Community college and FA aid

Paying for College
1

<p>Hello everyone. </p>

<p>Recently I decided to return to school after many years to earn a 2 year degree in IT with a possible transfer to a state university in the future for a double BA in cinema arts/history.</p>

<p>I applied for the FAFSA first week of May when I applied for admission to the community college, not realizing that the standard was that students were supposed to apply for FA much earlier. I am new to this FA business and they told me that I was "in line" with a lot of people ahead of me which is totally understandable. My question is:</p>

<ol>
<li>How long does it usually take a CC to send out an award letter? I received the LACCD higher one card during the last week of May and activated it, but had no news on the award letter until I appeared at the FA office today asking for any updates. The man I spoke too at the counter looked at the file and then went off to move me onto the "file review list". I assumed I had been on that list seeing as I had been checking the FA status on the LACCD site for the last month and it had always come up with "your file is awaiting review".</li>
</ol>

<p>My EFC is 00000, and the man at the counter quoted a figure for the PELL grant, but was unable to really tell me when about the award letter. Does the FA kick in during the summer session or do they wait until fall (I did both FAFSA's, 2012-2013 and 2013-2014) to cover those eight weeks?</p>

<p>The classes have already been paid for by the BOGF fee waver, but the books were another story. I rented one on line for $10, but the other is another story.</p>

<p>I am taking 6 units for summer (and 16 for fall), and one of the books for summer was quite expensive: $238 (because it has to have a special access card, so used/rental versions of the book are kind of iffy). I asked them if they offered book vouchers because I spent weeks looking for a reasonably priced copy of this book, new and even a torrent pdf and I kept running into the issue with the access card. They ended up giving me a voucher for that book (which to be honest, I am eternally grateful because I cannot afford this book) and then they said to me "well if the FA comes through, it will pay for that, but if it does not come through, you will have to foot the bill yourself". Understandable. Then I asked them if they needed any computer work done around the office or school to pay for the books (set them up, fix them etc)? They put my name on a list. </p>

<p>But again, is there a chance my FA will not go through because I haven't worked for nearly three years in a steady job since the company I worked for went under? I am unmarried, with no dependents and I am an independent student. </p>

<p>I am new to financial aid, any advice that can be offered, I would be grateful.</p>

2

<p>You’ll get the Pell grant no matter what. If full time student, you’ll get about $6000. I dont know about coverage for summer. maybe a loan for that?</p>

3

<p>You need to get an appointment very quickly with the financial aid director, since the books close on 6/30 with no exceptions for federal aid. Doesn’t matter whose mistake. The coffers close and that’s it. So you need to find out exactly what the school’s policies are for financial aid for the summer. Most schools do add the summer eligibility to the prior year’s, others do for the prospective year. If your school does add it for the prior year, you need to make sure everything is in order or you can lose the money.</p>

<p>With a zero EFC, you can get full PELL. I don’t know what the amounts would be for the summer as that can go to either school year depending on school policy. For the full year you can get up to $5600 if you are taking 12 credits per term ($2800 per term) and you are also eligible to borrow from Direct loans on a subsidized basis as well as unsub depending on the Cost of Attendance. You need to get that all worked out, and not with a clerk behind the counter, but a financial aid officer.</p>

<p>Your financial aid has nothing to do with your job. The PELL and Direct loans are entitlements. If you are eligible for this money–signed up for the draft if you are male, not convicted of drug charges, are a legal citizen, not delinquent in prior fin aid, did not flunk out or not make standards with prior aid, did not use up limitations. Nothing to do with your credit or job history</p>

4

<p>I talked to the financial aid director yesterday because she was the one who was authorized to give me the book voucher. She said there was a great chance the FA would come through with no problems, but really had no pinpointed date as to when. </p>

<p>The June 30th deadline, does that mean the FA closes up for the rest of the year regardless if your file has been processed or that you have to have all paperwork in by that day? So far they haven’t asked after any paperwork after I filed the FAFSA nor did the government ask, all it has said on the LACCD site for the past month is “your file is awaiting review”.</p>