<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>I have been enrolled in a couple of different programs trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I started college in Summer Q 2010. In this Quarter I was in a diploma for Criminal Justice. For Fall Q 2010 I moved to get my CNA, this was a certificate program. Now Winter Q 2011 I am in Dental Hygiene(degree). This is my field I think I will finish in. I log into my account for the school and check on my financial aid records and I was suppose to have gotten Pell both quarters (which were never once touched) yet, I never got a refund check. My Question is should I have gotten a refund check. I have included a screen shot that may help you all understand my situation. The financial office at my school is full of idiot who don't know anything about the grants. </p>
<p>
<a href="http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm254/ipphreak/FinAid.jpg%5B/IMG%5D">http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm254/ipphreak/FinAid.jpg
</a></p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>mybabyheidi</p>
<p>You have no Pell grant payments to date. They are scheduled, but not paid. This can be due to several things. I have no way of knowing what the issue is. Before I can offer any possible reasons, please tell me … you have other payments. What are the $100, $46, $585, $100, $46, and $675 from?</p>
<p>HOPE Book Grant are the $100’s
HOPE FEE Grant are the $46’s
The other two are HOPE Tuition Grants.</p>
<p>Okay, so those are not federal funds. That is why I wanted to know.</p>
<p>I suspect that your file has been selected for verification, and you have not yet completed your verification. Are there requests for documents that have been sent to you via your student portal? Look at your financial aid tab. Is there a section for financial aid requirements? Can you find anything asking you for tax returns and a verification worksheet?</p>
<p>Here is a different reason that could hold up your disbursement: Look at your FAFSA ([Home</a> - FAFSA on the Web-Federal Student Aid](<a href=“http://www.fafsa.gov%5DHome”>http://www.fafsa.gov)). Pull up the 10-11 FAFSA, and click on View my FAFSA. Look at the student section, and find Gender. Did you enter anything? If it’s blank, you may have a flag for Selective Service that is holding up disbursement of your Pell. All males over the age of 18 must register for selective service. If you don’t tell the FAFSA that you are female, it assumes you must register. If this is the case, you should update your FAFSA to female … and you should visit the school’s financial aid office to tell them that you did this. </p>
<p>Yet another explanation is that you did not pass the citizenship check. Are you a natural born U.S. citizen? If so, this wouldn’t be the reason.</p>
<p>Another possibility is that the summer and fall programs are not Pell eligible programs. The school’s computer system may be set up to put a Pell grant on your account when a Pell eligible FAFSA is received. This is because your aid “would be” available to you if you were to be in a Pell eligible program. However, if you are not in a Pell eligible program, it will never pay to your account.</p>
<p>The federal regulations state that to receive a Pell, you must be in a regular degree granting program. The certificate programs may not be Pell eligible degree programs. You can probably find out by searching on your school’s website (if you tell me the school, I can look). If you can’t find anything, ask the school if these programs are Pell eligible programs.</p>
<p>So it appears that the CRN quarter isn’t Pell eligible. However, the very first quarter was. I had turned in my information to the financial aid office before starting college at all. I didn’t receive my award letter until midway last quarter. So, why is it showing that I had it for the past two quarters? It would seem that if the course wasn’t eligible, I wouldn’t be showing the expected amount being 1/4 of the total award, it would be $0. Should I be expecting them to pay for the very first quarter since it did qualify? </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Computers are wonderful, but they aren’t perfect. If your school’s financial aid software is like ours, the system only looks at hours - not programs - and Pell is automatically added to a student’s awards based on a Pell eligible FAFSA (not a Pell eligible program of studies). The computer is then programmed not to disburse aid to the student’s account unless his/her program of studies is Pell eligible. So it puts it on automatically & won’t pay if it shouldn’t. Your awards showed what you would receive IF you were in an eligible program.</p>
<p>Whether or not you are eligible for Pell the first quarter depends on whether it really was an eligible program, and also - because your file was not complete before the end of that quarter (which I assume to be true because you just received an award letter half way through the second quarter) your Pell payment for that term is based on hours COMPLETED. If you withdrew from any classes that term, you would not be paid for them when your file is completed after the term is over. Did you complete all of those courses?</p>
<p>I do think the only way to be sure of what is going on is to ask your financial aid office. It is possible that you should be paid for the first term. Again, computers are tricky. Since your program when your file was completed was not Pell eligible, the computer may not pay Pell first semester unless it is “tricked” to pay it — I sometimes have to bypass the system to pay out undergrad Pell after the student becomes a grad midway through the year. It doesn’t happen automatically, and I only know to do it if the student contacts me to let me know it didn’t pay or it backed off. With thousands of students, the few odd ones can slip through the cracks.</p>
