How does financial aid work for summer?

Paying for College
1

<p>I am transferring 12 credits from a community college and starting full time this coming Fall. I would ideally like to graduate in 3 years, taking 2-3 summer classes each summer. How does financial aid work for that?</p>

<ol>
<li>Do they give out additional Pell grants for summer?</li>
<li>Other grants/loans/work study as well?</li>
<li>Do I have to tell them ahead of time I am going to be taking classes in the summer to get dispersed the aid?
3a. When do I tell them by?</li>
<li>How many classes in summer do I have to take to be considered "full time"?</li>
<li>Do they use my FAFSA/EFC from the previous school year? (ex. for the 2010-11 school year, they would use the FAFSA/EFC used for that year if I wanted to take classes in the summer of 2011) or do they use it for the next school year? (ex. they would use my FAFSA I file in January 2011 for summer in 2011)</li>
</ol>

<p>Thank you in advance for your time and your help.</p>

2

<p>

There is additional Pell money for the summer. This is a new thing that started this year. The rules are a bit complex. </p>

<p>

If you have maxed your Stafford loans for the year then you cannot get more. If you have not then you can get more up to the max for the school year. Other grants and WS would depend on the school and their policies. SEOG and WS are both campus based aid and have limited funding. My daughter got SEOG one summer, but not another (I am assuming they had some left over funds the one year and not the other as her EFC was the same both times). Her school does not award summer WS at all. Some schools may. She has received Perkins loans in the summer as well.

You will have to apply for and be awarded summer aid. When will depend on your school. The 2 schools I have experience with you have to fill out a form saying that you are applying for summer aid. It was sometime in the spring. Ask your school.

Full time for Pell is the same as it is for a regular semester. So if 12 hours is full time at your school then 12 hours is full time for summer. if you take less than 12 hours the aid will be prorated.

Depends on the school. Some schools include the summer as part of the preceding school year. So summer 2011 would be based on the 2010-2011 FAFSA. (both our schools did that. Other schools include summer as part of the following school year. At those schools summer 2011 would be based on 2011-2012 FAFSA.</p>

3

<p>I’ll try to answer in the order you asked:</p>

<ol>
<li>Do they give out additional Pell grants for summer?</li>
</ol>

<p>Yes, if you qualify for Pell you can get a grant for summer study. The amount will depend on how many credits you register for and may affect your Pell awards later in the year if your school considers summer part of (ie. the first semester of) the 2011/12 academic year. It is possible to get an additional Pell grant each year, but the rules are fairly complicated. Basically, you have to be enrolled at least half-time and you have to have earned the equivalent of a full year’s worth of credit in the previous two semester to qualify. If you take part of your Pell for summer, you may not have a full award the following spring if your summer + fall credits do not add up to 24 credits. If you want to gain more understanding of this, read through this thread:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/915248-i-awarded-8-325-pell-grant.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/915248-i-awarded-8-325-pell-grant.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<ol>
<li>Other grants/loans/work study as well?</li>
</ol>

<p>Depends on the school - I wouldn’t expect most to have other federal grants and work study available. Stafford loans are given but, again, will affect your eligibility later in the year since the limits are $5500 for ALL of freshman year. Your state may have grants available for summer.</p>

<ol>
<li>Do I have to tell them ahead of time I am going to be taking classes in the summer to get dispersed the aid?</li>
</ol>

<p>By “them” I assume you mean the school…yes, it’s likely you’ll have to fill out a request for summer aid and they’ll award you whatever you’re eligible for. At my D’s school, the request form is online and it’s typically completed in March/April, which is when students register for summer classes.</p>

<p>3a. When do I tell them by?</p>

<p>At my D’s school, the request form is online and it’s typically completed in March/April, which is when students register for summer classes. You’ll want to touch base with the FA office when summer registration is near.</p>

<ol>
<li>How many classes in summer do I have to take to be considered “full time”?</li>
</ol>

<p>Generally 12 credits per semester is full time. Summer is often divided into “sessions” because the courses are condensed. All the sessions added together comprise one semester.</p>

<ol>
<li>Do they use my FAFSA/EFC from the previous school year? (ex. for the 2010-11 school year, they would use the FAFSA/EFC used for that year if I wanted to take classes in the summer of 2011) or do they use it for the next school year? (ex. they would use my FAFSA I file in January 2011 for summer in 2011)</li>
</ol>

<p>Depends on the school - some consider summer part of the past academic year, and some have a summer header. Ask the FA/registrar.</p>

4

<p>The other weird thing you can run into is when aid will be disbursed. As summer classes tend to be divided up into separate sessions the disbursement can be complicated. For instance you must be at least half time to be eligible for federal loans. My daughter had one summer where she took 5 hours the first session of summer and 7 hours the second. As she was not half time the first session (<6 hours) her loans were not disbursed until the 2nd session. But all the classes were charged to her bursars account and payment was due. I thought the way her school handled it was all very peculiar. As she had not payed in full by a certain date her account was charged interest, then when the loans were processed, they covered the balance of her costs, and they backed the interest out. It was odd. Her 2nd year of summer school she just took 6 hours and in the same session so we did not run into this and her 1/2 semester of Pell (1st year there was no summer Pell), some loans and a partial SMART grant (that we were surprised she got in the summer) were all disbursed in a more timely way.</p>

<p>At my sons school there was a similar situation with the Pell as the classes were taken in separate sessions so the amount of classes started in session one did not match up with the amount the award was based on. So no Pell was disbursed until the 2nd session.But they didn’t do the whole weird interest thing.</p>

<p>It all worked out in the end. I was probably the only one stressed out by it all.</p>

5

<p>That’s a very good point SCM (sorry, just noticed my xpost with you!)…my D’s summer aid was just disbursed two weeks ago although they did have a credit pending on her account we still paid for most of her summer classes up front as the payment due date was early July and she would have incurred a late fee. Her state grant (TAP) for last summer won’t disburse until October 2012!</p>

<p>It would be a good idea to find out how things work at your school, OP, and do not count on getting any refunds in time to use the funds for books, etc. unless the school says otherwise!</p>

6

<p>We were going to pay it up front but they said it was fine as her aid was awarded. Then I freaked out when they charged her interest, so they explained the whole “we’ll back it out when the loan disburses” thing. So the loan disbursed and paid the charges including the interest. She got a refund of the excess aid over charges. They they backed the interest out and she got another refund a couple of weeks later for that. I kept very close tabs on all of this as you can imagine.</p>

<p>At least ours was all taken care of at some point during the summer! I am glad I am not still keeping tabs (though having a summer state grant would be nice and I could live with waiting for it! - our state grant is not awarded in the summer).</p>

7

<p>Yes, last summer wasn’t too bad as they offered two of her classes online and she could work. Next summer will be awful as she’s required to take 8 week classes that are 6 hours/day, 5 days a week, have labs and are only offered during summer. So, by the time we pay for apartment, food, car, and tuition/fees it’ll be a major outlay in advance and there’s no way she can manage a summer job to boot:(</p>

<p>I’m willing to bet that by the time Oct 2012 rolls around, Albany will find another reason to delay payment. Oh well…at this point, we just regard it as a “bonus” that she can use to pay for the following semester if it comes.</p>