<p>Hey guys, Thanks for all of your help so far.</p>
<p>I'm a first year, and I just found out that I didn't get work study for next year. </p>
<p>This is a huge blow for me. I had work study this year and managed to get at great job at a lab, and my boss promised me a job when I come back in the fall, continuing what I was doing in the lab. However, she told me that the position is only for work study students and that she can't rehire me if I don't have work study.</p>
<p>I think the reason why I wasn't offered the work study again is that I got the Smart grant. But is there any way to appeal? I really wanted to keep this job (since it's not easy to find nowadays). I don't have any significant change in my financial situation, or my parents, except that my sister is entering college in the fall. Would that be a good basis for an appeal? Is it even possible?</p>
<p>I was offered 5,400 subsidized.. is there any drawbacks (such as them offering me less of grants and stuff) if I accept less than 5,400?</p>
<p>Also...for those who have appealed, do you mind sharing how you got the appeal? I want to see if any of it applies to me. </p>
<p>You can also just get a job. It doesn’t necessarily have to be work study. The Federal Work Study program gives money to schools and they hold that money to pay students for their work. There might not be enough of that particular fund to include you in the recipients. But, you can get any other job that might be available, on or off campus. Since you are willing and able to work during the semester, do it the old fashioned way, if you can’t get a Federal Work Study job.</p>
<p>It’s just that I already have a job. I worked really hard all year as a lab assistant cleaning labware and refilling bottles and doing inventory and biohazard trash and I just recently got asked to help with research by a doctor in the lab. I’ve been learning so much and my boss told me that I could come back in the fall and continue what I am doing. Without the workstudy, I can’t continue what I am doing and I would either have to start from the bottom again cleaning dishes or find a job totally irrelevant to my field of studies. </p>
<p>Do you think this would be a strong point of an appeal? I am just really disappointed with all this because it’s not like i wasnt skilled or that I was doing a bad job, but because the financial aid office didnt think I needed work study and so I lose such a great opportunity.</p>
<p>You need to call or go in to speak to the FA officer. Explain your particular situation with this job and ask if they can reduce some other aid (if needed) to give you back the Work Study portion.</p>
<p>Work-study is need based aid. Do you still have unmet Need? If so, it is certainly worth appealing. At my school, we award 70% of the WS funds to students with unmet need in the order that they submitted their FAFSAs. We award the remaining 30% on a case-by-case basis to students with unmet need who have been offered WS positions. Since you do have the job lined up, you have a good chance of being awarded WS (if your school hasn’t already awarded their full allotment).</p>
<p>Typically, I recommend you write a letter or email first to make sure you have your argument formed the way you want. Then follow up with a phone or face to face.</p>
<p>I went in to talk to the finaid counselors today and she told me that I had exceed some amount because of the SMART grant that she could not do anything for me. She said that the only thing that could be done is that they could reduce my Grant-in-aid money or the perkins loans amount, but I didn’t have a perkins loans and she said that it’s better to keep the grant money. The only other option was to write an appeal letter, which I had in hand already. So I turned in my appeal letter and hopefully something can be done about it, though I’m not optimistic about this one. The only thing I would want them to reduce in my stafford subsidized loans, but I have to decide whether or not to accept by the 23rd, which doesnt give enough time for them to look at and consider my letter.
what do you guys recommend me doing?</p>
<p>Do you mean they didn’t offer you a Perkins or you didn’t accept it? It is better to keep grant aid, which is basically free money, than work study. But, if you’re a science major and working on research that could potentially open doors for you and you really want the work study, you can turn down the grant. I would forgo the sub Stafford first though, as long as you don’t need it to pay your first semester bill! Not sure why you have to decide by the 23rd…Stafford loan eligibility doesn’t suddenly end in June and isn’t aid that gets redistributed.</p>
<p>University grant in aid
SMART grant
Cal Grant A
Stafford Subsidized</p>
<p>My school says we have to decide whether or not to accept their offers by the 23rd.</p>
<p>I can decide how much of the loan I want though… I don’t have to take the entire $5400. Are you suggesting I not take it all?</p>
<p>Yeah, I am a science major and this would be considered working on research, right? I mean, I help my boss do cell culturing, Real Time PCR, RNA extraction… I thought about just finding another job, but I realized that this isn’t just some other job. She’s a medical doctor, too, so I could learn a lot from her. </p>
<p>I talked to my boss and she says that if the work study thing doesnt work out for next year, I could try to continue to work with her for units instead, though that requires much more work and planning…and I was thinking about saving that for my junior year when I have more experience and such.</p>
<p>Is there a possibility that you can continue to work with her for free? She is getting free labor in that case, and your tuition and fees are already covered.</p>
<p>You don’t have to ‘save’ it for your junior year – you can do it next year and your junior year, most likely. Or, you can just work for her for nothing – not units or money, but just for the experience and joy of working. And then if you get work-study the year after that, she can rehire you.</p>
<p>Yeah, I talked to her and she said that if worse comes to worse, I could go in and just basically volunteer for her. So it won’t be too bad.</p>
<p>If it happens that they give me the work study but reduce or take away my grant in aid, it is possible for me to not take that package and stick to the old one?</p>
<p>D, who is going to be a senior in college, did not have work study listed on her FA package for the first time this year. She contacted the FA office and they ended up offering her more per semester than she ever had been the 3 previous years. All she did was email the person in charge… She explained what she had done in previous years and wanted to continue. Definitely talk to someone. (BTW she also has scholarships and grants as well as loans and was offered more in A this year than in previous years as well). I would try talking to someone else in your FA dept to see if something can be worked out.</p>
<p>I just got my son’s FA for his junior year at NYU. They only have him down for $940 in work study. Last year it was nearly 4K. I’m going to call the FA office on monday in the hopes of getting the 2k unsubsidized stafford loan moved into the work study column. Other than that, I’m thrilled with his FA award. Still got his perkins loan and they increased his scholarship amount by 2K. I’m trying to limit his borrowing to 5500 subsidized stafford and 2400 perkins. I also know he worked ALOT of work study in 2008-09 and I want him to have more than $940 available this coming year.</p>