<p>What happens if you go over your 180 credits the semester that you graduate? I'm sure that it varies by school, but just in general. I am waiting for my FA package for next year before I contact my U directly. Does aid generally get cut off if you're going to go over that amount or when you actually go over it? If at the end of my fall semester I have 170ish credits, will I still get aid for my spring semester even though at the end of that I'll have ~190 credits?</p>
<p>I started with something like 40 AP credits. I have also been taking classes every summer (either through study abroad or just regular classes). I will graduate in 4 years, but my final semester will push me over that 180 mark (I should be at around 170 at the end of the fall semester and just under 190 at the end of spring). </p>
<p>I will be asking my FA office, they just don't tend to like to answer questions until I have an actual aid package. </p>
<p>Roman, I don’t know what will happen with you…but our daughter had senior status and course credits her junior year. In fact, we received all of the graduation info that year! She had a double major and a lot of extra credits. She had a school grant and the stafford loan which she got all four years. She did have to maintain full time enrollment status.</p>
<p>It totally depends on the school’s and the state’s rules about such stuff. It seems to me that when state aid is involved, there are these rules in place.</p>
<p>You’ll have to call your FA office and find out.</p>
<p>@thumper- I’ve had senior status since about half way through my “sophomore” year. I have received a LOT of graduation info over the semesters haha, but none of them have mentioned FA running out. </p>
<p>@mom2- My state scholarship is very small (~$500) so I’m not too worried if I lose that- it’s never been guaranteed anyway so I’ve always planned around it. The majority of my aid is federal (full Pell, some subsidized Stafford loans, a small Perkins loan, SEOG grant, work study), a private scholarship (which is 4 years regardless), and then a mixed need-based/academic-based scholarship from my university. I’m more worried about my federal aid as that is the bulk of my package.</p>
<p>ETA: </p>
<p>Ok, I finally found this. Not sure how I missed it, but our FA site seems to have been redone recently- so maybe that’s how. </p>
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<p>So it seems like I should be OK unless I continue to take classes after my spring semester?</p>
<p>Since you have 40 AP credits, you would have a better chance at a successful appeal.</p>
<p>At my university, as long as you have less than 180 undergraduate credits prior to the start of your final semester, you are eligible for full state and federal aid. Your university may have different rules however. When contacting the financial aid office, specifically ask for the satisfactory academic progress officer as they should be able to answer your question.</p>
<p>Gosh…it seems like a student shouldn’t have their AP credits sent over until the very last needed semester. </p>
<p>I don’t like the fact that AP credits get counted in these calculations since often kids have “too many” of a certain type of AP credits and not enough of others. Kids who take AP Euro, US, and World come into college with 18 credits of history, when they probably only need 6 (unless they’re a history major). The same can happen if a kid takes AP chem, bio, and physics. </p>
<p>A student would have to be very calculating and only send AP credits after - say - junior year tests - and then have the senior year ones sent much, much later. Many kids accumulate 20+ AP credits during senior year alone!</p>
<p>@mom2- I almost wonder if there’s a way to cancel some of my AP credits if it comes to that. Unfortunately, the majority of my AP credits provide me nothing but credits since they don’t apply to my degree program. I have 11 credits from biology alone which are completely useless to me.</p>
<p>I started this spring semester with 188 undergraduate semester credit hrs which put me over the 180 SAP max at my university and which automatically ended most of my my financial aid eligibility; I still needed to complete 3 courses for 8 credits to get the 2 bachelor’s degrees I’ve been working on since finishing high school in 2008. I was ok starting the past fall semester, beginning fall short of the 180 threshold with 175. 48 of my credits were accumulated doing college dual enrollment in high school, but they are counted in the SAP #'s by my college. I had to petition my college’s financial aid office immediately after my fall grades were posted in late Dec. to get a variance from SAP 180 max rule for aid for this spring. I had letters from my academic advisors explaining extenuating circumstances such has the courses I needed this spring were only offered once a year and and asking for consideration for variance because of the 48 credits being earned in high school–I was granted financial aid first week of Jan. for Spring Semester 2012 and ended up classified as a fulltime student taking 12 cr hrs spring, and I expect to graduate May with 2 bachelor’s degrees and exactly 200 semester credit hours total. I’m even still getting Florida Bright Futures Scholarship money this spring because so many of my credits were from high school dual enrollment and summer classes that don’t count toward Florida Bright Futures credit hours cap. I could have graduated with just one bachelor’s degree at 19 yoa, but I didn’t want to finish so early, so I did two degrees simultaneously in 4 years of regular college.</p>
<p>Romani, don’t drop any credits until you check with the aid office. MSU’s aid office has some really good aid officers, so you should be able to find someone who can give you guidance specific to your case.</p>
<p>kels- I’m only going to cancel the credits as an absolute last resort. Our FA officers must not answer phones or emails. I’ve never had a good experience with them unfortunately. I will try to go in after I get my FA offer for next year, but I work 9-5 every day so I have no open hours to go see them :/</p>
<p>MSU=Michigan State Univ? You should be fine with financial aid if you begin your last semester with under 180 credits. If you began with 180 it’d be a different story the way I read MSU’s website: “Therefore, a student enrolling in a semester after earning their 180th credit is no longer considered to be making Satisfactory Progress toward the degree.”</p>
<p>It is certainly best to check with the financial aid officers for your specific situation like kelsmom suggested, and keep in mind rules can change and can also be bent.</p>