My fellow CC’ers, I hope some of you have some ideas for my student’s situation. Student will not turn 18 until the end of October. and student’s parents are not US citizens. Student is a citizen and lives in the U.S. Student is first generation and very low-income. Student received a very generous financial aid award from the college student was hoping to attend in the Fall. The award included $5500 in federal loans (both subsidized and subsidized.) The amount of loans is needed to pay student’s bill on Sept. 1. Student has a federal work-study award but 60% of that must be used to pay student’s bill also. College is a LAC which is not normally known for meeting full-need so I was pleasantly surprised to see such big grants in the student’s award (in addition to Pell Grant).
Student applied for the loans last week and student was informed by college today that student will not be approved for loan since student is not 18 and student’s parents cannot cosign since they are not U.S. citizens. College told student to try to find a co-signer which is impossible for this student (trust me). Student and I brainstormed to try to think of a cosigner (and I will not do it).
Any ideas what student can do in this situation?
I told student the following options:
Ask college if they can "float" student until student turns 18? Does anyone have any experience if a college does that sort of thing?
Ask college for more financial aid for just the Fall semester since I assume student can still apply for loan for the Spring semester? Is that correct?
Have student defer admission until Fall 2017-college does allow deferred admission. My concern is whether student will still received great financial aid for Fall 2017. Can a student defer their financial aid award?
Anything I am not thinking of that could help this student???
Student could not work this summer because student has to take care of siblings since both parents work 6 days a week and would not be able to work without my student watching siblings. Student lives in a very economically depressed area of our city and there are not a lot of jobs for teens in that neighborhood. Transportation is also not good, student had a three hour commute in high school and high school paid for bus pass so that would be an issue too if student looked for a job in another area of town (Student understands that next summer student must tell parents student can’t watch the kids).
This answer is a few years old, but should still apply:
Are my parents responsible for my educational loans?
No. Parents are, however, responsible for the Federal PLUS loans. Parents will only be responsible for your educational loans if they co-sign your loan. In general you and you alone are responsible for repaying your educational loans.
You do not need to get your parents to cosign your federal student loans, even if you are under age 18, as the ‘defense of infancy’ does not apply to federal student loans. (The defense of infancy presumes that a minor is not able to enter into contracts, and considers any such contract to be void. There is an explicit exemption to this principle in the Higher Education Act with regard to federal student loans.)
@Madison85 - Student’s loans are Federal Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans. I don’t have student’s award paper on front of me, but federal direct is around $3K a year and Unsubsidized is around $2.5K a year. These are not private loans or loans from the college directly. They are awarded by the college and included in the student’s financial aid package from the student’s college.
See my answer #2. The school is incorrect the the student has to be 18. My daughter started school as a 17 year old and while she didn’t take a student loan, she could have (offered). She had other state and federal aid that I didn’t sign for. The only documents I had to sign were NCAA related (agreeing to the drug testing policy and to the grant in aid), and I signed her National Letter of Intent when she was 16.
Age isn’t supposed to matter for the student loans, per the feds, but the school is allowed to refuse to certify on various grounds. I wonder if this is an individual school policy and a case for Professional Judgment.
@twoinanddone and @Madison85 Thanks for the info and link. I knew 20 years ago a parent had to co-sign when when the student was not 18, but did not know the current rules. I absolutely hate loans and encourage my students to attend colleges that do not require loans, that is why I am not very familiar with the current rules surrounding them. Due to privacy concerns, some financial aid offices will not talk to me about my students so I send my students to talk to the financial aid offices about their packages and I have to depend on them to communicate to me what the financial aid office says.
Plus to further complicate the loan issue, this student put down the father’s drivers license number where the loan application asked for it since the student does not have a driver’s license. I am wondering if that could lead to the student’s loan application being denied?
Although I love my first generation students, more times than not it is complicated since many do not know how to fill out applications and do not know how to follow-up on things. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have had to “unwind” something a student did or yell at them for ignoring verification emails from their colleges.
Okay I have been emailing my student this evening and this is what my student said “The lady told me that I just wouldn’t receive the loan since my signatures weren’t valid.”
Anyone know what the college meant by saying the signature was not valid? My student has a passport and birth certificate, but no driver’s license. Could that factor into being told the student’s signature was not valid?
The signatures are electronic and verified via the passcode, no? Yes, I would think the wrong DL could be a major issue. (My kids are past loans, but D1 didn’t have a license, either.) You need to run through scenarios with the student and the what if’s. Can you be a silent listener on the line while he calls, then cue him to the next question? Can he authorize you, in writing, if needed, to speak with them on his behalf?
Somehow, you need an accurate explanation of exactly what the roadblock is.
Yes, I have seen this question about DL and MPN before and they were told to not select a state for driver’s license if they don’t have one and leave that section blank.
I am concerned about this student’s situation for several reasons.
Are all costs going to be covered for her/him if s/he gets the federal loans of $5,500?
Work study won’t be available for when the bill is due in Sept. S/he will get paid after finding/starting the job.
What about transportation costs? How far is the college from home? Can the student stay there during breaks? Is cafeteria going to be closed during breaks?
How about books? Does the student have some money to pay for those?
How about health insurance? If parents aren’t citizens and low income they might not have (adequate) insurance that satisfies college requirements.
The student is trying to complete his MPN for his loan so that his fall term costs will be covered BEFORE the term begins.
But he doesn’t have to wait until October. He needs to contact someone about getting his FATHER’s drivers license number removed from his MPN and loan counseling information.
I have my student calling the college again today and have shared your comments with student. I have a full day and night teaching today so I will come back tonight to answer your questions. Thank you all for your help and I will report back.