<p>I'll try to keep this brief and to the point. I'm a good student, I'm part of the honors society at my college and I have a pretty good GPA (3.85) I've never failed a class. </p>
<p>Basically, I took a class that was to be taken year round. It was the literary magazine course at my school. This is obviously a class meant to be taken fall, winter and spring. Right? Right. Well because of my enrollment in that class in the spring, I was denied my financial aid for the new school year. This seems totally ludicrous to me considering that this is a class in which we work toward the final semester. Spring is when we release what we've worked on all year. To top it all off, I wasn't even notified that it would be an issue. I would have been disappointed but I would have dropped it in spring if I knew this would happen. College means quite a lot to me and I can't afford it without my aid. I've been fighting it for a while but I've had no luck. The instructor of the course is out of the country. I'm not sure he can help anyway. </p>
<p>What I'm wondering is if I transfer to another school, will this aid denial follow me there? They are claiming that I don't meet their SAP requirements and they're acting like there's nothing they can do to help me. Perhaps it's true and the college has no control over this? Or are they just guilting me into paying for the next term to hide their mistake? (I've got news for them-- I have no money.) I'm totally at a loss right now and classes start soon. I don't know what to do. </p>
<p>I'm hoping someone can help me figure out a way to work through this. </p>
<p>What is the part of SAP that you don’t meet? You need to understand the details of SAP and how this does or does not meet that. This should be a cut and dried matter. I don’t want to guess at the possible reasons, but perhaps it is looked at as repeating the same class and not having enough other credits for SAP? You need to figure this out exactly. If the instructor is gone, then perhaps you can explain this to the department head or his office and they can help with designating this a different class for the financial aid folk.</p>
<p>I’m not following this at all. Are you saying you were denied aid because you took a course? That makes no sense. Did you pass the course? Was it the only course you were taking?</p>
<p>Sorry everyone! I guess I should have clarified a bit more. I passed this class every term. They are saying that because I passed it twice that the third time was not needed. However when enrolling in this class students are expected to attend this class all year. To me it seem like an error of the school because if they do a class like that year round but then say you can’t take it more than two terms it should have a different course code each term. There was only the one option. I was enrolled in 12 credits so that wasn’t the issue. I passed every class. The lowest grade I’ve received all year is a B. I’m just as confused as all of you. My aid denial seems extremely unfair. </p>
<p>Well the course is set up that way. The instructors definitely intend for the course to be taken three times. It’s an ongoing class throughout the year. The first term we gather art and literature from local people who submit their work. We discuss and vote on what goes in the final book during the second term. In the final term we compile it all, publish and distribute it. I assumed it was a course accepted to be taken three terms because of it’s structure. Why would I take it for two terms only to abandon all my hard work in the final term? The people saying that it’s not allowed are in the financial aid department. The director of financial aid is very unyielding on the matter. </p>
<p>Can you get a letter from the instructors of the class describing the 3 class sequence and explaining that the 3 classes are all part of a sequence? It might help if you have a statement from your instructors on paper to share with the FA office</p>
<p>Edit: just saw that you wrote that the instructor is out of the country. Can you contact them by email/have a copy of a syllabus explaining the 3 class sequence?</p>
<p>I will say again that you should talk to the department head to see if they can help you. Like you said, perhaps each section needs to have a different course code. Or it should be clearer it doesn’t count toward SAP, that you will need enough other units to satisfy SAP and just have this as additional. If that was the case then there isn’t anything you can likely do after the fact. Unfortunately it is up to the student to satisfy SAP. But you might ask how other classes that are meant to be taken for a full year are treated for SAP–course numbering etc.</p>
<p>Contact the department chairperson or the dean of students. If this is exactly the same course number, you would not be able to take it three times for credit.</p>
<p>How many other students took it for all three terms like you did? I wonder if they were using financial aid, too. Maybe there is strength in numbers.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I’ll try some of these suggestions. Still I’d like to know if transferring would gel me get my aid back? Or will this denial follow me? I still want to stay at my current school and I plan to try these suggestions but as a last resort, should I consider transferring? </p>
<p>I don’t think transferring would automatically get you your aid back as transferred credits will be counted toward SAP by the new school. I don’t know how they’d count multiple “attempts” at the same course at a prior institution.</p>
<p>I think somebody at your current school is misunderstanding the rules. In your case, I really think the 3 semesters of the class ought to be called something different. But schools also do have courses that are intended (or permitted) to be taken for credit multiple times (things like “honors thesis” or “independent research in X” and so on) which, if handled properly, should not interfere with financial aid. </p>
<p>If it turns out that you really did something wrong (perhaps you were only allowed to take it for credit twice, and audit the third time or something) ask if there’s anything you can do to return to SAP. It sounds like it might be as little as taking another single course and passing it, which you might be able to do as a part-time student while working to cover the cost.</p>
<p>Do you have an advisor who advised you on your courses when you signed up? If so they should be a resource you can tap while trying to figure out what went wrong here.</p>
<p>This doesn’t make sense to me. I understand that you might not be eligible for aid for the class when it was repeated … the school won’t count it toward hours for aid on the 2nd or 3rd time around if it’s the same course number and the class was not set up to BE “repeated” 3 times (that is, the prof might say you should, but it wasn’t cleared that way academically). It really should be 3 separate course numbers. If the hours don’t count toward your aid, that means you might retroactively lose the aid you received in the summer (if you received aid in the summer). But I don’t get how SAP plays into this … unless it just so happens that this class put you over the 150% mark for credits. </p>
<p>Have you talked to the aid office yet? Make sure you talk to someone who can really look at your situation and understand it … not just an advisor from a one-stop-enrollment center! </p>
<p>The reason is in no way related to the amount of credits taken or credits in excess. It’s being treated as a “repeat course,” which it’s not. This is an error on the humanities department for not having separate course codes. The director of financial aid has been in touch with me and she keeps saying I repeated course work. She acknowledges the error but stands by the decision to deny my aid. It’s been very draining. I’ve contacted a few other people but no one really knows what to do about it. The system is broken. </p>
<p>What does the Department Chair or Director of Undergraduate Studies say? If the course is meant to be repeated three times, surely there have been other students on aid who have completed the sequence-- or are you the only one?</p>