<p>I had not been checking my school accounts, and It never occurred to me that we would have to accept the financial aid reward for the new school year. If you don't accept the reward, you're financial aid does not get disbursed. So the deadline was August 19th and there is now a hold on my account until I get this resolved. I can't call the finaid office until after the upcoming holiday. I did e-mail them though.</p>
<p>It was an honest mistake. I can't afford to be dropped out of school because of a money situation. Has this happened to anyone else? How did you solve it?</p>
<p>My friend did the same thing. The school gave her award (School grant) to someone else. It was sad, but they tell us before school ends to check our emails and accounts twice a week.</p>
<p>She also at that point wasn’t signed up to be a full time student (needed to be signed up for 12, was signed up for 10, was going to add classes, never got around to it right away over the summer). I don’t know how much of a factor that played into it. I would go to fin aid right away Tuesday morning.</p>
<p>Contact the school and find out what can be done.</p>
<p>If they say it’s too late, or that they can’t give you enough aid, then ask if you can skip a year (not go this year - take a gap year) so that next year you will get the right aid.</p>
<p>^^agree with 4kids. Pell grant and direct loans are not limited funding so should be no problem. Campus based federal aid that have limited funding such as SEOG, Perkins, WS plus possible school funded awards usually have a deadline for acceptance so the school can re award them to someone else. There is really nothing much you can do until you talk to the school.</p>
<p>Why does every school now just assume everyone has internet access? My D worked away all summer at a camp with no internet, barely any cell phone reception. This could have easily happened to her! Now, D’s school will no longer issue paper statements/bills either. I think they could be asking for trouble in the long run. OP, I hope your situation resolves quickly.</p>
<p>The 4-year colleges that my S & D went to never issue paper statements or notifications; but the community college always mails us the bills, even the class schedule.</p>
<p>teach, IMO, if the student wants that aid, it is on them to make sure that everything is taken care of. I’m sure if she had explained to the school what was going on, they would have worked with her- as long as they knew before hand.</p>
<p>My daughter’s school never snail mailed anything other than her acceptance into the school. Everything else - financial aid awards, FAFSA verification requests, billing information etc was online.</p>
<p>My son’s school has ceased sending aid letters or billing information…it’s in the student’s account on line. He didn’t have internet at his off campus apartment this summer, but regularly “walks” to internet locations to check e-mail, post to FB and whatever else needs to be done. It is not unusual in this day and age for organizations to go “paperless.” Most colleges have an arrangement where parents can get a separate login to access the financial aid information, pay the bills etc. that you could look into teachandmom.</p>
<p>If the money is gone, it is too late to get it back. Direct Loans are still available. Perkins may no longer be available, and SEOG may no longer be available. The only way to find out for sure is to talk to an aid officer. There is only so much money to go around, and there are kids waiting for money that is not accepted. I worked at a public U, and we always auto-accepted grants … who wouldn’t want it? But some schools have to carefully manage grant money & may need the student to accept because there will be many students who are not coming to school … they want to free up the money for others.</p>