My daughter attended UCR for two years. She received the blue & gold scholarship and was assured her financial aid would cover her tuition and her housing. I am not in a financial position to help or to qualify for the Parent Plus loan. Her 1st year was smooth sailing, her funding was there on time to start each semester, she had housing etc. but the 2nd year was difficult every single semester. The funding was not there in time and when it finally did arrive she was already 2 to 3 weeks behind and had to go through the whole waiting game with her housing. She went to start her 3rd year, and again, her student loans had not “funded” so she could not start classes and she lost her housing. AND yes, she ALWAYS applied early! Anyway, she gave up, moved home and basically threw in the towel. Now, she is 23 and decided to go get the rest of her basic credits etc. at the community college and has taken the assessment, etc.BUT they will not let her attend without her transcripts… and UCR will not release them saying she owes $4000. I asked her to get an itemized billing because how could she owe $4k to them when she had not even attended 1 class her 3rd year? Regardless, she doesn’t have $4k to pay them so they will release her transcripts. I am just wondering if there is anyone that has run into this before because I find it hard to believe she is the only young person out there in the UC financial aid system that has run into this problem. The only answer we are getting is that
she can get a loan. I would just like her to start back to school ASAP before she loses motivation and gives up. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you so much, and I apologize for the lengthy post.
Many times, the Direct Loan isn’t posted at the start of a term…but the school knows the student has this loan…and is good to go anyway. Was this some different kind of student loan?
Did she withdraw properly or just walk away? Did she formally let the school know she wasn’t going to be living in the university housing? If not…she very well could have been charged for something.
Did she receive a Pell Grant which needs to be paid back?
Yes, get an itemized bill from the college. See what was paid, and what wasn’t paid.
But if you DO owe money, your daughter will not be able to transfer or enroll elsewhere until she pays her bills.
Thank you so very much for the reply.
She had been communicating with housing and since she was moving into a new place she went to get her key, etc. and they told her to go to the One Stop Shop so she goes there and they told her the financial aid had not come through yet so she was not able to move in and they could not hold her room unless we paid up-front, which unfortunately, we did not have the money. and because her financial aid had not posted yet, they also could not let her attend her classes. This was the 3rd time this happened and I had been with her the last semester this occurred in her 2nd year and fortunately I had the funds to pay UCR so she could at least get a room to live in, but she still could not attend classes until the 3rd week of school (after the money was posted) So this last episode when she lost her room, and was advised about the financial aid she was very frustrated and she came home. I don’t know how she could owe UCR any money because she never stepped foot in her apartment and did not attend any classes?
She will have to keep calling/emailing them to request the itemization. I am very disillusioned with the UC system and after researching online it seems that the students relying solely on the Blue/Gold scholarship and financial aid are the students that receive their funding 2 to 3 weeks after classes start.
One last question - Do you know if she can submit the FAFSA and use some of the money to pay off the money she owes UCR? I just wonder if that would be an option.
Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my post. It has been so stressful for both of us.
(Also, your baby is very pretty. One of our cats has very similar markings!) Thank you again!
If she files the FAFSA she can get the federal student loan and any money over a school’s direct costs would be refunded to her. But the loan would only be processed if she’s enrolled in another school and she needs her transcripts to get accepted.
Is she working? If she owes the money because she didn’t formally withdraw then the best way to move forward is to pay it as soon as she can. I understand it’s frustrating for her, but I hope she doesn’t give up.
For university housing you sometimes have a deadline by which to cancel or you owe for the whole semester.
Also classes have to be properly withdrawn from within the add/drop deadline to not be charged for tuition.
So she did not do a FAFSA? What loans was she taking out then?
If the finances were tight, why didn’t she start at a community college for two years and finish at the 4 yr school?
I am not that familiar with CA state aid, but doesn’t the Cal Grant or Blue/Gold only cover tuition, not housing?
She needs to get a job and pay off the money she owes to get her transcript.
Her loans will also become due 6 months after she last attended classes, so that might have already happened. Make sure she makes payments on those. She can request it to be income based repayment, but don’t default on the loan.
No.
“I don’t know how she could owe UCR any money because she … did not attend any classes”
But did she officially drop the classes before the drop deadline or just not show up for classes she registered for?
How was she prevented from going to classes in the 3 weeks before funding would have posted? Were there university employees at the door to every class on campus with a list of names for people who haven’t paid tuition yet?
As others have said, it sounds like she did not officially withdraw from school. She is being charged even though she did not attend, because she registered for classes, but never notified the school she was not going to attend. She did not follow the rules. Call the FA office and ask to speak to a FA official.
I have been told that universities legally must release transcript records for the semesters that were fully paid for but often they try to withhold the full transcript. You could try that angle.
Nope…when you are applying to colleges you must provide ALL transcript information to the new schools. So…if this student withdrew without properly notifying the school…those courses would be listed on the transcript…and would be required submissions to the new school.
I can’t see how this student could transfer if they don’t have a complete transcript to present to their new college.
They need to contact the financial aid office at school one, get an itemized bill for all terms, and find out why this student owes money.
@thumper1 yes, you are correct. The example I was thinking of was for employment eligibility and I forgot about that stipulation. But if they never registered for any class - is that what I’m hearing? The best thing is to just pay it.