Complicated Situation

Graduate School
1

Hello everyone! I am new (obviously!)

I finished my bachelor’s degree in Fall 2015 and decided I wanted to go to grad school. So I started at University of Maryland University College in Spring 2016. Everything was going great until summer came around. I had used financial aid to finish my bachelor’s in the fall, and I knew I was only supposed to receive aid for spring. I told the school this. However, they pushed me to enroll in the summer semester. They told me I qualified for the aid I received and I should go to cut down on how long I would be taking the program. So I enrolled. I got the aid. Then the first day of class they emailed me to tell me my financial aid had been revoked and I now owed them for the class and the refund. I dropped the class and still owe $2000. I haven’t been able to pay them back (that’s another more personal story).

So I started to look for other schools. I decided to go to Norfolk State University (NSU) and complete my Master’s of Cybersecurity there. I was accepted and received aid with no problem. I have not yet finished. I was supposed to finish last spring, but I was not yet done with my final project and one other class. My intention was to finish during the summer and complete the final class this fall.

In the meantime, I enrolled back at my alma mater to start my MBA, as I only had one class to finish at NSU and I was planning to pay for that on my own. That hasn’t gone so well and I was just recently dismissed because I was unable to maintain a 3.0 GPA. To be honest I just didn’t grasp it and I had already decided not to go back and was in the process of withdrawing when I received the dismissal letter.

Now I am returning to NSU for the fall semester to finish up my final project and the one class I need to graduate. I was recently asked to fill out an Unusual Enrollment History form. Could the dismissal from the previous school affect me getting financial aid, even though I was already a student at Norfolk State? Without the financial aid I won’t be able to finish and yes, I know I should have finished before starting my MBA.

I know it was a stupid mistake to let my GPA go that low and this will probably be the price I pay so I don’t need that lecture. I’m just wondering if anyone has had any kind of experience like this. I feel for you if you have and hope everything worked out, but could you share your experience with me?

2

  1. You need to stop taking classes, and pay off your debts to these universities.

  2. Then you need to decide which (if any) of the grad programs you do indeed want to finish.

  3. If you want to finish more than one of the programs, focus on the one that has the fewest courses remaining, and get those done completely before you move on to anything else.

3

@Astingel2016 - Welcome to the Forum! I agree that you need to stop and take stock. However, if all you have to do at Norfolk State is one course AND you get the financial aid, then finish that program and move on. At this point you should be looking for a job and starting a career, not starting more programs until you know what will most benefit your career. The MBA may not be useful at all.