I had a question about appealing my financial aid award package and was wondering if someone could help me out.
I transferred to American in Spring 2016. I’m a relatively decent student, 3.5 GPA, so I was hoping to get a fair amount of financial aid for the 2016-2017 academic year, specifically grants. However my financial aid package came out and I noticed that I was receiving no grants at all and only a small amount of loans.I called the office just to see if there was any additional aid available (because why not, right?) and apparently I was put in the database as signed up for only half the amount of credits necessary to be considered a full time student. So I wasn’t being considered for any financial aid outside of sub/unsub loans. This was a problem because on my end, I am currently enrolled in 16 credit hours for the fall semester and so I told them to fix this and asked them about being reconsidered for additional aid, as I was clearly screwed over by a clerical error.
But now they’re telling me that because I was a transfer student, for the entirety of my time at American, I’m never going to be considered for any grant-based financial aid and that I am only eligible for loans. Moreover, the package that I was given in the Spring 2016 semester (which is very small) is the package that I’m going to receive for every semester until I graduate.
This bugged me for two reasons. One, because it just seems silly considering that I should now be considered a returning/continuing student after my first semester, and two, because the package that I received for Fall 2016 is actually slightly more than the package I received for Spring 2016. So not only does their explanation not make sense to me, but they also appear to be blatantly lying to me.
I’m going to call the office again to ask how I can go about the process of filing an appeal, but I was wondering if anyone else has experienced something like this or has some advice for me.
Sorry to read about your experience. Aid for transfer students is not as generous, and they will always consider you a transfer. My understanding is that any grants offered just prior to your first semester at AU will stay the same (even though your costs go up every year), providing that any conditions continue to be met.
Like a number of other institutions, AU is trending away from making merit awards toward providing more need-based awards. Need-based aid for dependent students will decrease if parental income goes up or a sibling graduates from college. Even so, this university doesn’t guarantee that they’ll fully meet demonstrated need for anyone.
The amount that one can borrow in federal sub/unsub loans goes up as you progress in earning credits, which I think is why you were offered slightly more in loans this year. There’s a chart of annual limits at studentaid.ed.gov .
You can appeal, but the grounds are limited. On AU’s public website, search for “appeal financial aid.” Click on the first item, AU Central. There’s some info there about appeals. I’d suggest reading that over before you call or email them. They are rapidly doling out all the available financial aid, so don’t delay. Good luck.
You’ve already posted this and were told that the university is not lying to you.
You were supposed to check if you could afford this university before you applied. You couldn’t assume that you would receive the same scholarship opportunities that freshman receive.
Most of those 4-year university grants and scholarships are limited; they have very specific requirements, and rules, either prescribed and delineated by the private donors, or by rules and requirements denoted by government funding for 4-year students.
The options for transfer student funding are extremely limited at the majority of universities. Where do you suggest they get the extra money from? They could up your fees to try to get more money, but that’s a very unpopular option.
The university’s FA office tries to match you up with monies that fit a transfer student. Most monies, however are predesignated for freshman athletes, merit students and anyone else the university needs to recruit for 4 years.