<p>Hello college financial aid maestros forgive me if this is the wrong section, but I need help and it's urgent. I was accepted into Penn State, but ended up going to a different school. However, the second school messed up my financial aid and I had to take my fall semester at a community college. I applied to PSU for the spring and was admitted. Here is the problem. My financial aid was completed and filled out for Fall 2012, but was dismissed after I did not attend. I was born in Europe so I had to send in supporting documentation (i.e. passport, license) in order to prove my citizenship. I never received any indication or letter to do so until today when I called the financial aid office to verify my aid status. I'm frantic and anxious now, because I fear I shall not be awarded with the aid package I was given the first time around. I come from a low income family, and don't have thousand to shell out. Therefore, my question is will I be denied a large portion as a result of this misnomer? I was told it takes 7-10 business days to process. Any feedback would be appreciated. I don't have the best of luck with financial aid and seem to always fall in these precarious situations. My FAFSA was done and completed in January 2012.</p>
<p>You need to talk to PSU. You may not get the same aid pkg you got before.</p>
<p>What was in the first aid pkg? Are you “instate” for PSU?</p>
<p>Yes, I am instate. I called today and they requested that I send in the documents (fax), which I did. I can defer my tuition bill until the package is ready. I just feel really angry at myself that this is happening again.</p>
<p>My memory is failing me at the moment, but it contained state grants, loans, and maybe a scholarship.</p>
<p>You are not likely to get the same package that you got before. That money has been redistributed. You are now in with the new wave of applicants for the spring semester. You will get whatever federal funds that your FAFSA EFC entitles you to get for the Fall 2012-Spring 2013 school year less what you have already used at the Community college for the first semester. You need to talk to the Financial Aid Dept and ask them how they want you to procede.</p>
<p>Thanks cptofthehouse. I was not awarded any aid from the community college, because I only attended one semester. I sent in my information and can only hope everything works out for the best.</p>
<p>If you did not get PELL grants or Stafford loans and you are eligible for either or both , then you can get the full year amounts for the spring term at Penn State. That comes to a possible maximum amount of $11K or so, a zero EFC from PELL and Stafford loans. If your parents apply for PLUS and are turned down, you can borrow an additional $4K. I don’t know how PA state money works. And only the college financial aid office can tell you if they have any grant money left for the year to give to you. Good luck.</p>
<p>You need to be careful. Since you didn’t get aid for Fall, then your Spring aid can mislead you into thinking that the school will be affordable for next school year since you’ll get “more” for one semester than you will for next Fall semester.</p>
<p>When you got your previous PSU aid, did the aid cover everything? Or was there a gap? PSU has a high instate cost (about $28k per year). Did the former aid pkg cover THAT much?</p>
<p>^^You can’t get a full year’s Pell for one semester. Should be possible to get the full year’s federal loans though.</p>
<p>OP - it is likely you will not get the same aid you were initially offered. Some aid, especially scholarships, is offered to attract Freshman and you are probably not classified as a freshman anymore. Also, if the scholarship was a competitive one with limited funding, it was probably reawarded to someone else when you did not attend. Make sure you can afford to attend even if the aid is not as high as you were first offered. You don’t want to start and then realize you can’t afford what you have to pay.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies! As for my previous financial aid package the gap wasn’t too bad I think 6-10k in loans if my memory serves me right. I’m not being considered as a transfer, because I didn’t accumulate more than 17 credits. EFC will most likely be $0. Federal loans are better than private loans I suppose. The reason I picked the other school was in fact for the financial aid which turned out to be a fluke. Are financial aid packages concrete? Do they change from year to year in terms of scholarships and grants available?</p>
<p>Your EFC will be the same as when you initially applied. The Spring is part of the current (2012-2013) aid period.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why you did not receive aid at the other school. If your EFC was 0 and you were enrolled as a degree seeking student, you were eligible for the max Pell grant and probably some student loans (depending on the total COA of the school). The fact that you ended up staying just one semester does not matter.</p>
<p>That is what I was told swimcatsmom, it sounds outrageous, but that’s what I was told. I wasn’t even allowed to take classes that were degree specific; “gen-eds”. I should hear back from the office of financial aid soon, but the anxiety is taking a toll. There is no way I am returning to that community college; I have to start now I am already behind as it is.</p>
<p>Were you a part time/ continuing ed. student at the CC or an admitted/ matriculated full time student.</p>
<p>If you were registering for a class or two as a non-degree seeking student that might have kept you out of the course that were full of students in a degree program. </p>
<p>Not sure what the lower credit limit is for Pell and federal loan eligibility.</p>
<p>The good news is if you did not use any of your Pell or loan for the fall, you should be able to use the full amount for the spring, I believe.</p>
<p>If this is the case, remember that next year it will be split between the two semesters, as others have mentioned.</p>
<p>Sent from my DROID RAZR using CC</p>
<p>The full year’s Pell will not be available for only one semester. It is disbursed strictly on a semester or quarter basis based on the number of units being taken. To receive the maximum for the semester, the student must be enrolled full time (usually 12 credit hours). No more pell can be awarded for a semester even if the student takes more hours. As the full years pell won’t be used, it would be available for summer classes if that is an option at PSU.</p>
<p>The full year’s federal loans should be available though.</p>
<p>I wonder if the reason the student didn’t get aid at his CC was because the CC treated him as if he was matriculating elsewhere? Since a student can only get aid at ONE school at a time, I wonder if they thought that he was getting aid elsewhere for another school???</p>
<p>Oh my thank you all for helping me it means a lot. When I went community college for the fall semester I was a freshman admit (18 years old). I took all general education classes, but the total credits taken was 15. As for the community college it isn’t much of a degree school; the majority of students transfer and graduate elsewhere. I will call tomorrow and ask about the Pell Grant and whether or not I can use it a combined asset. I will most likely have to take summer classes to catch up on the missed work. I didn’t use any grant money for the community college at all.</p>
<p>All the best! PSU does do summer classes… at least they did when Ibwas a graduate student there, so hopefully you may be able to use the unused Pell from the fall for summer classes. :-)</p>
<p>Sent from my DROID RAZR using CC</p>