My aid office disbursed the first half for last fall semester, but this semester did not disburse the other half with my other aid, which is a huge problem, since I didn’t receive a refund due to the office not disbursing the Pell Grant.
The reason they told me it wasn’t disbursed was because I’m close to my Lifetime Eligibility limit of 600%.
I checked my NSLDS info and it says I’m at 515% AFTER the Pell disbursement from Fall semester.
If 100% Is for one academic year, then 50% is the first half of Pell I received last Fall, which resulted in me receiving a refund after my balance was paid.
I asked them why it didn’t disburse and they said it was because I am close to my limit and that they’d have to review it on January 17…and I NEED my refund money to pay for expenses.
If I’m at 515%, and the pending Pell disbursement is 50%, that’d only put me at 565%…and this is my last semester of undergrad! I told them I’m graduating and won’t be in need of the remaining 35%, but they said they’d review it, which makes no sense, because I’m clearly able to still receive it!
I have expenses to pay and no refund, due to their not disbursing the Spring amount of Pell Grant.
Has anyone experienced this issue where the financial aid office wouldn’t allow Pell to be disbursed with other grants and loans, which only paid my tuition and fees and left me with no refund as is usually done so I can afford to live while in school?
Have you gone over your transcript with your advisor to make sure that each of the classes you are taking “counts” towards your degree, and that you have fulfilled all of the requirements for your department? Just because you have a credit doesn’t mean it will fulfill your requirement-- and therefore, you may NOT be on track to finish in June. Perhaps that’s the delay- on Jan. 17th they’ll determine if you are indeed one semester away from graduating.
It shouldn’t matter what classes I’m taking, though.
I have 515% Eligibility out of 600% for my Pell Grant.
Nothing should’ve stopped my Pell grant from disbursing this semester if it disbursed last semester.
I think you’re confused as to what “credit” I’m talking about.
I had a balance for this upcoming semester.
Aid gets applied to my account and pays it…which my loans and other scholarships/grants did.
Usually I get a few thousand back into my bank account as a refund after my tuition has been paid.
My problem is that the aid office didn’t disburse my Pell grant along with my other aid, which leaves me with NO REFUND and NO MONEY, because I live off of my refund.
No one can tell me WHY the aid office didn’t disburse my Pell grant, including the aid office.
If I’m at 515% Eligibility, then there should’ve been NOTHING stopping the 50% last half of my Pell grant from being disbursed. 515% + 50%(the last half of my Pell grant award of $5815) = 565%.
Why would my being near the end of my BFA in terms of 120 course credits prevent my Pell from disbursing?
The aid office can’t just say, “Oh, we shouldn’t disburse this Pell grant because he may or MAY NOT be graduating this May, so we’ll hold onto it until the student, as well as us, knows they’ll either be graduating or not.”
All they’d have to do is look at my Pell Grant LEU through NSLDS to see that there’s more than enough for me to have received this last half for the academic year.
This is ridiculous! I pay rent with my refund and they’re telling me I can’t get my money because I’m nearing the LEU maximum, when they should’ve just disbursed it and let me finish my undergrad education this semester.
Has anyone else had their Pell grants not disburse for their potentially last senior semester JUST BECAUSE it’s over 500% on NSLDS?
Still no ideas? Reasons as to why? I’ve got money, but that’s not the point of my question…or the biggest worry. I’m worried this is happening to other students who may be graduating at the end of a semester who aren’t receiving the aid that they SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO HAVE DISBURSED WITHOUT PROBLEMS OR WAITING.
The courses you take do matter. If you are full time, taking courses that qualify, you’ll receive 100% for that semester. If you take 15 credits but 6 of them do not qualify, you won’t get 100% for that semester, you may get 75% of the Pell grant.
You need to go into the aid office and have them explain it and their policy of withholding the Pell grant until verified.
How many courses do you actually NEED to complete your degree? One, four?
Some schools wait to refund financial aid…because if a student needs ONLY one course…the school could disburse a FULL allotment of aid, only to find out that a student has dropped all but the ONE course they need to graduate. Or dropped down to 1/2 time status.
If you are very close to completing your degree…is it possible the school is waiting until,after the drop/add date to be sure you will remain a full time student…and therefore are entitled to the full Pell?
They review bc if it is later found to be invalid, the school loses it, not you. It is inconvenient, but it sounds like you have other money. And even if not, college town landlords would likely understand. One year in school my loan got denied a week before school started. Things happen and you roll with it. (As luck would have it, my loan was denied bc if an unpaid account, and I happened to be using the cancelled check that paid it as a bookmark, so financial aid pushed it all through in 2 weeks. Everyone waited for their $.)