<p>I'm pretty frustrated with UT at the moment. My financial aid award amounted to ~$14,000 for the upcoming year, but it was rescinded not too long ago because I didn't accept the online contract by the "deadline". The thing is, I was unaware that there even was a deadline, and I was unaware that my financial aid would be rescinded if I didn't accept the financial aid offer online. </p>
<p>I emailed the FA office to get my award reinstated, but they only reinstated about $5,000 of my award (my Pell Grant), and told me I would have to be placed on a waiting list to receive the rest of my award. They told me that they sent me three separate emails warning me that if I didn't accept the award by the deadline, I would lose them. But I went back through my email archives (I never delete emails), and found that I only received one of the three "warning" emails, and the one I did receive made no mention of a deadline or threat of withdrawal. </p>
<p>Now, I understand that my negligence is partially at fault, but I feel like UT was really underhanded about warning me of the consequences. To some degree, I feel swindled, and that additional $9,000 is by no means an amount that I can easily go without. Does anyone else have experience with this sort of thing? Do I have a compelling case for when I go into the financial aid office on Tuesday?</p>
<p>Yeah, when you go into the financial aid office in person, they’re usually nice and working in your best interest. I went last year to see if they could offer me more because I had a serious circumstance to deal with. They helped me then and I was okay. But anyway, all’s I know is they offered me a lot less for this year than last year. And that’s just for the summer so far. I haven’t been notified for the fall at all, but I’m worried about what the numbers are gonna look like. For you, $5000 is peanuts, they oughta give you the rest back! </p>
<p>For future reference, there’s always a deadline on accepting the financial aid, whether you want it all or less (by means of loans and stuff). For everything really.</p>
<p>Thank you for your help! I figured there was a deadline, I just didn’t know when it was. It kind of sneaked up on me without much warning.</p>
<p>Oh, please. My son was only offered loans and he received a lot of warnings about the deadline. We didn’t want loans so he let it disappear on purpose. We certainly knew.</p>
<p>Try to get in touch with your counselor.
I recently had a pretty extreme change in circumstances, and my counselor was amazingly kind and understanding. They really are there to help you.
That being said, I have received a ton of emails from the finaid office, even after I accepted my awards immediately. So, they might not actually be able to help you if they’ve already redistributed funds. I don’t claim to know how it all works. It’s worth a shot to try, but it might end up being one of those life lessons. Okay, it will either way, but you know what I mean. That sucks, though.</p>
<p>My son’s page still says, “Your financial aid award information is not yet available” for Fall 2011. It’s just loans, but should something have shown up yet?</p>
<p>It says we chose to decline all offered financial aid, but that’s for Summer 2011. There hasn’t been anything to accept or decline for Fall 2011 yet.</p>
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<p>Why the condescension? </p>
<p>My award was fully reinstated a couple days ago, thank goodness. It turns out I was right: the Financial Aid department admitted they made a technical error by not sending me the warning emails about the deadline.</p>
<p>MaineLonghorn, you may want to contact Financial Aid. I didn’t accept any loans, only grants and scholarships, but I believe the deadline for loans has passed. I’m sure they’ll be helpful and understanding.</p>