is it too late to receive financial aid for fall 09? please help!

<p>I graduated high school in 2007. In the fall of 07 I went out of state for college but dropped out due to family and financial problems at home. I filled out the fafsa late but received about $5,000 from a Pell grant and my parents paid the rest. So basically I started college in fall 07 but stopped going and moved back home a few months later. At that point it was too late to drop classes so I received failing grades. </p>

<p>I haven't been to school since and now want to go to the local university this fall. I'm already accepted but I think I'm too late filling out the fafsa. I just filled it out yesterday, is it still possible to receive any financial aid? I am eligible for the pell grant but I'm not sure if I'll get it because of what happened 2 years ago.</p>

<p>I'm going to call the financial aid office on Monday but can anyone give me advice about it now?</p>

<p>Were you required to pay back any of the federal aid disbursed to you? Sometimes that is a requirement if you drop all classes. If you were required to and did not, that can cause problems now.</p>

<p>Even if you were not required to, you might still run into some issues. There are a couple of things schools have to look at - SAP (satisfactory academic progress) is one of them. This covers things such as a required GPA after so many credit hours taken and also completing a certain % of all hours attempted. I think it is 75% but am not exactly sure. It is possible you may initially be denied aid, but you may be able to appeal. The best thing to do is talk to your school. </p>

<p>It is not too late to file FAFSA. Do it ASAP so that if you have any of the above issues and have to file an appeal you can get the ball rolling. Good luck.</p>

<p>Most likely, SAP won’t be a problem. Probation is usually the first step before SAP; OP only attended one term. </p>

<p>If OP received failing grades, that means he/she technically finished the classes, so there would be no return of funds needed.</p>

<p>It is very important that you do let the new school know that you attended another school, gomekb. Don’t leave it off your app just because you won’t be transferring any of the classes.</p>

<p>^^ kelsmom is a financial aid officer so her advice is better than mine.</p>

<p>Is it the norm for most schools to do probation first kelsmom? My son as denied aid because he signed up for a semester and ended up dropping everything (combination of reasons). His previous record had been fairly good (not brilliant but just below a 3pt overall) and he had never had financial aid . When he returned to school he was initially denied aid because of the dropped semester which kind of surprised me at the time. Not a big deal as he did get it on appeal, just curious about the different ‘norms’.</p>

<p>Call your school’s financial aid office and ask them about their deadlines. Every school is different. My school has a deadline of July 1st. That deadline is to guarantee aid by the time school starts. You can file your fafsa after the deadline, but you might not get aid before the start of the semester (so you would have to pay up front). </p>

<p>Get it done as soon as you can. If you are flagged for verification it can take several weeks to get through the process, so the sooner you get started the better.</p>

<p>Swimcatsmom, that seems awfully harsh. Every school sets its own SAP policies within the federal guidelines. They are spelled out somewhere (online, in the catalog). Ours clearly state that a student must complete at least 67% of the classes he begins. If he does not (that is, he drops some), he is on probation. The next time something that violates SAP happens, he loses aid. At that time, he can file an appeal. Many (NOT most, though) will get a second chance. If they violate again after the appeal is approved, they can’t get another appeal. SAP includes % of classes begun/finished, going over 150% of the credits required to receive a degree, and a minimum gpa.</p>

<p>OP will have received notification of violating SAP if it applies. It is VERY important to give the school your correct current address & to check your school email for notification from the financial aid office in order to receive such notifications. Since this happened to you more than a year ago, gomekb, please call your old school’s financial aid office to check to see if you have any financial aid holds (like an SAP hold). That will clear it up for you.</p>