Hello all, not sure if financial aid office is right on this one.

Paying for College
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I am currently a freshman undergraduate student at a fairly low cost college, I believe the full years estimate is around 18k (tuition, room and board ect..)</p>

<p>-My family efc was ~5600
-I received $0 in grants, shouldn't be gpa related (had a 3.9)
-Was not offered work study
-My school awarded me $5,500 in loans for the entire year, 3.5 sub as is the limit.
-I was denied for my parent plus loan, which I was told would increase my stafford unsub limit increasing my maximum first year borrowing limit to 9.5k (still 3.5 sub).</p>

<p>But my school is not awarding me the 4K stafford limit increase and insisting that they do not have to, I understand that it may very well be in their rights to disperse funds as they see fit but I believe that they are making an error.</p>

<p>-18k for the year = 9k per semester</p>

<p>-5,500 in loans for the year = 2750 per semester
-<6000 in family efc = Lets even round up and say 3000 per semester.
-Was not offered work study of any kind, although I do have a minor weekend/night job.</p>

<p>This leaves me $3,250 short for each semester and 6,500 short for the year. So that additional 4,000 stafford limit increase would go a LONG way, I would even be able to save up from my job earnings and cover the rest by the end of the year (almost).</p>

<p>So my question is how are they really acting reasonably (or at least normally) when they leave me underfunded for the year even though on staffords site it says that a parent plus denial results in immediate increase of loan limit?</p>

2

<p>Some institutions wait to disburse the last of the funds until the final drop-add date is passed. Go back to the financial aid office, and find out if that is what they meant when they told you they would not disburse your additional loan money.</p>

3

<p>Are you residing on campus?</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the reply, I have been in and out of the fin. aid office many, many times now. They don’t really seem to know what they are talking about and actually ended up telling me that the reason my fin aid came (what they gave me) so late in the first place is because my account was held for verification and they “forgot” about it until I asked them. They also made me attend a loan workshop twice because even though I had the completed form you can only get form attending the workshop (specific to name and student id mind you) they had failed to put it into their comp and didnt believe me. So I have very little faith in them which is why I am asking you.</p>

<p>/end rant</p>

<p>Sorry, to answer your question, no they do not intend on holding it. They simply said they do not have to give it to me and do not plan to do so</p>

<p>Edit- Off campus, there are not any residence halls anyways</p>

5

<p>Is it possible that your cost of attendance is NOT as high as you think it is?</p>

6

<p>No, i pulled it off of their website, and they used 18k as the figure in the workshop…that i attended 2x</p>

<p>edit- I assure you that everything I said is 100% true, are they actually trying to withhold money from me??? </p>

<p>edit #2- checked student loan website, cost of attendance is confirmed 18k</p>

7

<p>I would work my way up the food chain at the financial aid office. Ask to speak to the director. If your college has a dean of students or an ombudsman, you might want to enlist their help also.</p>

<p>When did your parents get denied for the Parent Plus? Maybe there is a lag in notification there.</p>

8

<p>Over a month ago, I brought it up to them and they acknowledged that my father had indeed been denied but when I asked about the 4k they were a little dodgy and told me the best they could do was the 5500. I supposedly spoke to the “main” guy, but I wanted to make sure I had some meat to my argument before I started to really grill them about it.</p>

<p>I really do appreciate all of your replies but im still not 100% sure on the answers im getting, am I truly entitled to that 4k?</p>

9

<p>As long as your school allows parents to borrow Parent PLUS loans, they are required to award the additional unsub due to PLUS denial. See this link: [IFAP</a> - Dear Colleague Letters](<a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/GEN1107.html]IFAP”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/GEN1107.html) The pertinent language:<br>
A school also may not have an across-the-board limit on student eligibility for Direct Subsidized Loans and Direct Unsubsidized Loans that restricts student borrowers to the “base” combined subsidized/unsubsidized annual loan limit ($3,500, $4,500, $5,500 or $8,500, depending on grade level), and not make available to the student the “additional” unsubsidized loan amounts ($2,000 for dependent students; $6,000, $7,000 or $12,000 for independent students, depending on grade level) for which the student would otherwise be eligible. For example, a school may not limit borrowing by first-year dependent students to $3,500 in Direct Subsidized and/or Direct Unsubsidized Loans per academic year if the dependent students are eligible to receive additional Direct Unsubsidized Loan funds beyond the “base” subsidized/unsubsidized annual loan limit. </p>

<p>A school is not prohibited from counseling students on the benefits of avoiding loans or reducing the amount the student borrows. We also note that a student can initially choose to not take out a loan or to borrow an amount less than the full amount for which the student would be eligible, and later in the loan period request the loan or the additional loan funds. </p>

<hr>

<p>You may want to print the Dear Colleague Letter and take it to the Financial Aid Director. </p>

<p>Sadly, there are people in the financial aid profession who do not have as good a grasp on regulations as they should have. </p>

<p>The best way to approach this is to ask for an appointment with a manager. Once at the appointment, ask that person to review your file to determine if you should be allowed to receive additional unsub due to Parent PLUS denial. You may be told yes & it may be taken care of right away. If you are told no, hand over the letter and ask why they are not following federal guidance.</p>

<h2>Before scheduling your appointment, though, make sure that you are not being verified. If you are, and if it is not yet complete, that may well be the reason you are not being offered the loan. Your verification will need to be completed before the loan will be offered. Also, make sure that you are not simply in a line waiting for the additional unsub to be processed. At the previous school where I worked, we were ridiculously far behind in processing additional unsub one year … so it wasn’t that students wouldn’t be getting it … it was that only two people in the office were allowed to review the file for the eligibility and award the additional unsub, and they couldn’t keep up with the workload.</h2>

10

<p>Oh wow, thank you so much this is exactly what I was looking for.</p>

<p>Its so incredibly frustrating that they would try to leave me underfunded for the year, I cant understand why on earth the fin aid office wouldnt want me to be able to pay for my education… I understand its a business on their end but im just downright angry</p>

<p>Edit- Just to be clear though, that letter does make it seem like they have a choice. Therefore they have the choice to tell me no. Or am I missing something.</p>

<p>“in this section we remind schools of their authority to award additional Direct Unsubsidized Loan funds to a dependent undergraduate student based on a determination that the student’s parent is unable to borrow a Direct PLUS Loan due to having an adverse credit history (see the preceding section of this letter) or other exceptional circumstances.”</p>

<p>Their authority = their choice?</p>

<p>They didnt limit me to the 3500 sub and deny me the additional 2k unsub, they did award me both. Just not the 4k for the denial. Im printing it out anyways I just am trying to find the exact line that backs my point.</p>