Ridiculous/Complicated Financial Aid Situation

Paying for College
1

<p>I finished my first year of college this past June (I graduated from high school in May 2009). I wanted to transfer out of my old university, and I applied to another school. I got accepted around February (yeah, pretty early), and wanted to go there. I got my initial financial aid award letter, and it wasn't much (few thousand in Stafford loans). Although I paid my tuition deposit (or SIR/whatever they call it now) in February to go to the new school, I was deciding to stay at my old university since I ended up liking it there.</p>

<p>However, my new school later sent a revised letter which added a full tuition merit scholarship (this was in July). Since I had not withdrawn from my new school either, I could still go there. I immediately decided to go to the new school (since I was now saving a lot). I withdrew from my old school (dropped classes, cancelled housing, etc.), and I confirmed housing and bought plane tickets for my new college. Simply put, I was all set.</p>

<p>Anyways, I move in next week, and classes start on Aug 30. Yesterday, the people at financial aid pulled up my records and saw that they made some mistake, so they called me. They said that transfers do not get merit scholarships, and only freshman do. As a result, they were going to take away my scholarship. They said that what happened was that there was a computer glitch/some mistake made by the computer, and that me being awarded the scholarship was an accident. I don't know if the fact that I didn't take too many units during freshman year may have facilitated the mistake (in other words, despite doing 1 yr of college, I still had freshman standing- close to sophmore standing though). </p>

<p>Either way, I think this is total BS and completely unfair. I did not lie to them about my financial situation, and nothing about my background has changed (for the last 6 months, I have always been a transfer student to them with the same financial background, same residency status, same major, grades have been fine, etc.). THEY made the mistake (not me), and I shouldn't have to pay for it. It is wrong to award the scholarship and then take it back just like that, especially when nothing about me changed. This is also a huge inconvenience...I have less than 2 weeks til class starts, and now I would have to find loans to cover tuition, room, board, books, etc., and there is no way that I will be able to get my loan money on time. Also, I cannot go back to my old university since I withdrew. </p>

<p>Anyways, I'm going to talk to them tomorrow (and bring in some of the above points). I was just looking for advice on my situation as far as what I should do/say? Feel free to add your own opinions and commentary too. Who's right here?</p>

2

<p>Fwiw, I think that’s outrageous and you have every right to be upset! Is this an instate school? Public or private? I wouldn’t want my kids to attend a school that pulls such stunts, but do you still want to? If not, I suggest calling the old university to see if they can reinstate you, explaining that you were enticed by the promise of a full tuition scholarship. Can you afford to go to school this year with no aid from either school?</p>

<p>What do your parents think about all of this? As a parent, my first inclination would be to call someone higher up on the food chain and work my way up to the president’s office. If they don’t have the time/heart for it, perhaps the family attorney could look into it. I think they owe you a better explanation, at the very least, and reimbursement for the expenses you’ve incurred as a result of their error. If you run into resistance, and this is an instate school, you or your folks might call your legislator’s district office and ask if they will make some calls as well.</p>

3

<p>They said that transfers do not get merit scholarships, and only freshman do. As a result, they were going to take away my scholarship.</p>

<p>Tell the school that it’s their mistake and they are LEGALLY obligated to honor it. Tell the school to consult with their legal dept and surely they will discover that they MUST honor their merit award offer since you accepted it.</p>

<p>Does this school have a law school? I doubt a school with a law school would even try to rescind this offer…they would know better.</p>

<p>This school is probably trying this method first to see if you’ll just accept their claim that they “made a mistake.” Yes, they made a mistake. But, they are bound to their offer since you accepted it.</p>

<p>(Do you still have the paperwork with the scholarship offer? I imagine that it’s signed by someone from the school, right???)</p>

4

<p>

Me too! Make sure your documentation is complete and presentable. Make and keep notes on each converstaion you have.</p>

5

<p>If you have an official scholarship offer and your acceptance, I can’t imagine how THEIR mistake will be your problem (for long).</p>

<p>I would ask for a parent to be your wingman on this…it is too big an issue to fly solo.
Wish you the best!</p>

6

<p>This school is hoping that you won’t know better and will just accept that the scholarship offer was a "mistake"and they’re “off the hook”.</p>

<p>People/businesses/etc have to pay for their mistakes. The college has to pay for this mistake.</p>

7

<p>I agree with everyone else - make sure you have the revised letter and proof of your acceptance and don’t take “oops” as the answer!</p>

<p>Good luck! So sorry you have this stress right before heading to a new situation!</p>

8

<p>Make sure they will also (in writing) honor it for 3 years… otherwise you are transferring and only have sophomore year covered. It would be a horrible joke if the college finally said “Oh, okay…” and honored the scholarship your soph year and then left you dangling your jr and sr years…</p>

9

<p>Oh good advice ^^!</p>

10

<p>If it was me or my s or d I would have them march in with an attorney at their side.</p>

11

<p>^^^</p>

<p>I wouldn’t hire an atty just yet. The cost may not be necessary. If you hold your ground and tell them that you KNOW that they are legally obligated to honor their offer, they probably will fold like a cheap tent…especially if you hint that you’ll be taking the story to the media next.</p>

12

<p>WOW!!! Agree with all said…don’t bring an attorney yet!!! Good luck and keep us posted…</p>

13

<p>Definitely take a parent or another adult… a tough one who is accustomed to dealing with bureaucrats. This is absurd.</p>

14

<p>Yea it is a public state school, but I’m an out-of-state student. Here’s what happened. I called (my parents also called too) them saying that the scholarship drew me there, and that I would be screwed for this next year without the scholarship, but they said that they could help me find a way to pay for this year, and they also said that because I registered for classes before the scholarship was offered, I already intended to go there so that wasn’t a valid argument.</p>

<p>I then went on to say that because they already offered the scholarship, they had to give it. According the letter, it said that they could change the scholarship if something about my background changed, but nothing changed (I was still enrolled full-time, a dependent, non-resident, family’s financial info still the same). The only change might have been my class standing (they accidentally classified me as a freshman when I was a transfer, and now they are fixing that), but that is THEIR FAULT. </p>

<p>They asked why I didn’t know better based on the letter from last December saying that transfers can’t get merit aid, and why I didn’t feel the need to clarify the discrepency between the letters from December and July. I basically said that it is human nature (and a given law of society) to follow the more recent notification or letter since it is considered up-to-date. I gave this example: last year, 4 days before one of my finals, my prof e-mailed us with the room # for the final (Room X). However, 2 days later (2 days before the final), my prof e-mailed us again saying we had a different room # for the final (Room Y). So according to the fin aid office’s logic, I should have gone to the original room (Room X) for the final instead of the new room, because even though I got an e-mail telling me to go to the new room, I should have known better than to go to the new room (Room Y) since the original e-mail said to go to the old room, Room X. And using their logic, I would have missed the final.</p>

<p>I basically said that despite the letter they sent last December saying transfers can’t get merit aid, I believed the July letter because I considered it more up-to-date. I said that I had one of two options when I got the scholarship offer: 1) believe that financial aid policies have changed (which they often do at many schools including my old school) and assume the offer is valid or 2) believe that it is a mistake despite the fact that there are many people in the fin aid office who CAREFULLY REVIEW (as the letter states) and double check the award letters. I told them that it is far more likely that policies and rules changed instead of there being a mistake made by such a big university</p>

<p>In the end, they offered me a full-tuition scholarship for ONE year, and it’s not renewable. I’m still pretty mad, but I guess it’s better than nothing. As for the attorney/lawyer, I really didn’t feel like making this a court case. It’s too much time and energy, and even if I got the full scholarship back for all 3 years (that would be an extra $50000 than what they’ve offered now), I would have still spent thousands on lawyer fees and there wouldn’t be much of a difference. And that’s if I got the full award for 3 years back. If they still didn’t give it back, then I would have lost even more money. And besides, we didn’t feel like going against the legal team of a large university (not really practical either). I don’t even like making threats (like threaten to get a lawyer even if I didn’t mean it).</p>

15

<p>This is a really terrible situation, and I’m sorry that it’s happening to you. The worst part – outside of all the money – is that there doesn’t seem to be anything you could have done to prevent this. </p>

<p>About the one-year only full-tuition scholarship – if you take it, is there a way for you to really afford the school for the remaining years?</p>

16

<p>Yea it is unfortunate. I guess maybe I could have questioned the fin aid office right when I got the letter (since I was surprised that they were giving the scholarship to me even though I was a transfer). Oh well.</p>

<p>Yea I should be able to still afford it. My family can afford to pay for everything non-tuition related (housing, food, books, etc.) so its just the tuition I’m worried about. Tuition is 25K so worst case, I take out 25K in loans for the other 2 years. But those 2 years are also the first 2 years that my brother will be in college, so during those 2 years, my 40000 EFC will be dropping to like 20000. So I might get more need based aid because of that.</p>

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<p>How will you take out 25K in loans? After you max out your Stafford/s, you will still need to take out 10 - 15K in private loans. Do you have a co-signer? Otherwise there are simply no private loans out there for a young 19 year old in college without a co-signer.</p>

<p>What would be your final amount of loans taken out by graduation?</p>

18

<p>If this school doesn’t “meet need” then you won’t likely get more aid just because your brother is in school.</p>

<p>This is an OOS public. It won’t care that your EFC drops to $20k when your bro goes to college.</p>

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<p>Yeah, $50,000 is a lot to take out, even with a great cosigner. Does the school offer any kind of merit based scholarship that could help mitigate that cost. It would really suck if you took out the loan for the first year but then something happened and you couldn’t afford to return for senior year.</p>

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<p>I’ll be taking out around 20K in private loans. For my first year of college (at my old univ) I needed extra money so I applied for a private loan with a cosigner and got approved (with a pretty good interest rate actually). The total loan amount that they allow us to use is 75K, and we basically ask them to give us loans whenever we need it. I took out 25K last year at my old univ so I have 50K left (I won’t have to reapply), out of which I’ll use a total of 40K in my remaining undergrad career. Essentially though, my loan application from last year will let me take out up to 75K, so I’m not too worried about the situation Gardna brought up in the post above me (where I won’t be able to get a loan for my senior year)</p>

<p>As for the total, I guess that is 25K from last year+40K for junior and senior year+around 25K for stafford loans= $90,000 total for undergrad. Eh its a lot but if I plan on being a doctor then it shouldn’t be too bad (even after factoring in med school). The plan is for my parents and me to split the payments…so really I’m paying 45K and they are paying the other 45K (once I start my career). </p>

<p>As for meeting need, the school says they try to meet 100% of need but it doesn’t always happen. While I don’t expect them to meet all of my need when my bro goes off, I was thinking that they might still give a couple thousand in university grants (partially meet my need). Every little bit helps. For merit scholarships, the school unfortunately doesn’t give merit scholarships to transfers (thats how this whole situation started haha). There are a couple departmental scholarships, but its not too much.</p>