Prorated Tuition--I don't get it!

Paying for College
1

<p>I need advice and assurance. I made perhaps the biggest mistake of my life so far, and I feel scared in more ways than one. There's a good chance I'm exaggerating my own predicament, yet until a few more weeks pass, I am not going to get over it soon.</p>

<p>My dad pays for my tuition, yet we both are taking out loans. I was hoping to drop the out of pocket expense to help him, so because it is my last semester of college and I couldn't help to feel less than satisfied with a class, that I thought it might be a good idea to drop under full time with prorated financial aid. It should have been 9 units, three classes I really wanted to take. Unfortunately, two things happened that I did not expect.</p>

<p>One class did not count towards my degree, so it was not considered with the prorated financial aid. Second, it is illegal to undo the prorated tuition because apparently I am graduating and the school does not want to help pay an additional class.</p>

<p>The only good thing to come out of this? The out of pocket expense increased only by a $100. I was close to sabotaging myself from taking one of the most important classes my school has to offer.</p>

<p>Prorated tuition at my school can only happen if they find out I need a few classes to satisfy my degree. I made the error when I was asking for hypothetical numbers to compare what the out of pocket expense would look like.</p>

<p>This is not as bad as a real tragedy, but I never been a part time student, and I feel uncomfortable knowing that I cannot apply for last minute scholarships, or maybe go on a trip run by my school because I am not covered by their health insurance. I feel nauseous about how stupid I suddenly threw my benefits as a full time student within an hour. Just because I wanted to help my dad save a few hundred dollars?!</p>

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<p>Sometimes dropping below full time will result in a larger loss of aid than expected (assuming the student even expects a loss of aid). It is always important to consult a financial aid advisor if you are considering dropping below full time … and you can’t ask hypothetical questions … you have to say, “What will happen if <em>I</em> drop below full time?” Unfortunately, there is most likely not much you can do about this. However, it won’t hurt to talk to a financial aid officer (or even the assistant or associate director in charge of customer service in the aid office, if you have one) - just to be sure there is nothing they can do to help you out. Sometimes schools have a bit of grant money set aside to help students finish up their degrees.</p>

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<p>Now I cannot make my first post more concise; it was more about including the third class and perhaps un-prorating my tuition. </p>

<p>Thanks for your reply, kelsmon. Though I expected my aid to minimize, it was meant just to accommodate a part-time schedule, and my fees should have been less. I was not expecting the third class to be excluded! I am a transfer student, and over 80 units were transferred, so my electives were completed quickly in last two years, and this third class was open only to graduating seniors. It’s hard to find information about proration, the details of which not even my school has in their handbook. So, other than the health insurance and limited work-study, it really is an obscure topic that was not in my best interest after all. </p>