I have been attending a university for 3 years now and every year I’ve had issues with my fafsa. This year I spoke with a financial aid advisor about my issues and when she showed me my fafsa I learned that the income I reported was not what I had input when I did my application. Opening that can of worms lead me to research into my history and I learned that the previous year I was awarded $6,000 in pel grant. My tuition is normally payed in full by the VA every semester and yet somehow I only received $200 from my pel grant money. I fear this may be the tip of the iceberg because of my previous issues as well as my past financial aid awards and tuition costs not lining up. I’m on a quest today to get my financial records from the VA , financial aid office, and administration offices today with out raising suspicion so I can compare them to my records. Is there anything I can do to A: get the money the university owes me back and B: hold the people accountable responsible for this?
@kelsmom is a financial aid officer. She may have ideas for you.
You need to know how VA benefits works with other aid, including Pell grants. Some programs are the payer of last resort and only pay once all other FA is applied. Others have a set amount (GI Bill) for r&b for a number of months.
You should understand it all and dig for answers, but I don’t think there is fraud involved.
I’m very unclear who made the mistake here. Colleges either require that students completing the FAFSA use the IRS Data Retrieval tool…or provide a tax transcript. Using those the income on your taxes would be verified as being accurate on your FAFSA form.
If the FAFSA and tax transcript didn’t agree, the income from the tax transcript would be the one used…not what you put in. @kelsmom am I correct that the college would make this correction?
So…did you ever receive notification that your FAFSA was changed? This happens when a school changes an entry. Were you ever selected for verification by the college?
It’s impossible to know what happened based on the info above. I agree with @thumper1 that perhaps your info may have been updated by the school. If your FAFSA was selected for verification, that may have happened.
The fact that your tuition is paid in full through VA benefits makes it harder to comment. Which VA benefit pays your tuition?
Also, please don’t feel you need to do your investigation covertly. You have a right to understand everything. Does your school have a VA advisor?