered, but if the government is willing to subsidize some of those costs, the school isn’t going to leave that money on the table.
Most likely if you read through the scholarship paperwork, you’ll find the disclaimer that outside monies will be deducted from your scholarship. It’s not that the school is using the money for themselves, they are using the money to help fund your scholarship. This is totally legal.
Need based financial aid cannot exceed the cost of attendance. Of course, most,schools don’t award aid to meet full need…but that is a whole other story.
Some schools actually require students to complete a FAFSA specifically to determine if the student is eligible to receive any grant aid from the federal government. Then they award thei aid in addition to that.
If you wanted to, you could.dcline to do,the FAFSA until say…April or May (before your school year ends). Get whatever aid you get from the school…but then before the term ends…and allowing time for processing…submit your FAFSA…you will still get any Pell Grant to which you are entitled…and the Direct Loan. SEOG is limited funding over campus…and by April, that money will be gone.
Are your billable college costs covered under the current scenario? If so, you could get a job for those incidentals. If all of your other costs are covered…you are getting a LOT of need based aid.
Unfortunately my school is quite pathetic with documentation. I asked for them to provide me documentation of the scholarship and the paperwork that lists out everything, but they say they don’t have any. This is incredibly fishy to me. I am also pretty certain they do not require me to fill out the FAFSA. My full scholarship is merit based and has nothing to do with financial need. I am able to be a work-study and have the money go directly into my pocket, but this is not calculated into my full scholarship.
No pell grant for my school, who is just reimbursing themselves. It isn’t benefitting me in any way.
If you don’t file the FAFSA, your school can’t get any Pell grant money in your name.
I’m not sure what your beef is. You have a full ride…and work study. This is very generous.
And like I said…you can wait until 6 weeks before the academic year ends to file your fafsa…and you then will still get any Pell money to which you are entitled. Your scholarship will already have paid for the term. The money will be disbursed to the school…but if your total bursars balance is $0, that Pell will be refunded to you.
And adding…your school is well,within their rights to give you a scholarship under their terms…which very much could mean that they expect any federally funded monies to be applied to your account first.
Don’t get me wrong, I am very fortunate to have the full scholarship as I cannot afford to attend college otherwise. My financial situation is hard. My problem is I have some extra fees I cannot cover since my work study money is being saved for the taxes on my scholarship, and rather than the school using my pell grant to cover $1200 over the span of three semesters (which one semester of my grants will easily cover and have money left over), they have told me that first I would have to have scholarships and grants to completely cover my full scholarship (40k a year) before they will use it on any other costs. I agree they have every right, given they provide paper work and documentation. But they have not. This is a small private school that seems to do a lot of things they want without explanation. I am unsure of what you mean by the 6 week thing, could you explain to me how that works a little bit more?
The money I owe is in my account, it’s just they are using the pell grant to cover the costs my scholarship will cover before the other fees. I am not looking for pocket money, just to get that covered.
You are able to file the FAFSA at any time before your academic year ends. So…you could file it six weeks before your school year ends in May or June. So for the 2016-2017’school year…just have your scholarship pay your bills. Then in April of 2017, file your FAFSA. You will still be entitled to any Pell Grant for which you are eligible…and a Direct Loan for that academic year.
I suggest doing this six weeks before the term ends so that it will have sufficient time to process before the school year ends.
The Pell will be disbursed to your college…and if your bursary account is $0, you will,get a refund. Put it in the bank…and use it to fund whatever you want for the following school year.
But before you do this…make sure your school isn’t expecting that FAFSA to be filed. If they expect it…and you don’t do it…you could have issues.
And make sure that your costs to the college will actually be covered.
In addition, understand that SEOG money is awarded on a first come,mforst served basis…and early filers of,the FAFSA are better positioned to get this than later filers.
Have you taken a Direct Loan this year? You could also use that to pay for these additional costs.
Also, why do you have extra housing fees? And a parking pass?
I suppose I will have to check in with financial aid to see if they use FAFSA annually for my work-study eligibility, as I definitely need it. I am not taking any loans for my schooling. My sister is currently enrolled as well and has needed to apply for multiple loans which is already putting stress on my mother and her finances. I have extra housing fees because I am requesting a single for my last three semesters at school. My school, unfortunately, allows for a lot of substance use and I maintain a substance free lifestyle which conflicts with the majority of people at this college, so I am requesting housing in a smaller specialty building. I will also be enrolled in student teaching and would like my own space for this. It is only an extra $600 a semester for this and that is why I am bummed they won’t use a fraction of the Pell grant to cover it. I have written an appeal letter that I will be submitting Monday. The parking pass, again, is for student teaching since I am in a rural location and ST will require me to drive to and from a school on a daily basis. And I do have some book fees that are not covered by the school.
There is no question…you MUST file a FAFSA for federal work study consideration. It is a federally funded need based aid award.
You could take $2000 a year in Direct Loans to cover your single room…and parking costs. The Direct Loans are in YOUR name only…no parent on those…so it should not stress your mom. These would be your loans. If you borrow $4000 total, your loan repayment would be about $50 a month for ten years…or you could repay sooner. That is NOT a lot of loan debt.
Well, that’s unfortunate.
Considering that it is only $600 a semester, my best bet is to appeal to the school and work with that. It is ridiculous for me to get a loan that I would have to pay off for 10 years when this is something that could be easily covered with the Pell grant. I plan on graduating debt free, again I am very fortunate for the scholarsip. Hopefully the school accepts my appeal. Thanks
Good luck. If it’s $2000 total that you need…the loan repayment would not be onerous. And you don’t have to take ten years to repay it. You can accelerate the payments.
Did you appeal for a COA increase to cover your extra expenses?
???
Have you submitted FAFSA? Have you done so in the past?
Something isn’t making sense.
If you go online to your portal, you should be able to see the breakdown of your award(s)… can you copy paste them?
She has to have submitted the FAFSA…she has federal work study and a Pell Grant…and SEOG.
The issue is that the grants are being used to offset some of the merit scholarship the school is giving her.
The money she needs is for extra dorm costs, and parking.
My question…would the school ever view these as part of the scholarship? Probably not…and that is why the student wants the Pell and SEOG in addition to the scholarship…to pay for a single room, and a parking pass.
And the student does not want to take out the Direct Loan in any amount.