Help! Is my son really going to lose his financial aid?

We’re freaking out in our house because my son received an email from University of Michigan saying that his financial aid had been cancelled because they don’t have all the required forms. We thought we’d done everything, but after some research figured out that my husband accidentally sent our tax form without a signature (we file our taxes electronically, so he had to print the tax form out, physically sign it, then scan it and send that - except he made a mistake and accidentally sent the original version instead of the new version with the signature). Apparently my son got one email at the end of March saying that his form was incomplete, but we were travelling at the time and he somehow missed it. We of course sent the correct one right away. We received an email in response saying they’ll review it and, IF there is any financial aid money remaining, then we will get it - but no guarantees. We also spoke to someone on the phone who was more encouraging - he said that it should be the same or “very close” to the original award. We will find out for sure sometime in July. It is going to be a very long several weeks.

The thought that we could lose $15,000 in financial aid because we made one stupid mistake and missed one email is hard to take. We are not Michigan residents and the out-of-state tuition there is quite steep, so we are really relying on it. Has anyone else been in this situation (at Michigan or anywhere else)? Is the “we’ve cancelled your financial aid” email sort of a ploy to get people to send their stuff in, as I’m hoping, or are we really in danger of losing that money?

Just when you think the stress has ended…ARGH. Thanks for any insight!

Call the FA office at Michigan. They can tell you best.

It sounds like you should be fine. All you can do is wait now.

Every school is different, so we can’t tell you what will happen. I know it will be a tough few weeks, but hang in there. You’ll know for sure when you get the notification.

Has your income changed at all in 2018 or will it change this year? The 2019/20 FAFSA was based on 2017 income, the 2020/21 FAFSA will be based on 2018 income and so on. If the income and EFC changes, your need based grant from U Mich will change as well. And upperclassmen pay higher tuition there as well.

Thanks - nothing has changed in terms of our numbers. The problem is just that we screwed up and, although we thought we’d done everything, actually missed a deadline.

Thanks - we did call them and they were a bit more encouraging than the email response. Fingers crossed!