@kelsmom Thank you. Yes, I found that as well and I’m hoping the part that says “students who will graduate at the end of the summer 2017 or fall 2017 semesters” will help me out with more direct loan eligibility if they ultimately decide to not offer my mom the PLUS loan. Your calculation for my current direct loans is spot-on. They offered me around 4K and that leaves me with a balance of 10K.
I reached out to the customer service number on StudentLoans and the woman I chatted with said that if my summer session started in May, then it should definitely be part of the 2016-2017 year. If the people offering the loan say I should qualify, I don’t know why USC cancelled the PLUS loan either.
I stopped by the financial aid office today - right when it opened. I told the financial aid counselor that I received an email saying that my PLUS loan was cancelled because my dependency status changed and that it made me no longer eligible. She said there was absolutely no record of that on her end and regardless, it was completely incorrect; I should qualify as dependent. She just said that if I didn’t pass my classes for any reason and/or had to take more in the fall, then yes, I would be independent as of the fall semester. I have my fingers crossed. It sounds like maybe it was an oversight/mistake on their end.