I can’t afford to go to college. I applied last year and they didn’t give me any financial aid even though my efc was $2000. I went to community college which I am barely affording. I want to apply to an actual college this spring 2017 and I’m afraid they won’t give me enough money. I’m a good student and I’ve applied to many scholarships but none of them seem to be good for me. What do I do? I can take out loans but is graduating with $60,000 debt a good idea?
Where did you apply last year. Did you submit the FAFSA and all supporting documentation. You should have been eligible for the Pell grant if nothing else. You and/or your parents must be doing something wrong.
Edit: In another thread you posted that Texas A&M offered you a good financial aid package last year but you turned it down. If you want help here you need to be honest.
With a $2000 EFC, you would have been eligible for about $3500 in Pell Grant money…and you could have taken a $5500 Direct loan too.
What community college costs more than $9000 a year in tuition?
Community college costs 2,000 a semester. But I can barely afford that. I did not get a pell grant last year. I applied to cheap in state universities. @thumper1
I was admitted to A&M but they never sent me a financial aid package. I must have confused something there. But yea, no pell grant last year and of course no grants from community college, wasn’t expecting anything though. @TomSrOfBoston
If you were accepted to Texas AM and did not receive a package, why didn’t you contact the financial aid office
Did you apply for financial aid. Did you submit all of the required paperwork
Are you eligible for federal aid ( are you a US citizen/ permanent resident/eligible noncitizen)
Did you file your fafsa. With a FAFSA 2k EFC you would be eligible for pell, which is an entitlement and possibly some state aid
The Pell Grant is an entitlement. What community college doesn’t participate in the Pell Grant program?
Did you submit your FAFSA to the community college…and to TAMU?
Please explain what you did…or did t do last year. It sounds like you did NOT submit the financial aid forms you needed to submit to the right colleges. Either that, or you were selected for verification and didn’t follow thorough in that.
With a $2000 EFC, you would have received a Pell…even from a community college.
Did you submit the FAFSA and required documentation? Are you undocumented?
Your story is full of holes and at this point not plausible…
Ok so, I am a US citizen and I submitted the FAFSA. I was selected for verification and I submitted all of the required documents. My FAFSA literally says that I didn’t get the pell grant. I don’t know why. My high school counselor helped me file it so I’m pretty sure I’ve done it correctly. @thumper1 @sybbie719
And @TomSrOfBoston why would I be lying about this? Do I not have other things to do with my time?
Did you, your parents, or your GC call and ask why? From what you have posted it appears that you failed verification. The documentation that was submitted did not match what was on your FAFSA.
Did you use the IRS data retrevial yool
Are either one of your parents self employed or own a business
Does your family own a farm, house or real estate **other than ** your primary residence?
Did you/your parents order a copy of their IRS tax return transcript
We input the info ourselves. We did send in an IRS tax return. I just didn’t know what the cutoff was for the pell grant. If I’d known that I was supposed to get money, I would’ve called, but I just thought I wasn’t eligible since they didn’t give me anything.
I’m working on my FAFSA for this year, so should I call them ahead of time about this or should I wait and see what they give me? @sybbie719
@Class2020ru, I remember you. You were accepted to the CAP program for the fall of 2016 but turned it down because you were accepted to UCSD, right? But in August, when you realized finances for that wouldn’t work out, you were going to contact A&M to see if you could still go there. Austin Community College was your backup.
Is it possible that the changes happened so fast and so close to the start of the school year that your FAFSA didn’t list the cc? You can’t borrow $60k for college, but you can borrow ~$5500/year. That’s enough to pay your tuition at ACC. If you haven’t received that, something must be up with your FAFSA. Have you stopped by your college’s financial aid office to ask why you haven’t received any aid?
@Kelsmom, can OP still file FAFSA for this semester? She said in another post that her family makes $40k/year, so it seems like they should qualify for some Pell. Can she still get the federal student loan even though the semester’s started?
If OP did not file a FAFSA for the 2016-2017- school year, she still can apply.
If she filed the FAFSA earlier this year for the 2016-2017, she needs to add her current school to her FAFSA, print out her SAR and take it to the financial aid office.
Her SAR should state how much she is getting in federal aid.
Did you apply for Texas state aid?
Something is not adding up. If you received something in writing that said that you don’t qualify for a PellGrant, then did the verification raise your EFC?
http://financialaid.tamu.edu/Aggie-Assurance
if your family makes under $60k you could have gotten free tuition under the “Aggie Assurance”.
Then a partial Pell grant, student loan, and a summer job might have paid for room and board.
Did your high school counselor help at all with school selection? Why would you look for schools OOS in CA when you can get aid in TX?
Can you go to FA office at CC with your parents’ 2015 tax return and see if they can help you with your FAFSA?
Talk to the transfer advisor at CC to see if you can still qualify for Aggie Assurance and when you can transfer.
Thank you. Will do. I’ve just been so confused with all of this stuff and wasn’t thinking realistically when I was applying to these colleges. I am going to contact A&M and see what I can do. @mommdc
OP, I don’t know if you realize that you are getting valuable advice from some veteran posters here on CC. Be sure to take advantage of their expertise. Come back with updates and more questions as needed. It sounds like some clarification might make a huge difference in your college future.
Good luck!
I have pasted the exact phrase from last years FAFSA.
“Based on the information we have on record for you, your EFC is 005842. You are not eligible for a Federal Pell Grant but you may be eligible for other aid.”
So since we are supposed to apply with last years taxes for the FAFSA right now, I won’t get a pell grant once again.
I’m really stressed because I can’t afford any 4 year college, even the “cheapest” in my state.