<p>My parents can't pay for my education at American University anymore so I need to write an Appeals Letter for Financial Aid to see if they could help me in any way. My parents don't technically apply for financial aid from the government which is an issue, so we've had to take out a loan. If anyone has advice on loans too, that would be great. Anyways, I'm not quite sure what the format and content of the appeals letter needs to be? What exactly do I need to talk about and/or explain, should it be very formal, or maybe get personal? I'm not sure...</p>
<p>Current (Continuing) AU Students must submit the FAFSA by May 1.
Please note: If you don’t submit the FAFSA and Profile on or before the deadlines, it is unlikely your financial aid application will be considered for grants, although you may still be eligible for consideration for federal loans.</p>
<p>Of course your parent are not eligible for any federal/government help, they’re not attending colleges, you are. So, are you eligible for any federal aid?</p>
<p>If so, you’re required to file FAFSA in order to receive any Federal student loans.</p>
<p>I don’t think AU offers any institutional student loans to its students; however, you should have a discussion with AU’s FA office.</p>
<p>It doesn’t sound like you have applied for financial aid. That’s your first step. When people refer to appealing their financial aid award, it means that they have applied and the school made a determination about what it will give them and the family is asking for reconsideration. There really is no appeal; these families are just asking a financial aid officer to please take another look. </p>
<p>If you are a U.S. citizen, you are probably eligible for federal loans but they are limited to $5500 for the first year, $6500 for the second year and $7500 for any year after that, to a maximum of $31K. The way to get them is to fill out your FAFSA. </p>
<p>Other than that, you may not get any aid at this point since the deadline for this year is past but you should talk to the financial aid office. Are you paid up for this semester? Is the problem the spring or next year? And what year are you in now? </p>
<p>Nina, in addition to responding to the above questions, please also clarify the following: Are you getting any financial aid at all currently? Did you previously apply? Has there been some sort of drastic change in your family’s circumstances since you enrolled at AU? If so, what is the nature of that change?</p>
<p>My parents can’t pay for my education at American University anymore so I need to write an Appeals Letter for Financial Aid to see if they could help me in any way. My parents don’t technically apply for financial aid from the government which is an issue, so we’ve had to take out a loan.</p>
<p>If you’ve never filed FAFSA (or anything else that AU requires), then how can you appeal? They need to see the financial information.</p>
<p>If your parents are refusing to file FAFSA, then there’s nothing the school can do. They have nothing to review. You can’t just say, “We aren’t filing FAFSA, but we need money.”</p>
<p>I’m a current freshman, and the issue is for spring semester and the rest of my time at AU. My parents told me they filled in the FAFSA forms and were told they were not eligible for any aid, or that I wasn’t, either way that no government aid will be given because our situation simply does not apply. I called the FA department at my school (they weren’t very descriptive of the process) they just told me to write an appeals letter, that it was the only thing I could do. I keep on trying to talk to various advisers etc on campus and they all have told me to do that.
I currently have a private personal loan taken out for the semester I’m currently enrolled in, but my parents don’t want to pursue taking out and paying for these loans because by the time I get my BA it will have cost 400,000.
The main circumstance is that my dad is the only one with an income and he has to pay the mortgage on two houses, one that is in France. They didn’t expect that the loans would double the price of tuition so they enrolled me and realized two weeks before the beginning of school that they wouldn’t be able to afford the situation.</p>
<p>Your situation is confusing. You still haven’t clarified whether you were turned down for aid or just never applied. I can’t imagine why your parents didn’t file FAFSA and at least enable you to take out a Stafford loan, which is available to you regardless of the numbers on the form. Did they file the CSS Profile required for AU institutional aid, and if not, why not? AU can’t consider you for financial aid without these submissions, and there’s really nothing for anyone in the FA office to discuss with you if they don’t have a file on you. Perhaps you can appeal for permission to provide them the FAFSA and Profile now, though unless you can show some new information that wasn’t available to you last spring, it’s hard to imagine why the FA office would be receptive at this late date. </p>
<p>The real question here is what were you thinking when you enrolled at an expensive private school with no way to pay for your education other than to take out private loans? What was your plan?</p>
<p>I thought I did clarify that when I said that my parents applied with FAFSA and the conclusion were that they were ineligible.
I personally don’t know anything about the Stafford Loan, could you explain what it is to me?
I don’t know if they did the CSS profile for AU. I just remember them going through to see if I could get financial aid, filling in the forms, and telling me that we couldn’t.</p>
<p>My plan was to go to my dream school, it may have been a stupid decision, but I wanted to and figured I would pay off the loans once I could after I graduate. I didn’t expect and nor did my parents that the loans would double the cost of tuition.</p>
<p>If you are eligible for federal aid, you may not be eligible for grants … but you would be eligible for $5500 in unsubsidized Direct Loan as a freshman. Perhaps your parents do not consider any aid other than grants to be financial aid … but loans are financial aid.</p>
<p>I am sorry to be blunt, but I think the only option for you is to find a less expensive school. There are many wonderful colleges that cost much less than American U.</p>
<p>From my understanding I thought I am not eligible for federal aid, and therefore could not get an unsubsidized loan? I feel like if I could my parents would have done that when we received all the FA documentation upon acceptance to AU.</p>
<p>The plan is for me to transfer to a cheaper school now, but I’m trying to write an appeals letter to the FA dept to make sure that there is definitely no hope before I leave.</p>
<p>I’m still not totally understanding this thread, but IF your parents filled out the financial aid forms, federal and the college profile, and it was determined that your family should be able to afford the tuition it is true you might not have received any aid from the federal government OR the college. HOWEVER, all students can take out federal direct loans. The amount WILL NOT cover the cost of college tuition, room and board and for freshman, the maximum loan YOU can take is $5500 for the year. Your parents could take out federal parent loans, yes, but there is interest on those loans that accrues. My advice is for you to schedule an appointment with a financial aid counselor AND have at least one of your parents on a conference call if they do not live near the college. The financial aid counselor should be able to advise if there is a formal appeal/review process and what you would need to to. It sounds like both you and your parents could benefit from an understanding of what, if any, options might be available to you.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, I’m going to try to do that, I hope the financial dept here does that, all the conversations I’ve had with them on the phone were very brief and not very helpful.</p>
Nina, I don’t know how you did the math, but do you mean you and your parents never realized that interest would accrue on your loans? It’s hard for me to believe anyone smart enough to be admitted to AU would be that naive, and it’s just as hard to believe that parents with enough income and assets not to qualify for any financial aid at all would be equally naive. It sounds like no one gave any of this any real thought at all, which is tragic–you now have a hefty loan to repay for a semester at a school where you won’t even get a degree. When you start making plans for your new college, please do come here for assistance before you make any financial commitments you don’t understand. If you had come here in April, you wouldn’t be in this predicament now.</p>
<p>No, I guess we just didn’t think the interest would be so high. The loan I took out is at approx’ 7.5%, I’m not sure if that’s normal or not, but I remember my parents saying they expected it to be less.</p>
<p>It is really important that you speak directly with a financial aid officer at your school, Nina. You need someone to sit down with you, look at your financial aid file, and speak candidly regarding your situation. When you call, you most likely talk to a peer counselor, technician, or enrollment specialist. You need to talk directly with an aid officer … the sooner, the better.</p>
<p>Okay thank you, I sent an email to the FA dept to schedule an appointment, if I don’t get an answer after a few days I’ll just go to the office and schedule one in person. I don’t have much hope, but have nothing to lose in trying.</p>