Hello,
I was recently admitted to a school that I attended previously, multiple years ago. I also applied for financial aid but was denied due to withdrawing from or failing every single course that I took.
I was wondering if I get accepted into another university,
- can I re-apply for financial aid for the same 2016 school year and
- Will I be eligible for financial aid at another university that I’ve never attended before (and thus have no gpa as opposed to a 0 gpa that I have at the university I previously attended)
- If I do attempt to obtain financial aid for a new university will fafsa look to my community college grades? Because those meet the SAP requirements.
Thanks in advance for any responses!
Those are natural questions but I have to disappoint you. I am just shocked that you were readmitted, you should consider that a gift, perhaps.
First things first. You should know your university SAP policy. It is likely in a student handbook that can be found online. That determines if you can get aid based on complying with gpa and credits earned policies. So look it up and calculate what performance you would have to have to get in compliance with your school SAP. That way you can determine the semester or year that you will again qualify.
You can never have a 0 gpa for SAP, you will always be a transfer with a previous gpa. So while a new university may admit you, they will also have a SAP policy for transfers. It might be more lenient but I can’t imagine it is so lenient that they could be allowed to give aid to a student who withdrew or failed every class.
New universities will look to all previous transcripts. Now you are suddenly talking about previous college you didn’t mention before, a CC. So yes they will consider all and calculate if you qualify for aid.
Now, if you have special circumstances, you can present them to the college in an appeal after denial of aid. Do you have special circumstances? If so, perhaps we can help you with that. Special circumstances would include illness or hardship.
Note: FAFSA is a form you fill out. It isn’t an agency or persona who does anything. The Federal Government and Dept of Education charges each college and the admissions staff with developing an approved SAP. In addition, each college may use ‘Professional Judgement’ to override some circumstances. It depends.
Every college has its own SAP requirements, and it’s own SAP appeals process. There is no way to know what other all colleges will do. You need to contact the schools…and ask.
Many students who fail EVERY class take the time to take classes at a community college, or other school to which they can commute…and they do well in these courses. This demonstrates that they are able to handle college level courses without failing. You didn’t do that. I’m not sure what the grounds for a SAP appeal would be. What have you done to show that you can succeed as a college student? The schools will want to know that when considering your SAP issue.
Sorry all, I didn’t explain my situation well. I went to community college then transferred to a university where I did poorly a few years ago. This last semester I took three classes at community college and got all A’s. Fafsa only looked to my previous university gpa (0) and not at all to my community college one (2.8). I am working on an appeal but my hardship was that I’m an addict. I’ve been in recovery for over a year making good grades & working but I’m concerned that my appeal will get denied because well admitting to be an addict doesent sound good. ( I have documentation of going to treatment and a letter from my current therapist). I am also wanting to be a chemical dependency counslour, do y’all think it will play in that I am wanting to use my degree to help others?
Thanks so much!
Fafsa does not look at you transcripts or grades. Fafsa is a form. You need to contact someone at your new college and find out their SAP appeal process. Your CC grades might help you.
One semester at community college might not be enough to meet SAP. Find out the policy at some nearby universities.
They will look at overall GPA and completion rate possibly. How many credits total you have attempted and how many you actually passed. They also might not accept all credits to transfer from CC.
Show them transcripts of all the schools attended and see what is needed for you to qualify for aid.
See what classes you can take that will transfer and then depending on what they say you might need to do one or more semester at CC until you can transfer and get aid.
There are usually two issues:
One is the ratio of classes attempted and classes passed. Each college will state their policy but it could easily be around 75%. Every college I know uses ALL credits attempted and passed, including those taken at other colleges. (That is where all those classes you failed are hurting you.)
The other issue is gpa. Each college has the gpa they require but every college I know places that somewhere around a 2.5. (Usually, between a 2.0 and 2.7, sometimes it depends on whether you’re a freshman or an upper class student.) GPA usually doesn’t transfer and, as far as I know, colleges don’t factor in the gpa of the other school.
So those are the things you are battling. Figure out where you are lacking. Schools sometimes will give a semester of ‘financial aid probation’ for you to get on track. If they do that, sit down and figure out whether you can meet the SAP and gpa in one semester and, if so, how many credits you need to take and what gpa you need.
The other thing you need to realize is that there is usually a limit on how long you can get financial aid. For example, the number of semesters you can get Pell Grant limit was changed a few years back. That means that if it takes you a year to get on track, you don’t get those semesters added on the back end.