<p>ok, here is my story...i went to a community college and got a 3.0 GPA and transferred to a 4-year school. I had some major family issues going on the entire time I was there, and when I graduated in 1994, i had a 2.0 GPA.</p>
<p>My Senior year I took out one student loan, I paid it all back, perfect payments, it was paid off in 2001.</p>
<p>The problem: I am applying to an extremely competitive nursing program, so I did something stupid, I only sent them the transcript of the college I got the 3.0 at...and they accepted me immediately and I am suppposedd to enroll this fall.</p>
<p>I applied for student aid and found out that on the SAR report there is a transcript for all previous aid sent...that shows the previous college I attended that I got the 2.0 at.</p>
<p>MY QUESTION IS:</p>
<p>Will the financial aid office even notice that there is a discrepancy in my fin aid application against the one I submitted for the college? Or is their main focus to review for defaulted loans, put together an award package, and move on?</p>
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i went to a college and received a small aid package and paid it off, i am applying to a new school for a new program (I am not using any of the classes)...
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<p>You must submit your transcripts from all schools which you have attended to not do so would be considered blatant misrepresentation and grounds for immeadiate dismissal at what ever school you would eventually be admitted to. Your degree can be rescinded after graduation leaving you with a worthless piece of paper and loss of your license</p>
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Will the financial aid office notice that I didn't report this school on my admission to the college or are they more concerned with defaulted student loans?
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<p>Yes your financial aid information will come up especially if you have received any monies from the federal gov't loans, grants. Your new college will probably ask you to explain this. What are you going to say, because it will show that funds were disbursed to this other school (and they would not have been disbursed if you were not a student in attendance).</p>
<p>Sybbie, do the Office of Admissions, the Office of your major, and the Office of Financial Aid work that closely together? I would assume that all Universities are different with that. I have never heard of an academic advisor, office of my major, or anything like that who has ever claimed to have had access to all of my financial aid records. Would not a students financial aid history and all of that be private information which only the Office of Financial Aid would have? I am sorry for butting in, but it is inconceivable to me that ones academic advisor or whoever would be privy to all of your personal financial aid and or tuition payment plan information.</p>
<p>Remember that your ability to attend school will be contigent on your ability to have your bills paid. </p>
<p>While even at need blind schools, admissions and financial aid work as separate entities when making the initial admissions decision, after that all bets are off because information can be pulled on a need to know basis.</p>
<p>If something comes up through financial aid that shows that the OP misrepresented herself because her FA records state otherwise (her having loans disbursed at other schools while stating that she did not attend those schools), the FA office must report it to the admissions office.</p>
<p>For example: Even when it comes to registering for classes, a student can have a hold on their records that may prevent them from registering. If there is a problem and the student contacts their department or advisor to find out what the problem is, the advisor/department is able to pull of the record to see that there would be a hold on the student and willbe able to tell if the student is has a hold on their record becauseof something with their department requirements (not having sufficient pre -reqs) or if there is a hold because money is owed to the school.</p>
<p>Another example: </p>
<p>I am a grad student at NYU. If I drop below full time status (12 credits), my financial aid is cut. However, I have to complete a 800 hour internship. Because of my internship hours can be used to file for fulltime status equivalency based on a combination of internship hours and credits. </p>
<p>In order to get this full time equivalency, I would have to have the paperwork first approved my academic advisor and then signed off by my department to verify that this is the case a copy of the signed request is in my file at my department. The request then goes to the Dean of graduate studies for the school I attend with in NYU. After it is approved by him, the form then gets forwarded to FA so they when they see I am registered for less than 12 credits (and cut my aid) there will also be a flag that indicated that I was approved for full-time equivalency status and the dates that the approvals came from my advisor, my department and my school's dean. If I were to call FA, they would be able to tell me if my request has been approved or what approvals are missing and what department I would have to contact.</p>
<p>Well, I am not sure what to do...I'm afraid if I explain it to them they will tell me they cannot admit me because my cum GPA is too low to even be considered, and if I don't say anything, I'll risk being expelled 6 weeks into the semester.</p>
<p>I don't know if the Director of the Dept would be willing to have an "off the record" discussion to let me know if I have options.</p>
<p>The courses for Psychology (my original major) and Nursing are not even close...my highest grades are in math and science...but the overall GPA is what gets you in...or out. In my case out, b/c their avg GPA is 3.4 for admission to the major.</p>
<p>I am LITERALLY trying to pursue this degree to say off of welfare. Because if my father dies, in two months, the state will be supporting me and my daughter.</p>
<p>Oh gosh Sybbie, NYU must be something else. In the south, you would only be told that you have an issue with your finances and or financial aid and then there would be a little star on your registration form or whathaveyou which says please go to the Bursar or the Financial Aid Office. I like the bluntness of how you are describing NYU because it is scary to have to go to the Bursar or Financial Aid office without knowing why only to find out that you have a library fine or something easy to solve. </p>
<p>inapickle, what school is it? I am just curious. I am very sorry your father is ill.</p>
<p>inapickle -- bad news -- you are going to have to fess up.</p>
<p>I am not sure I understand exactly what you did -- whether you lied about your GPA or never told them you had already graduated. You say you graduated in 1994 -- didn't you have to tell them where you graduated from? Don't they want the transcript from the school that gave you your diploma?</p>
<p>In you case, I can almost guarantee that they are going to figure it out -- and then trying to explain why you were lying by omission will not look good. go talk to someone now and figure it all out. If all goes well, they will admit you on probation and see how it works out.</p>
<p>Also -- does the school know you have already earned a bachelor's degree? (I assume you have since you mentioned graduating in 1994).</p>
<p>You status with regards to previous degrees can affect your financial aid award, so that is definitely something they will be looking at.</p>
<p>My daughter recently applied to the local state university. An admissions counselor told her that because she was previously enrolled elsewhere – regardless of whether she ever took a class – she was considered a transfer student. She then spoke with a transfer counselor in the same admissions office. He told my daughter that she would be considered a transfer student only if she had completed 24 credits. </p>
<p>What if the order of the calls had been reversed? Had my daughter FIRST talked to the transfer student counselor in the admissions office, she might not have mentioned her previous enrollment (her HS GPA was higher). Had the order of her phone calls been reversed, my daughter would have made an honest mistake as opposed to sending in a fraudulent application.</p>
<p>If a school asks for your previous schools, they want ALL of them. Your cover-up was blown by financial aid because many programs do not award any aid for a second undergraduate degree, and federal aid is carefully tracked. That is a reason why many schools require a FAFSA even for merit awards that do not take income into consideration.<br>
Schools have different set ups so your question is really specific to your college, and any answer regarding another school may not be relevant. At some schools, the admissions and financial aid officer are the same person. Or the offices could be shared, or side by side. Schools tend to be incestuous so it would not be far fetched that a someone in one office is married to someone in another. Also, people do tend to move around in college departments so that it would not be at all unusual for someone in financial aid to have worked in admissions and see the flag in your records.</p>
<p>Those scenarios are just a few that could occur at your school, and some of them can occur even if there is no sharing of information between the departments. </p>
<p>The bottom line is that you KNOW that you should have included that information, and did not include it because of its adverse contents. You did not look at the listing of schools and just think, "gee, how interesting that financial aid tracks all of the schools that I attended". It was "Am I going to get caught for what I did?" I think that it is obvious what the right thing to have done is, and what the right thing to do now is. If all you are worried about are chances of getting caught, all I can tell you is that there is certainly a risk, but not certain. The consequences of getting caught can be grim. If at anytime during your stay at the college, the info comes out that you deliberately left out pertinant information on your application, you can get kicked out, and lose the time and money invested in this program. In addition, you will have another couple of years with detrimental info that can keep you out of future programs. You just never know what comes up in life, and you do not breathe easily keeping these skeletons in your closet.</p>
<p>I have known adults who have gotten into programs despite bad transcripts from other schools. I think it is better to come clean with this and take the consequences now. A denial for admissions is not a question asked in applications (other than to the same institution), nor anything to be ashamed about, but getting kicked out for dishonest representation is. And if you get kicked out after a semester at the school, you'll have TWO transcripts that you'll want to hide for future opportunities.</p>
<p>Hsmomstef is very likely right in predicting that you may still keep your admission, but be on probation until you have a decent track record in the program.</p>
<p>You need to go right away and explain what happened. Some people (like me) are MUCH more understanding and helpful if someone is up front and apologizes than if I am blindsided. </p>
<p>Also, the financial aid will be different since you already have a bachelor's degree (right?) you said you graduated - somewhere along the way were you not asked if you had a degree? I say just go fess up - explain your situation - tell them you were naive - whatever - but don't talk to just anyone - go straight to the top - to someone who has the authority to make an exception to policy - like the head of the program. Good luck</p>
<p>Honestly, this thread is confusing. The OP says she/he has a bachelors degree. One would think that the college would have noticed that all of the supporting transcripts had not been sent!! Also as noted, if one has already received a bachelors degree, they are considered independent students (never mind that this person clearly is older than 25 years of age if they got a BA in 1994. I guess I'm confused about this nursing program. Is it another undergraduate program...or a separate school of nursing?? I don't know how to advise you...except that I think honesty is the best policy.</p>
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i went to a community college and got a 3.0 GPA and transferred to a 4-year school. I had some major family issues going on the entire time I was there, and when I graduated in 1994, i had a 2.0 GPA.</p>
<p>The problem: I am applying to an extremely competitive nursing program, so I did something stupid, I only sent them the transcript of the college I got the 3.0 at...and they accepted me immediately and I am suppposedd to enroll this fall.
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<p>She only sent the documentation from her first school which was a community college and never told the new school she already had a bachelors.</p>
<p>Out of curiousity, how should OP fess up? Does anyone have experience with having to do that? </p>
<p>For example, I know first hand that a lot of students were excused for certain things with schooling because of Hurricane Katrina and Rita and that schools were very forgiving with regards to obtaining "w's" and working with the affected students and all of that. </p>
<p>However, how could someone come clean about this? I think that there would be a way to be honest without it biting you in the rear.</p>
<p>She can say that she did not send her transcript from the school that she had a degree, as she did not feel it was relevant, since she is picking up at the two year mark. That probably was part of how she justified it. She did not NEED the credits from the four year program to get into this program, and only sent what she felt was relevant. She has since been advised otherwise and she wants to make sure that she is not going into the program with a skeleton in her closet.</p>
<p>As others have mentioned, a problem that may not be resolvable is the financial aid. There are a number of scholarships and government aid for those who do not have their 4 year degree, but very little for a second degree. I have a cousin who decided he wanted to be an accountant, and had to supplement his BA which was not in Accounting with additional college courses. He technically could have gotten an AA, and did get a certificate in Accounting (along with the knowledge), but found that he was totally ineligible for some scholarships that he though fit him to a T. (returning adult student awards). It was because he already had a 4 year degree. But that data is already in the OP's college's hands since FAFSA tracks this sort of thing as she found out. Can't successfully lie about that if you took previous federal money since it is tracked, and FAFSA does outright as you if you have an undergraduate degree. Bold faced lying on a government form has some dire consequences. Depending on the wording on her current school's app, she could have justified what she did by saying to herself that it technically, or specifically did not ask for ALL prior schooling.</p>
<p>I am a multiple degree holder (attended 2 different colleges to complete my Bachelors, 2 M.A, degrees and current PhD student) all in different disciplines in addition to my day to day worklife where I work with adults wanting to either attend or return to college. </p>
<p>It has been my experience that each time I applied to a degree program, I had to submit transcripts from each school I attended including a school where I only took 6 credits (which was not applied to any degree program) as I just took 2 classes because I was interested in on-line learning. On your latest transcript it will indicate all of the schools that you have attended (My transcript has 6 schools).</p>
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Depending on the wording on her current school's app, she could have justified what she did by saying to herself that it technically, or specifically did not ask for ALL prior schooling.
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<p>This would be highly unlikely especially attending a professional degree program (law degree programs require that you submit transcripts from evey college you attended even if you took the courses in high school before become attending college) or a program where you will get a license; nurse teacher, gc, etc (OP plans on becoming a nurse). </p>
<p>When the time would come for her to be get credentialed, she will still have to indicate all schools she attended (the school granting the nursing degree would still see it because they would have to validate her education) and attest the information is true and an intentional ommission would be considered fraud and ultimately have her RN license revoked.</p>
<p>Personally I think the longer it goes on the deeper the hole she will be in. Bite the bullet, they may take her in as a non-matriculated or special student and apply again when the school sees she is capable of doing the work.</p>
<p>the OP sent me a private message -- she is going into the school to fess up. She did intentionally leave off the last school because of the poor GPA. She had called all programs in the area and asked about admittance with the cumulative GPA and they all told her not to bother applying -- she would not be admitted. That is why she did what she did. She did not realize the total implications of fraud, licensing, financial aid, etc. She is coming clean and hoping for the best. I am not sure she will repost, but I did ask her to let us know how it turned out.</p>
<p>I recently applied to a local state U to get a History degree as something to do in semi-retirement. I'm 50-something with a bachelor's and graduate degrees from the 70's. I sent in all my transcripts, except one I forgot about, when I took one a 3-hour math course at a community college while still in high school! My application was put on hold while they pulled my one-class transcript from the Dead Sea scrolls. They want them all, and no amount of jaw-boning will get them to ignore anything.</p>
<p>It does happen inadvertantly as it did in Dt123's case, that complete information is not given. Sometimes it will be overlooked, or the employer/college/military will accept the information. With everything computerized these days, it becomes more likely that these things will be caught. I am curious how the state U got wind of the math course you took in the dark ages.</p>
<p>that is usually how they find out -- either through financial aid records or it is listed on other colleges transcripts that you had transferred credit from another college. They do check these things!</p>