<p>According to the Dept. of Education, community colleges after a students financial aid dismissal (for not achieving enough attempted units), have autonomy deciding if the "circumstances" described in a students appeal are substantial enough to reinstate the financial aid. Does the student have any recourse if their appeal is denied and school says decision is final? Does it matter that the student is nearing the end of their requirements for transfer to a state university, and that without the financial aid student will have to drop classes, exacerbating efforts to achieve satisfactory academic progress? Are there any alternatives for the student to "plead" for financial aid, without which they will be unable to continue school-and quite possibly become homeless?</p>
<p>You can work full time, get the $ to pay for classes yourself and get back to meeting SAP requirements. You need to talk to your school for a way to get to that point.</p>
<p>There are no alternatives. If you have appealed and the appeal was denied, you will not be able to get aid at that school. Schools are required by federal law to limit the amount of federal aid a student can receive - I assume you are over the 150% mark, which is why your aid was revoked. Federal aid is financed with taxpayer money, and if a student continues to collect aid without satisfactorily progressing toward a degree, aid will stop. The only suggestion I have is to talk to someone in the aid office who can look at your appeal - maybe you did not properly articulate your situation, or maybe you need to get an academic plan and stick to it (often students will get a plan but not stick to it - that will stop aid for sure). It’s worth a try.</p>
<p>Hi Kelsmom-</p>
<p>Actually my issue is the number of units I attempted versus the number of units satisfactorily completed. At my school that is 75%, and I am at 73%. I appealed the dismissal of my FA and was declined. I am surprised to learn that the Department of Education allows for great leeway in each school’s interpretation of “circumstances” that constitute a valid appeal, pointing out that the school doesn’t have to allow an appeal of their dismissal in the first place. I am just trying to ascertain if there are any avenues open to me to get funded as I had anticipated I would be until a few days ago. It has become apparent that the individual institutions have way more power and control over all aspects of federal/state student aid than I had imagined. I hadn’t realized what a subjective system it is.</p>