I still don't have an aid offer...

Paying for College
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<p>My daughter’s financial aid official letter just came on Friday, but there had been a summary of it online since about March. The only thing she had to accept/decline was the Stafford loans and Parent Plus loans; all the others had been accepted by her in the spring. She earned the Florida Bright futures award, but the school had no information about it. Finally I called and asked when it would show up. School said she wasn’t on the list. That started the series of emails and phone calls, and I did finally track it down and it now shows as ‘pending’.</p>

<p>So I would definitely follow up. It should show as pending, or at least they should tell you what you are expected to pay come the due date.</p>

22

<p>Sybbie, what do you mean I shouldn’t wait for verification? I already turned in my FASFA. Why would I use the data retrieval tool?</p>

<p>Stress, yeah, I had no idea about the MPN and entrance counseling. I just did that last week because I was told about it. I recieved nothing even though I was interested in the loans. I also didn’t apply for it through my school, so I was told to do that. I thought the FASFA was the overall application, but I had to have a separate application. The financial aid person said the deadline is just when to accept the loans, which is by the end of the term. So as long as I accept it by then and everything was processed, I’m fine. </p>

<p>Two, my EFC says “0”. Nothing says pending at all. They said the disbursement date is August 25, which I already know. But they do NOT tell me if I have a pell grant. They just said “everything looks fine”, “you have all of the requirements done” or “if you will receive an award, it won’t be posted until August”. The last email specifically said this:</p>

<p>“Advisors have not posted pell grants as of yet.
I would turn in my loan application as soon as possible.
The deadline is before the end of the term.”</p>

<p>I tried calling the financial aid interviewer who is in charge of the people with the last names that start with N-Z, I think. I can’t get a hold of her at all. I tried leaving a message last week and nothing. Grr. I’m going to the school tomorrow. I suppose I will just have to see someone then. I will be asking for someone who is not just a student or “financial aid technician”. </p>

23

<p>If your FAFSA EFC is $0, you are entitled to the full Pell grant which is $5600, I believe. </p>

24

<p>Thumper, yeah, that’s why I was kind of less worried. According to the Federal Shopping Sheet (that the school filled out summarizing my aid/loans/coa) it says this: </p>

<p>Family Contribution:(As calculated by the institution using information reported on the FAFSA or to your institution.) $0/yr </p>

<p>And this was filed out by my college, not FASFA or any other third party. It says 0 on everything but “other aid”, which is my fee waiver. This is why I think they are just behind with processing or something. I will try my best to get a hold of someone who is not a student tomorrow when I go in person, though. </p>

<p>Is there anything I should specify? Should I ask to see if my FASFA has been processed? So far, the only e-mail I received from my school’s finaid office is saying that they have received my FASFA, not that it has been processed. I even rechecked my entire e-mail account, and I didn’t miss or delete anything from them. I just really have gotten no verification requests or anything about any other documents. So, I think this is a good sign. Although I’m kind of angry they take this long to process everyone’s FASFA. o.O </p>

25

<p>Hmmm … fee waivers may be manually posted. If there is a flag on your FAFSA, some automated systems will prevent aid from being auto-packaged. I wonder if there are any flags. Can you look at your Student Aid Report and post any comments that appear on it? If you do that, I might be able to provide some insight.</p>

26

<p>"2014-2015 Electronic Student Aid Report (SAR)</p>

<p>The SAR summarizes the information you submitted on your 2014-2015 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).</p>

<p>Application Receipt Date: 02/13/2014 XXX-XX-6152 SA 04
Processed Date: 07/17/2014 EFC: 000000
DRN: 7592</p>

<p>Comments About Your Information</p>

<p>Learn about federal tax benefits for education, including the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC).</p>

<p>Based on the information we have on record for you, your EFC is 000000. You may be eligible to receive a Federal Pell Grant and other federal student aid. Your school will use your EFC to determine your financial aid eligibility for federal grants, loans, and work‑study, and possible funding from your state and school. </p>

<p>There is a limit to the total amount of Federal Pell Grants that a student may receive, which is the equivalent of 6 school years. Once a total amount of Pell Grant eligibility has been received, a student can no longer receive Pell Grant aid.</p>

<p>WHAT YOU MUST DO NOW (Use the checklist below to make sure that all of your issues are resolved.)</p>

<p>If you need to make corrections to your information, click ‘Make FAFSA Corrections’ on the ‘My FAFSA’ page. You must use your Federal Student Aid PIN to access your record online. If you need additional help with your SAR, contact your school’s financial aid office or click the ‘Help’ icon on the FAFSA home page. If your mailing address or e‑mail address changes, you can make the correction online. </p>

<p>Based on your EFC of 000000, you may be eligible to receive a Federal Pell Grant of up to $5,730 for the 2014-2015 school year provided you have not met or exceeded the lifetime limit established for the Federal Pell Grant program."</p>

<p>The reason it processed recently is because I updated contact information. My original was processed 02/14/2014, and my school received my completely updated FASFA with current tax information on 05/23/2014. </p>

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<p>If you updated your tax information on May 23, perhaps that is why there is a delay in getting your finalized award to you. </p>

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<p>I wanted to show you all these so you that I’m not somehow missing anything. I still have no idea why they received my FASFA on April 24, 2014 when it was processed February 14, 2014. Maybe this is normal for some people. </p>

29

<p>I see. I thought this could be a problem, but I wasn’t sure. Does everything else look fine to you? Should I take the advice of someone here and correct it with the data retrieval tool, or is it not necessary? For future reference, if I were to do work study, what is the time I should be accepting that and telling the office about getting a job? I know it’s probably too late this year, but I just want to know for next time or possibly in the Spring. </p>

30

<p>My son’s Work/Study came with his Financial Aid Package. His school requires the FAFSA and a separate school application for Financial Aid. He did get a work/study job and his boss forwarded the info to the Financial Aid office. One thing you should be aware of is that Work/Study is usually given on a first come/first served basis so the earlier you do FAFSA the better chance you have of getting it. We do the FAFSA January 1st and file taxes as soon as the IRS will accept filings. </p>

31

<p>You don’t tell the school you are doing work study. They AWARD you a work study allotment, and you apply for WS jobs IF you get work study in your financial aid award package. Federal,work study had limited funding per campus. It is awarded on a first come, first served basis. </p>

<p>Next year, complete your FAFSA using estimates on January 2. Then update it with your competed 2014 tax return information ASAP after February 1. That will put you in the queue for limited funding need based aid awards. </p>

<p>Your college likely has jobs for students that are not work study jobs. Apply for those this year.</p>

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<p>My school website says specifically to let the office know you were awarded work study ASAP so you can find a job. That is what they wrote. If you take this as the literal meaning, as I did, you are to tell them so you can have a job before the funding for that program runs out for the year, right? If you have an EFC of 0, like I do, it’s kind of obvious I will be awarded work study if I apply early enough, so… </p>

<p>Thanks for the advice. I will be doing that next year. It should be easy since I always know where all of our pay stubs are. I probably won’t get work study this year because I was too late, of course. </p>

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<p>Your financial aid award could include work study. Until you HAVE that award, it is impossible to know whether you have been given work study funds.</p>

<p>Call the SCHOOL. </p>

34

<p>There was work study in my D’s FA package initially. When the school finalized it after verification, the work study and loan were both replaced by a grant from the school. My D actually planned for applying to a research residential program that the research part is eligible for work study money. Of course, the plan has been changed once she got the revised FA package. So, don’t wait. Get a clear answer from the school as soon as possible as it may affect many other things besides money.</p>

35

<p>Frankly, it looks to me like your file has for some reason been overlooked. Your BOG was awarded independently of the school aid - it is listed under other resources, so it was probably added automatically by the computer system from a state-initiated computer feed. I would say your awards were simply skipped over. There is nothing in your SAR comments that would lead to a hold. You really need to talk to a human being in the aid office who is willing to look at your account and figure out what the heck is going on. If you don’t, you are likely to never get packaged with aid.</p>