I received a very generous Pell Grant award my Freshman year of college, however it was later discovered that this was because of a clerical error my mother made when she insisted on filling out my FAFSA, After the error was discovered, the bulk of my grant was revoked after my first year leaving me $4,850 in debt to my previous University.
I have no access to my school records, and no way to pay off this debt - especially when I have to start making payments on my student loans. I would like to continue my education, but I don’t know if that is possible anymore. Please help me!
If there is an error on the FAFSA once it is corrected, the financial aid office must correct and adjust the aid accordingly. Unfortunately now you owe the school and they can put a hold on your registration until the debt is paid. You may have to take a leave of absence to get a job to help pay off the debt
You will not have to start paying the student loan until you either finish school or you have been out of school for st least 6 months.
Ask your mom to help you pay this off since her mistake was significant. BTW…if she hadn’t made the mistake, and you hadn’t been given that grant, how would you have paid for last year?
I just had a super similar situation where my parents incorrectly did not report some income from stocks on the FAFSA and the reality is unless your parents are going to pay back the grant you’re probably going to be responsible for it.
Would it be possible to ask to be put on a payment plan?