<p>A week ago, l received the dreaded email from my college indicating a change was made to my financial aid situation. After squinting at all the numbers for a few min, I finally realized they reduced my Pell Grant by 82%. While the college made up for the loss of Pell Grant by increasing its own grant (hip hip hurray), it still mystifies me where the Pell Grant went and why it left me. I logged onto FAFSA, but everything appears the same as it ever was: EFC, AGI, NASA, etc. So it only changed according to the college and not the government?</p>
<p>That is odd. Did you make sure you were checking the latest transaction on your FAFSA? Whenever we have had adjustments made by the school to FAFSA (twice - once at our request for a special circumstances adjustment and once unexpectedly) a new transaction that contained the changes has appeared on the FAFSA web site. I am not sure of the rules about whether they have to actually go in and change it online or can just do it at their FA office.</p>
<p>That is odd. The only times I have seen that happen is when a student gets merit money that would put them over COA. You cannot get more than COA with government money.</p>
<p>Ty for your replies, swimcatsmom & cptofthehouse.</p>
<p>“Did you make sure you were checking the latest transaction on your FAFSA?”
Double-checked just now. There were only two transactions; the most recent occurred over three months ago. </p>
<p>“… merit money that would put them over COA.”
I am still faarrrr short of the whopping $54,000 that is their cost of attendance.</p>
<p>The person I spoke to in the financial aid office today said that there’s no reason the change would show up on FAFSA’s website because it all happened on the college side. She also couldn’t figure out why it changed, so I have to call back tomorrow.</p>
<p>What in the world.</p>
<p>Very weird. Let us know what you find out.</p>
<p>They sometimes make mistakes. When DD was a sophomore, she received a letter two weeks before school started basically telling her that all of her financial aid had been reduced significantly. She called the finaid office immediately as NO changes had been made to anything. Oops…someone keyed something in incorrectly and a couple of days later she got another letter with the original financial aid offer correctly stated in it.</p>
<p>Whenever I make a change that affects a Pell grant (higher or lower), I have to send the change out to the processor. Only in rare instances do I make the change directly on the FAFSA website - normally, our computer system logs the changes with the federal processor. I don’t know how it works for schools without an interactive computer system, though - not sure if their changes go out & get logged or if they just certify a particular amount that gets calculated in their office when they make the change. If the latter is the case, you might not see the change online.</p>
<p>BTW, if you had a ton of non-institutional merit money & a Pell - you could actually get the Pell in excess of COA. Only Pell can be awarded in excess like this, and only with “outside scholarship” money.</p>
<p>In my office, our software doesn’t speak to the processor…we have to manually submit FAFSA changes. If any necessary changes are greater than $200.00 (combined total for ALL necessary changes), the changes MUST be processed through FAFSA. This can occur through the method described by kelsmom or manually, like we do in my office. Schools cannot change the FAFSA information on their side only and reduce or increase the Pell Grant. There must be a processed change to the FAFSA itself.</p>
<p>Even if the COA threshold were a factor, the school must reduce institutional aid not Pell Grant. Pell is the ONLY source of funding that can exceed the total cost of attendance. For the school to reduce the Pell Grant and increase institutional aid…something is wrong. I recommend contacting them again and requesting an itemized statement of the changes they made that resulted in your reduced Pell. It could be an error in entering the award information. If they provide you with what seems like a valid reason (errors on the FAFSA), ask them to submit the corrections. Legally they must submit the corrections through the CPS Processor (again either like kelsmom described or manually). FAO’s do not have an option in cases like this.</p>
<p>If you feel like you are getting nowhere, respectfully request to speak with the Director. Yes, the Director may be busy, but you deserve a legitimate answer that makes sense and if the counselor cannot provide that to you, maybe the director will. If you still think something is fishy, you can always contact the FAFSA processing center and explain the situation to them…they can usually assist in situations like this. Use this as a LAST resort, as it will create conflict between you and the FA Office personnel.</p>
<p>Thanks for the explanation, NikkiiL. I wondered how less automated offices handled that! The last time I worked in financial aid - more than 20 years ago - NO ONE had the ability to make changes online, because there WAS no online! It’s uncharted territory for me now, and I am still learning.</p>
<p>I agree that OP needs to find out what is going on. There may be a good reason for the change, but it also could be a mistake. Either way, it will be good to know for sure what happened.</p>
<p>Every time I read one of these threads, I panic and log on to make sure nothing has mysteriously disappeared from my D’s award. School starts Monday - how late in the game do these changes typically occur?</p>
<p>If you have not been selected for verification, relax. You’re all set. If you were selected for verification, though, and the financial aid section indicates that the award is still estimated or pending, things might still change as a result of verification. </p>
<p>Things can change for other reasons, as well. For example, I am in Michigan. It is still possible that the legislature can decide to cancel the state scholarship money that is tentatively scheduled for students. They sent us rosters & we put it on students’ financial aid accounts. However, if it gets canceled at the state level, our students will be stuck paying that amount themselves.</p>
<p>Also good to know: If your child drops below full time, some awards may be adjusted or removed altogether.</p>
<p>We were chosen for verification and everything was submitted within days of the request - back in May. The awards are all there - still technically listed as pending and I assume that is because they haven’t actually received the money yet. I know that some states have cut back aide - keeping fingers crossed there.</p>