<p>I'm in my first semester of a community college, and I may be forced to drop all of my classes (12 units). I applied for financial aid for the 2008-2009 school year very late (September), and they are in the middle of processing my application. As of right now, they require more info from me to verify my financial status before they can award me any grants.</p>
<p>Anyway, I was wondering if it would be possible for them to process my application even though I drop all of my classes this semester? By that I mean, can I still get half of my annual award for the spring semester even though I won't get any grant money this semester?</p>
<p>For the record, I was told I'm eligible for Pell Grant.</p>
<p>It’s not impossible, but I would check with the financial aid department to be sure. I have half-year grants at two different schools this year; basically, the Pell grant was cut in half for each one.</p>
<p>I have sent this answer to the OP in a PM but am going to go ahead and post it here fon anyone else who may be facing a similar situation.</p>
<p>The federal requirement for you to have completed 75% of attempted classes applies whether or not you were receiving financial aid at the time you attempted the classes. We actually ran into this with my son. His first 1 1/2 years at a CC were before my husband retired and we did not even apply for financial aid and just payed out of pocket. He dropped out for a while then returned after a few years and tried to go to school full time and work full time which was a disaster. Then he had some problems with his home and a bad flood and had to move at short notice which meant he missed a week or so of school and as he was already struggling he dropped all the classes that semester. Then this fall (a year later) he decided to return to school and quit work and get financial aid so he could focus on school. Even with an EFC of 0 he was initially denied any aid because of having dropped all the classes that one semester - and at that point had never received any financial aid for college. He had to do a written appeal explaining why he had dropped the classes and provide documentation proving the situation. They awarded the appeal and they gave him aid for this semester on a probationary basis. Under the probationary rules he has to pass all his classes and not withdraw from any this semester to be still eligible for next semester. If he were to fail or withdraw from even one then he would receive no aid at all from now. Fortunately he is doing well. </p>
<p>If you withdraw from all your classes you run a real risk of not getting aid next semester and possibly even the following semester. Say you were taking 12 hours this semester and drop them all. If you take 12 next semester and pass them all you would still have completed only 12 hours out of 24 attempted. Well below the 75% required. You really need to check with your financial aid office to see what affect this may have.</p>
<p>Yes, if you’re not making sufficient academic progress, your awards can be cut or denied, pending appeal. I actually went through this appeal process this fall. However, the 75% rule as implimented by cc’s does not necessarily impact your first semesters in the way that you suggested – if you drop your first semester, you do not immediately become ineligible. Again, as I said, the next thing to do is to talk to the financial aid office directly.</p>
Not necessarily but possibly - that is why I really strongly urge the OP to check with the financial aid office at his school before he does anything that might cause problems down the road. My son was not even below the 75% for his cumulative classes attempted but was initially denied aid based on excessive withdrawals for the one semester.</p>
<p>OP - please discuss this with your financial aid department. We can only tell you ifs and maybes - they will tell you their actual policies which are the only ones that matter to your situation. </p>
<p>Have you considered dropping only some of your classes? Maybe that would put you in a better situation. But again - check with the financial aid department of your school. I have found the financial aid officers at both my kid’s schools to be very helpful. Go talk to them.</p>
<p>I sent my response to swimcatsmom via PM (again, amazing help), but I will post it here, too.</p>
<p>I called the financial aid office, and they said it would be safe for me to drop my classes this semester and still be eligible for financial aid for the 2009-2010 school year in addition to half of the annual award I’ll be receiving next spring. She did note that I’d be put on financial aid probation, but that it’s just a fair warning. Two consecutive probations would put me in financial aid disqualification, which I believe is what swimcatsmom’s son went through. In this case, you’d have to demonstrate that you can complete 67% of your classes with a 2.0 and then you’d be put off disqualification and be eligible for aid again.</p>
<p>As for my case with financial aid probation, I would be taken off the probation if I successfully complete the spring term as a full-time student with a 2.0. Luckily I’d be dropping my classes before they’ve sent me a check because then I’d have to owe them money. I’m also dropping before the ‘W’ deadline, so it’s as if I never even registered for the fall semester.</p>
<p>Interesting about the 67% rather than 75%. My daughter’s school says 75% so I assumed that was the standard. Sounds like that can also vary by school then. My son’s school has an awful website so it is impossible to figure out anything from there. he had never been on probation for aid as he had never had aid. Just got turned down - but as I said was granted aid on appeal. Seems to be doing well now so hopefully will be off probation next semester.</p>
<p>Schools are able to set their own guidelines for what constitutes satisfactory academic progress. Financial aid then uses these SAP policies for monitoring SAP, which is required by the feds. So policies can and do vary by school. There are certain things every school has to do, and there are certain things schools can establish their own policies for. I think you’ll find the SAP info in your school’s catalog. It has to be published somewhere that can be easily found. </p>
<p>Students are often surprised by the SAP requirement. The idea is that a student who is not progressing satisfactorily toward meeting the requirements of a degree program is not eligible to receive Title IV federal aid (which includes Stafford AND Parent PLUS loans). There must be an appeal process, and the appeals decision is then final. Once conditions are met for SAP, a student can receive aid again (or for the first time, like swimcatsmom’s S).</p>
<p>KelsmomThat is interesting that schools set their own guidelines - I had assumed it was a standard thing. </p>
<p>Do they also set their own guideline for the maximum credit hours attempted? My son has completely changed directions so a lot of the credits he took and passed his first year are not applicable to his current degree. Between the extra classes he has to add because of the ones that do not count for his current program and the Ws I am worried that he will run out of aid eligibility. I think he will exceed the max credits before his final semester. I am hoping there is some flexibility there. he is doing great now that he has found a program that he is really interested in so I would hate to see him derailed at the last moment by lack of finances.</p>
<p>I can’t find anything in the catalog. Their website does not have a search feature and is very hard to navigate but I cannot find the SAP info there either.</p>
<p>As for number of years … there is no limit, but the student must be completing degree requirements per the school’s policies in order to receive aid. Pell is given as long as the student qualifies, and as long as it’s a first bachelors degree. Loans have aggregate limits, so students can borrow until the max is reached. Year in school is defined by the credits the school uses to designate a particular year in school (it’s freshman, not 1st year for example - because it could be a 2nd year freshman). SEOG/FWS don’t have limits, although schools have their own rules in awarding these funds (Pell-eligible first).</p>
<p>Well, technically there are limitations on receiving aid … they tie into the making satisfactory progress toward a degree requirements, though. If your son is working toward his degree and is progressing satisfactorily per the school’s policies, he will continue to be eligible for aid.</p>
<p>Thanks Kelsmom. I had a look at the link and the problem is the quantitative standard. He is making good progress toward his degree as far as GPA and completing the classes needed but I think before his last semester his attempted hours will exceed 150% of the hours required for the program (it is an applied science associate degree). So many of the hours he took when he was originally going for the regular associate degree do not apply to the degree he is now doing. I think he is ok for next semester but with the dropped classes and the classes that don’t work for his degree he will be over the 150%.</p>
<p>More than 50% of the classes he took and passed the original 3 semesters he was in school do not count toward the degree he is doing now. Add those to the dropped classes and I think we may have a problem. </p>
<p>He was actually thinking of completing the hours for a Social Science AA degree in addition to the AAS degree as he needs very little extra to do that. Do you know if that would have an affect on the maximum hours allowed?</p>
<p>Since he didn’t receive aid for any of what he took in the past, I am not certain that those courses will count against him … but I am not sure. I will ask about this at work today.</p>
<p>I talked to our resident expert today, and she told me that it doesn’t matter that he never received aid before. Whatever the SAP requirements are, he has to meet them. However, she said that every student has the right to appeal. Your S can write a letter outlining why he feels he deserves a chance to prove himself and to hopefully be allowed to receive aid. Have him include what has changed from <em>then</em> to <em>now</em> and his plans for his coursework. The worst they can do is say no, and things will stay as they are. He might get an approval for probation, though - and it may be the motivation he needs to stay on the straight & narrow this time around. If they deny his appeal at first, he can also try again after he gets a successful term under his belt. </p>
<p>Your school has to have an SAP appeal process. If you can’t find it in the catalog or on the website, call financial aid - they will be able to tell you where to direct your appeal.</p>
<p>Thanks kelsmom. I did not think from what I had read that it mattered that he was not receiving aid for the majority of the time just where his SAP is now - though would have been happy to be wrong. Right now he is receiving aid on a probationary basis for this semester and is meeting all the terms and doing great passing all the classes he signed up for (even doing 18 hours - I was worried about that but he is stubborn). Finding a program that he is interested in has made all the difference for him. I think (hope) he is ok for next semester as far as maximum credits. It is his final semester that he may run into problems as I think he will exceed maximum credits attempted. I did find found some blurb that schools can set the SAP up to where after a change in program classes that do not count for the program can be excluded from the SAP - but only if the school has set their policy that way. His financial aid department were very helpful with him when he appealed and got the probationary aid this semester. But from what I can find on the internet it sounds like the maximum credit thing may not give them much wiggle room.</p>
<p>Anyways if he does lose it for just that one semester we will find a way to make it work somehow. Of his remaining classes 3 are offered in the daytime and the rest in the evening. I am going to suggest to him that he complete all the required daytime ones next semester then if he loses aid his final semester he can work during the day to pay for his rent and food - and we can help him as far as tuition and books etc. We will make it work somehow. He hates not having a job anyway but has had to force himself to not work so he could focus on schoolwork. Once he gets through next semester he will probably be in a good position to be able to work at least part time for the final semester.</p>
<p>I know from bitter experience that courses taken when not getting aid count. Worse yet, quarters/semesters enrolled for just one class count towards the total semesters you can be working towards a degree. When I applied for aid returning to college, the CC I’m at for this semester was very firm that EVERY semester I had ever been in school counted, and since I had several where I had taken one course for career development, each one of those counted. Since the expectation was that I would have been fully enrolled for those semesters, they really worked against me. I went through the appeal process, which took considerable time. The end result is that I have an “educational plan”, meaning my courses were chosen by the financial aid office with no input for me, based on their determination of what would best move me towards graduation (or in this case, towards transferring). </p>
<p>What I’ve learned is that any semester or quarter I’m not in school full time is going to risk my financial aid for the coming year(s). I had no idea over the past 20 years that taking a computer course here or there was negatively impacting financial aid when I returned to school, but now I know.</p>
<p>That’s interesting. I did not realize that they count semesters that way - I was just thinking along the lines of credit hours. But you are getting aid as long as you follow their plan?</p>
<p>I do understand the need for some sort of rules so that people do not abuse the system - for instance stopping people from becoming permanent students and getting aid for years while never graduating. But it seems to me that the use of Satisfactory Academic Progress to ascertain eligibility for financial aid should take into account how much aid you have had in the past.</p>
<p>I know we encouraged our son, who had no idea on graduating HS what he wanted to do, to try different classes to see if something would spark an interest. We were paying for it at the time. Had absolutely no idea that those classes could come back and bite our son in the butt by possibly causing him to lose financial aid eligibility when he needed it most.</p>
<p>I am getting aid as long as I follow their plan, but only for the one semester. If I wanted another semester there, I would have to appeal again, and I was told that the appeal would probably be denied. I agree with you, it seems strange to count semesters that don’t have any aid in them, but count them they do. They don’t count semesters while in high school, but anything after that, over the course of my lifetime, have been counted. </p>
<p>I was actually surprised that my transfer school didn’t make me appeal for the same reason, but they didn’t – or at least, they haven’t asked me to appeal yet, thank goodness.</p>