MAJOR goof up in scholarship app!!! Help!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Virginia Tech
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<p>...basically, she didn't do it...</p>

<p>DD that is, did NOT do the general scholarship app for the year (yeah, the one with the deadline of MARCH 1!) </p>

<p>She's going to be a sophomore, (well, if she doesn't have to drop out now), got offered NO merit aid (compared to the 7500 she got Freshman year), OOS student, and there's absolutely NO way I can take out another loan for her. </p>

<p>FAFSA was only estimated, so I now have to go in and update it now that the tax returns are done, so that plus the professional judgment review we submit may help some on need based aid, but last year, half the cost of tuition, room and board was made up of scholarships/grants. </p>

<p>I'm sitting here ready to cry, not sure if there's anything I can do. I made her go down to the FA office today after seeing the offer she got so far based on the estimated FAFSA, with a loss of about 11k in grants/scholarships. Granted, last year, the need based aid went up considerably after the review request based on the fact that I'm in college, and that my husband's income went down considerably in 2010 due to unemployment. </p>

<p>So FA tells her she got no merit aid because she didn't apply for the general scholarship fund by March 1! He said the only other option is we apply for a parent plus loan, which "even if we're denied might open up other scholarship opps." But I don't think we will be denied...our credit is good, and I have income...just not enough to pay bills with hubby unemployed. Credit card debt is through the roof and savings is half gone! And credit aside, I know already I cannot afford another loan.</p>

<p>Now, he's still unemployed, I am the only breadwinner beyond his little unemployment checks, our savings is half of what it was last year because my income is not enough to even pay our bills, let alone additional loans. Bottom line is she's an adult, and this is not my responsibility. I'm tried of her careless attitude and lack of reponsibility, and having to keep up with everything-work, school, her stuff, etc. </p>

<p>Sorry for the ranting, I'm just beside myself. I don't know if begging or pleading with FA to let her apply now would make a difference. Frankly, if I were them I wouldn't want to hear it. I hope that the PJ review will bring her down to the PELL area for a little more federal aid, and now hubby will be going to vocational school in Sept, so I guess that counts as a 3rd person in post secondary...but I can't imagine VT is going to be able to cough up an additional 11K of grant money! Or will she have to take an academic leave for a year? HELP!</p>

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<p>You said it. She is an adult. It is her responsibility and this will serve her as a lesson. She can take a year off and work to pay for the loans you’ve already gotten. I highly doubt you are going to get any FA at this point in time.</p>

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<p>I can’t blame you for ranting and not knowing what to do. I’d feel the same way.</p>

<p>Grant money from Tech is practically nonexistent. Honestly, the only grants I know of in VT’s financial aid package are Pell, FSEOG, VA State Grants, Safety Net/Funds for the Future, and the Presidential one that’s more of a scholarship than a grant. Freshman year seems to be when students get the most non-loan need based FA. Years after that…loans seem to provide more aid, even to those with 0 EFCs.</p>

<p>Bottom line, especially being an out-of-state student, is not to expect much, if any at all. In regards to scholarships, the big ones go to freshmen anyway. And even if your daughter got the chance to apply…it’s not really guaranteed unless she was on a renewable scholarships. There are many, many deserving students, like your daughter. There also just as many families and students in a financial situation like yours…when there’s a lack of funds, and no where to make up for it. (I was in that situation last year).</p>

<p>Anyway, I’m sorry for all the stress your daughter seems to have brought on. It’s a tough lesson for her to learn, but I do hope for the best for you guys. If the situation ends at a more manageable financial amount, tell your daughter to work as much as possible to make up for it. I’ve worked 2 jobs during the school year and 2 jobs regularly during the summer, with a really part time one to make it to VT. Taking a year off to make some money would help too, of course. Again, good luck.</p>

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<p>I seriously doubt she can do anything about it now. I was about 6 hours late on my fafsa one year and they pulled all of my merit aid. Taking a year off is probably her best bet. If she could find some sort of co-op it would be ideal.</p>

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<p>This is your daughter’s problem. Step back; you’ve got your own troubles to worry about and certainly don’t need stress & health issues piled on.</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone. I’m still ready to kill her. She’s lucky she’s 8 hours away right now LOL. I told her we’re going to have to talk about the possibility of her taking a year off, or working like a fiend all summer, and saving every penny…no beach, no eating out, and NO car that she planned so save up for since she somehow blew through whatever little car savings she managed to save last year. And I told her that she can now take every last spare minute trying to search and apply for last minute scholarships. I doubt I can even trust her to do that…she was supposed to have been searching and applying since winter break. She has done NONE with the exception of the union’s scholarship I reminded her of at the last minute. I will have to do the prof judgment review based on the financial info, plus redo the fafsa with correct numbers, but I’m not sure like financiallylost said, how much more she can get in need based grants. Her current package includes 3500 in VT grant for out of state kids (she got a little bit more there last year), plus a little 200 grant, and the rest loans. Hopefully we can get the efc down into pell territory again with the appeal, but even those fed grants are not much. The bulk of her FA package last yr was the 7500 in merit, which we really really need. And now I read that even the academic competitiveness grant that she should qualify for again, which nearly doubles soph yr is now eliminated by the feds for next school year! </p>

<p>I didn’t know that freshmen got the bulk of merit aid…in fact I read the opposite here when we were researching…that usually the largest grants were awarded junior & senior year at tech! </p>

<p>Being from NJ, ironically, we could not have afforded to send her to an in state school anyway. NJ state schools are AWFUL academically, financially, safety wise-hence the reason no one from out of state comes to NJ for college. With the VT aid she got, it cost her much less to go to VT than it would have been to go to Rutgers, which is an absolute pit. Plus, with the political climate here and our lovely new gov, the college $$ scene is due to get much much worse. </p>

<p>So is that really true that even if she submitted that app, she won’t see that same kind of aid again? If that’s the case, maybe she needs to look into transferring. I wish then she had chosen UCF-she would have at least had a renewable 7500/yr minimum.</p>

<p>Maybe she will need to try to figure out how to find a co-op-thank you for the idea chuy. Of course, the kid has no idea what she wants to major in now, and no motivation to get herself down to career services to try to figure it out, but that’s a complaint for another post…</p>

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<p>Actually it’s a complaint for this post. If she’s got no motivation to stay in school (not putting in the apps) and no real clue why she is there it probably isn’t the right place for her now.</p>