I’m going to Michigan state in January and my EFC is zero. My parents make nothing and I assumed I would get some financial aid considering I’m in state too. I got no financial aid and am expected to pay 23,000 a year. I don’t get it that’s MORE than my parents make combined I wasn’t expecting a full ride but at least half would’ve helped so much I’m the first person in my family to go to college and I plan on law school, what do I do? I am freaking out is my only option to suck it up or drop out??
Well…then…you goofed someplace. If your EFC is really $0, you would get $5730 in Pell Grant money for the year. You would also get $5500 in Direct Loans $3500 of which would be subsidized.
Did you submit your 2015-2016 FAFSA to MSU? If so, when?
Are you saying that your FAFSA EFC is 0 and you got your FA pkg and there wasn’t a Pell Grant in there?
If you applied for Fall, instead of Spring, you might get a better pkg.
How can you “suck it up” or even pay half?
I applied for fall but I got accepted in for spring and just waited until I could start in January. I did the fafsa earlier this year when everyone else did and my EFC was zero and on the MSU financial aid page it says my efc is zero. I got 2,887 pell grant and only 1000 unsubsidized and 1,750 subsidized. That’s it, they expect me to pay the rest. The financial aid calculators said I would get so much more aid based on our income and my high school gpa/act. I don’t get what happened I’m going to contact them tomorrow but what can they do now? I don’t know where to go from here
Are you a transfer? When did you graduate from high school?
It looks like you aren’t being given any scholarships because you’re a spring admit.
That’s not unusual.
What was your ACT?
If you had a scholarship-worthy ACT, then why weren’t you admitted for Fall?
Run the NPC and copy/paste your results.
why does your title say that you got “NO” financial aid, when you did get some?
Something isn’t right. You have an ACT 30.
If you applied for Fall 2015, why were you not accepted for Fall 2015, but instead accepted for spring???
My exact thoughts for the past year, their average is a 24-28 and I got a 30 twice. I know my gpa was low but it’s not like it’s an ivy league school. I ended with a 3.0.
I did the calculator.
Total Grants and Scholarships $16,191
Your Estimated Net Price
$9,909
Your Estimated Eligibility for Other Aid Programs:
Loans
Federal Perkins Loan - $1,000
Direct Subsidized Loan - $3,500
Direct Unsubsidized Loan - $2,000
Out-of-Pocket Cost after Student’s Financial Aid
$3,409
Additional Resources:
Federal Work-Study - $3,000
Parent PLUS Loan - $409
Out-of-Pocket Cost after Additional Resources: $0
When did you realize you didn’t get in for Fall 2015 but instead were admitted for Spring 2016?
If you can’t get aid fixed for Spring 2015, inquire if you can begin college there for Fall 2016 as a new freshman (and don’t take any classes at a community college at all).
Are you working and saving money now?
It was maybe December?? I already am taking community college classes… they strongly recommended me to take them. This semester I’m taking 3 classes at a community college so I assumed I wasn’t a transfer student? It’s only three classes and they told me to take them. If I had known I wouldn’t get any aid I wouldn’t have done it. I am working but only 2 days a week and have 3000 dollars saved but that’s it.
Michigan recommended community college classes? Was that because of your 2.96 high school GPA?
When you applied, were you applying for Fall 2015 or did you somehow make an error on your application and you submitted it for Spring 2016 start date?
Contact the Financial Aid office. If you get nowhere with the student who takes your call, be persistent and ask for a supervisor.
I’ve always heard that if you take community college classes, then you are a transfer, and that transfer don’t get the best aid as far as institutional grants/scholarships.
They recommend it to everyone starting in the spring and I for sure applied for fall but just got in for spring. It happens to lots of people at state like I know multiple people from my high school alone who got in for spring semester only but yeah for sure I’ll call them tomorrow I’m just freaking out tonight:(
When you did the NPC, did you put your GPA in there?
I hope that your school didn’t mislead you by having you start CC classes.
Yes I did put it in. I put in my parents income and my high school gpa/act. If that’s really the case then wow!!! I asked my friends who are going for spring semester if that was the case for them, that they got no aid, but no one knows.
You may have to continue at your CC for the next two years and then transfer.
A lot of schools have started accepting freshmen for either the spring semester or sometimes for the summer, then they skip the fall and return in the spring. Usually it is because there just aren’t enough dorm spaces or enough freshman courses available in the fall.
I don’t think it is unusual. Several of my daughter’s friends started the summer session right after graduation. The biggest issue in Florida is that it is HOT, and you can’t use Bright Futures in the summer. The schools try to grant other financial aid for the summer if they require you to start.
The problem isn’t whether it’s unusual or not.
The problem is that the NPC indicated a large merit scholarship for his ACT 30, but as a Spring admit, he doesn’t get that money so the school isn’t affordable. However, now he’s in a bad situation since he’s already started at a CC.
He also wasn’t given WS or perkins…
The school did a horrible job here. They know how this all works. They should be ashamed of themselves.
The school should have mentioned that if he accepts a spring spot, then he won’t be eligible for the merit scholarships.
There were likely some other Mich schools that would have given him large merit as a Fall admit. now, he’s missed those opps.
It’s too bad that he didn’t see his FA pkg last spring, so he could have made a better decision.
If the schools admit for other than fall, the FA packages aren’t changed (except for summer, when some forms of aid aren’t allowed like Bright Futures). Many schools also don’t consider a few community colleges classes to change the freshman status. Some do, and the absolutely safe course is to not take classes after high school, but many schools still consider the student a freshman admit if fewer than 12 credits are taken, or even fewer than 30. If MSU suggested the CC courses, it must be okay.
OP, you did get all the FA the NPC showed in your post #8, but only 1/2 of it because you are only going one semester (1/2 the Pell and 1/2 the Stafford loans). Perkins may not be available anymore but that’s not the school’s fault, it’s because congress changed the program. They many not have any work study left for the spring, but that isn’t a big deal as you can just get another job on campus or off (you still have to earn the work study, it’s not just included in your package). Your parents can apply for a Plus loan if they want to.
What other FA were you looking for? Go to the FA office and see if there is any need based FA offered. Can you live at home and commute?
I live over two hours away so commuting won’t work and I can’t stop by the office. I’m only taking 10 credits so I couldn’t imagine that would affect it. I guessed that it was half of the aid but the “shopping sheet” says the total is 26,000 and after those exact loans and stuff (for half) I would have to pay 23,000. Why would it say the aid for one semester and subtract it from the total year tuition? None of this makes sense to me still so I am going to call tomorrow when I have a day off work but the other aid I was looking for was the merit aid that it told me I would get. I don’t expect to have a full ride like I can afford up to 10,000 a year, I make a lot of money waitressing and plan to continue in college, but 23,000 is much much harder to swing. if I had known all of this last year things could’ve ended up different I got lots of aid from other schools and could’ve stayed at home but I assumed state would give me what it said so I stuck with it. Sucks how things ended up but hoping I can figure out a better plan for my future. Thank you all for the help