I applied to this Clemson university early as a transfer (December 2015) yet my acceptance letter got “lost” in the mail. I consistently contacted them and finally received my acceptance in letter in April 2016. My fasfa was submitted in feb before the march deadline. Yet my received date is in March on the my account… I was selected for FASFA verification because I’m low income and i sent the information to the office immediately. I was told by financial aid person the process can take up to 4weeks because you’re not the only person we have to verify and the only thing we can guarantee is $5,500 in student loans. They will not look my verification until they receive everyone’s verification documentation. That if i want to attend the university, I can send $200 but if the school is not for me I don’t have to attend but we won’t refund your money. $200 is alot of money to me and I don’t want it to go down the drain and wasted. Money is very tight currently. The rude tone and attitude of the person on the phone somewhat is making me change my mind about wanting to attend this school. I attended community college and I have sibling in out of state university and never been verified. All the other universities I was accepted into and I wasn’t selected for verification.
Is normal for you not to receive estimate or award letter while being verified?
I have a efc of 0 and I need an idea of the cost of the university and the financial aid I will be offered.
How do I know if they will give any need based grants,work study, or any financial aid to other student first?
Or all the financial aid funds will be gone once they finish “verifying” my fasfa. The only verification papers I was sent was how I spend my money on the monthly basis because they couldn’t understand how I lived on little/no income.
I did everything on my part and applied early for everything.
Is this process normal?
No, ordinarily an award letter would issue first. You shouldn’t have to pay a deposit before you receive an award letter - that’s just stupid. If you’ve been talking to admissions, I’d suggest talking to someone in financial aid, or vice versa. And if you’ve already done that, then go up the food chain to someone with more authority.
It makes no sense, though that your admission letter got lost . . . and I’m guessing that perhaps the same thing happened with the award letter. So they’re assuming you already have that letter even though you don’t. Have you moved or something that would have caused these problems?
There is no award letter until after Im verified is this normal?
I haven’t moved and for some reason my acceptance letter wasn’t sent. I just recently got my acceptance letter at the end of April after multiple phone calls/emails. I applied to this school in December they made a decision in February yet I didn’t receive my letter until April 22 after contacting them multiple times. The admission deposit is to hold my place as a admitted student and they said I have no award letter because my FASFA is being verified. I don’t want to send them $200 and I don’t know if I will have enough financial aid to attend. The FASFA verification process won’t be completed until the end of MAY. My tuition and housing deposit is $350 and I am getting a loan for this money. I would have to send them this money before they can verify my FASFA and it is non-refundable. It feels like a lose-lose situation. Because I can send them the deposit and not have enough financial aid to attend or not send any deposit and still have no where to attend. I’m sorry if Im being confusing. Is it normal for a school not to give a estimated financial aid award letter until after the FASFA verification process? I used the IRS retrieval tool on my FASFA and I was told I’m being verified because my family’s low income and EFC=0 . I don’t know if this is the school not wanting me to attend because I’m low income by making the process difficult and I can potentially lose $350 and have no college to attend in the fall.
No, it’s not normal. Talk to Financial Aid and ask where the initial offer is.
I did and I was told they cannot give any information on my financial aid until the verification process was complete. The issue is the verification process won’t be complete until after the commitment and deposit deadlines. I just thought this was strange compared to the other colleges I dealt with recently.
Yes, @college2277, we understand the problem. And I gave you specific instructions as to how to proceed. It’s entirely possible that they believe you’ve already received your award letter - and you just want them to confirm the amount of your award. It’s also possible they believe your FAFSA was not submitted by their deadline, in which case they would have no obligation to provide you with a timely award letter. But you can clear that up simply by providing them a copy of the email you received from FAFSA confirming its submission date.
You need to call, and work your way up the chain of commend until you find someone willing to help you get this straightened out. But, just to be clear, whatever has or hasn’t happened - it’s not a conspiracy and they are not deliberately attempting to sabotage your application. So, approach them with patience, not anger.
At some schools, it is normal.
I have had many students this cycle not receive an award letter due to incomplete verifications. I told one of my students over 3 months ago that a school she was interested in had a 2 year look back and to have her parent file for a 2014 transcript. She still does not have a package because mom did not send in this piece of information along with the verification form for 2015.
As a transfer student, Op’s financial aid package most likely is not going to be done until freshman admissions. Did the school give you a may 1 deadline, or are you going by the may 1 deadline that was set up for freshmen.
Did you run the net price calculator. The only thing that you are guaranteed with a 0 EFC is a $6500 loan as a transfer student and a 5815 pell grant.
are you in-state or out of state?
If you are in-state, did you apply for SC state aid
http://www.clemson.edu/financial-aid/types/scholarships/state-schol.html
Thank you for answering my question
The deadline for Fall transfer students is July 1 (breathe)
maybe you can find some of your answers here
http://www.clemson.edu/financial-aid/faq.html#I was selected for FAFSA verification. When will be verification be complete?
What does the Net Price Calculator tell you?
I used to work in the aid office at a large public university. We only packaged aid before verification was completed for students who were selected for verification if the student was First Time in a College (FTIAC). Transfer aid was not packaged until after verification.
Also … if you were selected for verification by the federal processor, you will have to complete verification at any other school before aid can be disbursed to your account. Look at your FAFSA - if the FAFSA has an * next to the EFC, you were selected by the processor. If it does not, Clemson selected you for verification based on their own policies for verification - in that case, you would not necessarily have to complete verification at another school.