<p>I was all paid up on my summer class at NYU where I had been enrolled half-time at 6 credits. This morning I get an e-mail saying my financial aid had been reduced and I now owe a balance on my bursar account. They quartered the amount I was originally receiving based on my credit hours, which originally stated it was based on my anticipated enrollment of six credits so nothing seemed amiss. My EFC is 0 and I passed up on taking the federal loan that was offered to me at the time. They are saying that since the semester is over I can no longer take the federal loan I was offered and I should take out a private loan to cover the cost. Is there anything else I can do to fight them on this? Are universities allowed to reduce Pell Grants 3 months after the original bill was due?</p>
<p>Yes, schools are allowed to reduce an award amount if it was awarded incorrectly. Could it have been you were awarded a full-time Pell? </p>
<p>It does happen (unfortunately) that schools make mistakes when awarding. I have seen it a few times. They are legally required to correct their mistakes. It can end up hurting the student in the end, especially if the student is not in a place to make payments on a balance. </p>
<p>Hmmm … if they “quartered” your Pell grant and you had 6 credits, that means you were looking at the Pell grant for a full year. One semester at full time would have been half of a full year Pell, and one semester at half time (6 credits is half time) is a quarter of a full year Pell. </p>
<p>How much Pell was actually PAID TO your student account in the first place? How much was actually REMOVED FROM your account on September 10th?</p>
<p>NYU may have made an administrative mistake in the beginning, but it now appears they had no choice except to correct it. The feds make the rules for Pells, not the universities. </p>
<p>This raises another concern for non-Pell funding sources too. Be careful that your summer school financial aid does not make it more difficult to get financial aid for your last semesters. Many colleges only offer aid for 8 semesters. Many state grant programs only offer aid for 8 semesters. If you use some of those grants during the summer, you may not be eligible for aid in your 8th semester. Of course if attending summer school allows you to skip the 8th semester, then it is a flush.</p>
<p>The whole situation is incredibly frustrating. Because of their error I now have to take out a high interest private loan when I was eligible for a federal loan. </p>
<p>@kgos16 I think that is what they ended up doing, however when I received my financial aid package for the summer term it stated it was based on my anticipated enrollment of 6 credits. </p>
<p>@kelsmom Yes I was looking at my allotted funding for the full year. I was originally awarded $2823 in Pell Grant funding for the summer semester. They removed $1412. </p>
<p>@Charliesch NYU requires a summer start for transfers into their film & TV program. Luckily, I should still have enough funding for my remaining semesters. Thank you =)</p>
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At least you can get a private loan, not too many students could do that.</p>
<p>Your summer package was not based on your 6 credit enrollment. It was based on full time enrollment. This is standard practice for schools. The $2823 you expected is the award you received based on full time enrollment . Again, schools award based on full time enrollment. You need to read all of the fine print that goes along with awards … such as info about dropping below full time & the affect it has on your aid. You were never eligible for the full $2823 because you were only enrolled half time. </p>
<p>I know it’s a tough pill to swallow, but it doesn’t sound like NYU did anything wrong. You misunderstood the package, thinking it was based on your enrollment at the time. At this point, all you can do is borrow the private loan or work until you have enough to pay the money back.</p>
<p>@4kidsdad I’m still doing research on where to apply for a private loan since it’s basically the only option I have to pay it ASAP.
@kelsmom The NYU financial aid page actually said “Based on your anticipated enrollment of 6 credits this is your award” so the $2823 I expected was only expected because that is what they told me I was getting. NYU did do something wrong by miscalculating my aid in the first place. Had the page said based on your enrollment of 12 credits I obviously would have known that I was not going to receive that full amount. If they had fixed this in a timely manner I could have taken the federal loan that was offered to me and I wouldn’t be in this position.</p>
<p>@kelsmom It’s someone’s job to make those packages and catch mistakes like that, they obviously failed to do so and cost me the only available funding I had. I will definitely be double and triple checking my awards in the future so nothing like this happens again, but I still think they hold some responsibility in the matter. </p>
<p>Did you receive a Pell grant last year in the fall and the spring?</p>
<p>If you did you are going to have bigger fish to fry; if you used Pell in the summer and they count it as part of the 2014-2015 school year, you are probably not going to have enough pell for the spring 2015 school year, which means you are going to have a shortfall for the spring and will have to borrow even more $$. Financially it seems as if you are way over your head and perhaps you should be looking at more affordable options.</p>
<p>@sybbie719 NYU considers their summer sessions as part of the 13-14 school year. I did not use my pell grant in spring '14, only fall '13 so I should be okay for spring '15. I am covered by scholarships, grants and loans at this point and I don’t feel the need to transfer. The problem is unexpected accounting errors. </p>
<p>If you owe $1400, ask if you can pay it on a payment plan. $200 per month would be a lot better than borrowing $1400.</p>
<p>@twoinanddone Thank you! I will try to talk to the bursar about that. I really hope they can offer me a payment plan at this point. It’s just tricky since this is all coming up so far after the bill was originally due/paid.</p>
<p>Do you have the documentation that you got with your award? Make an appt with a NYU financial aid officer and go through the paperwork with that person and find out exactly what happened here. If they truly made a mistake, this is something to take to the Dean of Students. Once you can pin point EXACTLY what the problem is here, and if you can truly point the finger to a mistake made by the financial aid office and have that documentation, you can file a complaint against what the incompetence and error cost you, and they may have to come up with something if it indeed was a problem on the Fin Aid Office’s part. </p>
<p>@cptofthehouse Yes I have the documentation of the original award. I spoke with the financial aid director at Tisch this afternoon and she could see my pervious award status along with the updated pell reduction. She also said that the the situation was not my fault and the office of financial aid made some kind of mistake. I am now on the lookout for an email from her regarding and update on the whole situation. Hopefully, I will receive some good news. if not I will definitely be filing a complaint with the Dean of Students since there has already been an admission of negligence. </p>
<p>@theyadoreyou As a financial aid professional myself, I am very interested in hearing how your school handles this situation. Please keep us updated. </p>
<p>@kgos16 so they covered it out of a scholarship fund. It’s such a huge relief. Here is the email I received about the situation. I blocked out the name of the scholarship cause I don’t want anyone to get into hot water for allocating money out of the fund- personally I think it’s strange they dipped into it.
Hi <strong><em>,
The NYU Financial Aid Office just awarded you a </em></strong>* Scholarship in the amount of $1,411 for the summer 2014 to make up the loss of Pell Grant Funds.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who have advice on the matter! </p>
<p>@theyadoreyou That is great news! I am always glad to see when schools own up to their mistakes and do what they can to correct the matter. </p>