Next year will be my final semester at CSU EAST BAY. I’m pretty much done and I only have the final capstone class left to take. I’m willing to take the full 12 unit to satisfy the full time student financial aid policy. However, I read online that financial aid only pays for classes that are needed in your major but on the forums here alot of people do get paid even if they took electives that aren’t require for their major. Im not sure which is true. Should I take those extra classes (electives)?
Got a link to the page that says that?
According to your school’s financial aid SAP (satisfactory academic progress) rules, it looks like you cannot exceed 180 attempted credit hours as an undergraduate, and can’t exceed 150% of the amount needed to complete your specific degree. How many have you attempted so far?
Well after this semester it will be 183. In regards to the other 150%, I’m not entirely sure.
https://financialaid.appstate.edu/faq/can-i-receive-aid-all-my-classes-or-only-required-coursework
This Is from one of the site I’ve read and alot of others as well. What confuses me is what ive read and what other suggestions are completely different. I talked to the counselor and the financial aid representative prior to this semester unit calculation (which was below 180) and both of them told me I should be fine taking full time classes. However, “should” isn’t too reassuring and from past experience with the financial aid office at my college, they’re not great to put it bluntly.
What confuses me even more is our financial aid system. They calculated how much I would receive and even have a disbursement date listed for a refund check.
You might not get any financial aid for that last semester if you have exhausted it all.
Talk to your financial aid office. You might have to take just the Capstone class to finish your degree and pay for it yourself.
The link from Appalachian State University may have policies not applicable to California State University East Bay. Use information from CSUEB.
In terms of 183 units, is that quarter units or semester units? CSUEB changed to semesters for fall 2018, so any units completed under the previous quarter system should be multiplied by 2/3.
It is true that financial aid cannot be paid for the credits associated with classes not required for a degree. Only credits that count toward the degree can be included in the financial aid credit calculation. Schools have had to figure out ways to catch those classes, and they are getting better at it.
From the FSA Handbook:
If a student is enrolled in courses that do not count toward his degree, certificate, or other recognized credential, they cannot be used to determine enrollment status unless they are eligible remedial courses.
This means you cannot award the student aid for classes that do not count toward his degree, certificate, or other recognized credential.
@ucbalumnus CSUEB uses the same policy, I just couldn’t find a link to send it to you so I found something similar.
Hmm, I’m not sure regarding the quarter system since like you said CSU East Bay just swapped to semester system so there’s a lot things that are confusing. I’m sure it’s already converted though since there’s no way I’ve taken that many units. 183.5 sounds about right for a 5 year bachelor right? (1 year because I wanted to pursue an associate degree for accounting)
@momdc Definitely, I emailed the financial aid office and I will be calling them again in the upcoming day. Hopefully, I get a firm response. I don’t mind paying for the last class, I just don’t want to sign up for 12 units and having to pay all of it after I graduated.
@kelsmom I have 1 class that counts toward my degree, the other 2 classes are technically within my degree area, it’s just I no longer need them since I’m done with the requirements for my degree. The final class is a GE requirement which I finished as well. It’s too bad that I couldn’t take the capstone class this semester since I didn’t meet the requirement, or else I would have graduated already, it’s poor planning on my part.
Four years of normal course loads (15 units per term) would be 120 semester units or 180 quarter units. Five years would be 150 semester units or 225 quarter units.
If you actually do have 183.5 semester units (after converting quarter units by multiplying by 2/3), then you have passed the 150% limit (compared to the usual 120 semester units needed for the degree) that may be an issue.
@ucbalumnus I see… another question. Does this applies to both pell grant and state (cal) grant? Because I just checked my federal pell grand and it stated I still have $1522 left over for disbursement, which is literally the final disbursement for next semester. I wish my college would have sent a warning letter at some point to let me know of the situation, at my community college they did that and I applied for a financial aid appeal which went through.
For Pell grants, you have up to 12 semesters of eligibility (note: 3 quarters = 2 semesters) and need to make satisfactory academic progress as defined by your school.
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/grants-scholarships/pell#maintain
http://www.csueastbay.edu/financialaid/files/docs/financial-aid/18-19-sap-policy/sap-policy.pdf
Cal Grant eligibility is described at
https://www.csac.ca.gov/sites/main/files/file-attachments/understanding_my_cal_grant.pdf
Just a little update, my school actually paid for my classes and provided me a refund for this semester even though I exceeded the maximum 180 unit, I was at 185 unit, so i’m guessing they’re pretty lax regarding that area?
right now, I’m just taking the minimum amount of units(12 unit) require to satisfy the full time student requirement for the aid, not to mention these classes are easy A’s electives that I don’t really need. Now I’m concern that they will do a recalculation at the end of the semester to hinder my graduation.