Financial Aid Messed Up...Need Help ; (

Paying for College
1

<p>To make a long story short I am in an accelerated business program which ends in January. I have 25 hours to complete for my degree after the winter term. My advisor enrolled me for my full time spring courses which you couldn't do until Dec. 6. She instructed me to make certain I call the Fin Aid Office so that they could package my unsub loans for the Spring term. After calling and emailing, I receive a message back that they already distributed the ENTIRE LOAN AMOUNTS for the whole school year in the Fall and Winter terms. WTH??? She said I would only be eligible for Spring and Summer Pell Grants...and that is it. This seems really odd because in the fall I asked why they hadn't packaged me for spring and summer and they said they wouldn't do it until I was enrolled in those courses.</p>

<p>How did this happen? I used the rest of the loan to pay my online fees for internet, transportation fees, books, and so forth. </p>

<p>I am unable to secure private loans as I am a returning student after being laid off from my job for two years and had to claim personal bankruptcy.</p>

<p>What do I do now? And why would they do such an idiot thing knowing I had more classes to take in this school year for spring and summer. </p>

<p>I feel like I have no recourse for their screw up and will have to wait until the next school year to get financial aid. </p>

<p>Please help. I'm desperate.</p>

<p>Heather P.</p>

2

<p>If you’re Pell eligible, I’m guessing that most of your Stafford loans are subsidized. So the unsub portion would normally be $2K per year, right? First, look back at your billing statements (or ask them to email you a summary for the year) and verify that you actually did take $1K unsub in each of the first two quarters. If they actually did award you this way, ask them if they have any Perkins loan funds left or if the school has an emergency loan fund for students. If you’d been awarded the $2K unsub evenly over 4 quarters the amount would have only been $500, so hopefully a small loan will cover it!</p>

3

<p>Your college may have been whacked with budget cuts and the rules then changed (without you or the advisor catching this). In my state, higher education has just been trimmed 52 million in a special legislative session. </p>

<p>So, first, drop the angry attitude. That is a door closer. You are worried and frustrated and furious – but that is not going to help here. </p>

<p>sk8rmom is right – go back to your billing statements and carefully go over them. See if you can find where (in print) you got your picture of how things would be distributed.
Then go IN PERSON to the financial aid office. (You can email to schedule an appointment and that might be wise so that there is someone who can take some time with you). If you are there, polite, persistent and in person, then you are not some raving, faceless, entitled pain in the tuckus. </p>

<p>Before you go, take some time to visualize the job of the fin aid people. Every day they deal with lots of students who want more, more, more. </p>

<p>You wrote "why would they do such an idiot thing knowing I had more classes to take in this school year for spring and summer. " I suspect that they didn’t have a clue as to how many more hours you needed for graduation (that’s over at the registrar’s office). </p>

<p>You need to professionally figure out where things went amiss. Did someone on their staff check the wrong box? Do all students get only fall disbursements? (Sounds weird – why was yours different than what you expected?). </p>

<p>Go, in person, and figure out what went wrong. And then, very professionally, ask for their advice. You don’t have to take it – but understand what they see as your options. </p>

<p>It sounds like you are an older, work experienced student. Is there any chance you can pick up some funding by working as a TA while you finish this degree?</p>

<p>The worst thing you can do is rant at the Fin Aid office in a bunch of nasty emails. Good luck.</p>

4

<p>I am quite confused by why you are so angry about this. You said you used the loans that were disbursed to you to pay for your classes and books in the first 2 quarters. If you needed the loans to pay for these classes, what would you have done if you had not received them? If you needed the loans and used them how is it a screw up on their part?</p>

<p>If you are an independent student (which I am guessing if you are returning to school after a work lay off) and are senior level standing then your Stafford loan maximum for the school year is $12,500 (can be up to $5500 subsidized loans, depending on need, and the balance in unsub loans). Your total aid including loans cannot exceed the COA for the school. Did you receive $12,500 in loans? If you did then the school cannot give you more than that in Stafford loans.(if you are still under 24 and a dependent student the maximum is lower, $7500).</p>