<p>I'm an NJ Stars student at my community college. I'm also an EOF student and have been eligible for Financial Aid in past years. </p>
<p>After I was filling out my financial aid package for the 2011 school year, I made a mistake on the verification worksheet. I got a letter in the mail a few weeks later saying that I owe my college a sum of money. Confused, I called my financial aid office to ask what my financial aid status was. Turned out that I made 3 mistakes on the verification worksheet (I was really tired when I filled it out) and because of that I no longer qualified for funding. </p>
<p>I panicked but remembered I was an NJ Stars student.. well one of my semesters at my community college I had to drop a class, making myself not a full time student anymore. I'm looking at the NJ Stars website now and it says that I have to be a full time student every semester in order to be eligible. </p>
<p>What the heck, I graduated on time, I have a really good GPA and I was Vice President of my college's Student Government Association for a year; now this.</p>
<p>What can I do? My neighbor suggested that I speak to my senate and assembly but I don't think they'll do anything. Please help me!</p>
<p>To start with, you need to re-redo the verification paperwork with your financial aid office, and make absolutely certain that everything is correct. You shouldn’t have lost your funding just for doing it incorrectly.</p>
<p>Then you need to sort out the issue about NJ Stars. The financial aid officer can explain that to you as well. If you lost that funding because you dropped below full-time status, then yes it is entirely possible that you owe your CC some money. Should that be the case, then you need to work with your CC to come up with a plan that will allow you to pay them that money in a reasonable amount of time. Until that bill is cleared, you won’t be able to transfer anywhere because they won’t release your transcript.</p>
<p>When it comes to money, you should be well aware that if you don’t dot your "i"s and cross your
"t"s, you may not get it. This goes for the rest of your life. If you need to be full time to get a grant and you are not for any reason not covered by exceptions, why should you get the money? There is limited money out there. Also there are often time constraints as to when you can get this stuff cleared up or you lose out, so you had better get working on this. It’s really the way life is.</p>
<p>Thank you both for your responses. I actually forgot one major detail, the reason why I dropped one of my classes was because I was ill and was becoming overwhelmed with my course load. Plus I was VP of Student Government and a member of Science club. </p>
<p>NJ Star’s policy on being a full time student is excused if on medical leave but I wonder if a doctor’s note would suffice.</p>
<p>“
Students must maintain continuous full-time enrollment unless on a medical leave, approved by the county college, due to the illness of the student, a member of the students immediate family, or a family emergency.”</p>
<p>Monday morning I plan to take my doctor’s note to the dean of student affairs and explaining my situation, having her confirm my condition of medical leave (Not sure if this is needed or what to ask for exactly?) , then presenting it to the NJ Stars rep at my college. I also have a professor who would be willing to back me up on the fact that I was doing well in my class other than the fact that I was sick and had to drop the class as a result.</p>
<p>As for the fafsa verification worksheet, I’ll talk to my financial aid office about their policy on redoing the verification worksheet. If that’s not possible then I plan to call fafsa and explaining the situation with them.</p>
<p>
You need to prioritize your time differently. If you’re getting overwhelmed you drop the clubs, not the classes.</p>
<p>If that’s not possible then I plan to call fafsa and explaining the situation with them. </p>
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<p>“FAFSA” is simply a document on which you enter information. Your school is verifying you, so any explanations are to the school. If you made a legitimate mistake on the worksheet, the school will most likely request a written, signed statement explaining the mistake as well as a new worksheet with the correct information. If you are a dependent student, parent signatures will be required on both the statement and the worksheet. Additional documentation may also be required. The reason for this is that the school must have documentation on file that will hold up for an audit or a program review.</p>