So I’m looking to go back to college (long story, I flunked out and am hoping to go back for a degree, check out my other thread if you want to know details) and have been looking into the possibility of federal student loans to pay for said college. In my first stint at college I accumulated something like 100+ credits before failing (depression hit me hard in my last couple of years) but none of it is on student loans of any kind, so that’s the good news I guess. Does that credit number effect how much I could get in federal loans or is the federal loan limit a dollar amount of some sort? I checked a couple different federal loan sites and couldn’t get a clear answer to this question so any info is appreciated. Thanks!
I believe the federal loan limit is a dollars amount.
But if you failed a lot of courses, you may not meet satisfactory academic progress. If you don’t meet SAP, you cannot get federal aid, and I believe that includes federally funded loans.
However, every college has a SAP appeals process, plus their own SAP criteria. Contact your college and ask them.
The other caveat…if you have 100 credits, and want to go to a community college, you might not get federal loan finding for that…I think…as you have exceeded the number of credits to get a two year degree there by over a certain amount.
Thanks for the reply. My plan is actually to start at a community college for a year or so to boost my gpa and demonstrate to 4 year universities I might apply to that I’m taking school seriously now. Hopefully I can save money and pay for a good chunk of community college on my own since it’s significantly cheaper. If I am in fact eligible for federal loans when I go back to a 4 year university that’s great news to me, as I would rather avoid the private loans unless I have to.
Just be careful how many credits you take. Some colleges look at that number of credits and if it is too high, you could have difficulties transferring.
Is there a four year college that you to which you could commute?
Yes I’m currently commuting to the college that I’m in danger of flunking out of. I’m hoping for a fresh start, almost a second chance at college though, just trying to figure out the best way to do that. My hope was to do 1 year at community college, not transfer any credits from my first stint at university, and then spend another 3 at a university “redoing” my degree if you will, but maybe that’s not realistic.
You cannot apply to any college without providing transcripts for ALL previous colleges attended. You must provide these. You can’t just pretend attending college in the past didn’t happen. Nope…not permitted.
Even if you failed all your courses and had no credits to transfer, a transcript is still a required part of the application process when you go to a different college.
Even incoming freshmen must provide transcripts for all college courses taken. All! No exceptions.
Don’t worry I’m aware that I would need to show my bad stint at my last university. My hope is that if I demonstrate a year of good coursework at community college that will help when transferring to another university. Then I would transfer all of my credits from community college but not from my first university, essentially “resetting” my gpa for the new university. I’m aware a cumulative gpa for my entire college career would still be lower but at least my college career for community college and new university would be very good.
Usually, when you transfer, your course credits transfer, but are not included in the GPA at the new school. You WILL be required to transfer those courses…whether you want to…or not.
I’d like some opinions on this. Does this seem like a decent, doable plan to people? Assuming I crack down and actually start doing well in course work.
I think it’s all doable. You are not the first student to have a “false start” to college…who wants to turn it around and graduate.
But I’m a little unclear. In your first post, you say you flunked out…which implied this happened in the past. Then later, you say you are currently attending the school you think you will flunk out.
Really, if you are currently failing, you might want to consider some other options…like attending school one or two classes at a time until you are up to speed. Get a job. Show responsibility in other ways. Simply switching from school to school might not be the answer.
Thanks for the help, it’s much appreciated. To elaborate I’m on academic probation and it’s looking more and more unlikely that I can raise my GPA this semester to what I need in order to not be dismissed, so I’m just planning in advance for the scenario where I either withdraw from university or am dismissed. On top of this I want to get into a good degree program that can lead to a good job after I finish my degree. I was in ECE but foolishly dropped out of the program about a year ago and can’t get back in because of my GPA (again, I’ve made lots of mistakes the last couple of years, that being one of the big ones, trying to get on the right path now) To sum up, I now realize I either want to get a degree in CS or ECE and I’m hoping being able to transfer to a new university will enable me to get into one of those two programs. I checked the website of my local community college and they do offer a decent two year program in CS, so assuming I finished that strong I would hope that would boost my chances of getting into a CS program at a university.
You need to talk to an advisor and a transfer advisor to make a plan. Don’t just execute a plan with assumptions because you could find out you are wrong. Find out about academic renewal at your college too. You will end up with so many excess credits I’m not sure how that affects loan eligibility.
Undergraduate Loan eligibility dependent student/independent student
freshman 5,500/9,500
sophmore 6,500/10,500
jr 7,500/12,500
sr + 7,500/12,500
aggregate limit 31,000/52,500
https://studentaid.ed.gov/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized#how-much
I have looked into academic renewal for my college. They have a program where I could reapply as a transfer student 5 years from now and basically have my GPA from my previous stint be erased, although credits would transfer. I’ve considered that as well because say 4 years from now I could go into a community college for a year, get a good GPA there, and then have that GPA only transfer back to my university if I was readmitted. Ideally I would want to start working on my degree again sooner than that but it’s an option for the future I guess.
Free advice…if you are thinking you are flunking out of college right now…you need to get that situation under control first. You need to know exactly why (no assumptions) this happened. You need a plan that will enable you to take courses and not flunk out.
You need a plan that is a lot more about school than it is about financing it. You could get all the loans in the world, and without a good plan, you could flunk out again.
And don’t think that community college will be a trip down easy street. My DH is an engineer. He said some of his hardest courses were the ones he took at a community college before he transferred to the four year school to complete his engineering degree.
You are worrying about something tertiary (the GPA you plan to have once you get your degree many years from now) with a bunch of tortured assumptions about things which are likely not correct.
Run- don’t walk- to your college’s tutoring center AND counseling center. You have picked a plan to restart your academic career while you are still circling the drain on your current academic career. You are worried about transferring back in five years while you are still in danger of flunking out right now? You are figuring out your loan strategy for a community college you haven’t applied to yet?
Get moving. Figure out which of the courses you are now taking that you will be able to pass. Figure out HOW to pass. This is a skill you need whether you are at community college or another college or online or whatever. HOW TO PASS.
Don’t start worrying about improving your GPA at the next institution you attend. Focus on whatever you need to do to get off academic probation. Even if you have to cut a deal with a Dean to drop two courses and move to part time status- pass the remaining courses. You will have many more options once you’ve developed the essential skill of learning to pass a college level course.