Rutgers Financial Aid - In Need of Immediate Help

Paying for College
1

Hello, I recently signed up for College Confidential, seeking help on something very important regarding my further education.

In November of last year, I applied to Rutgers University of New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences, and shortly after got accepted in the school (around January). Two months after, around the middle of March, plenty of students in my high school began receiving their award letters for Rutgers, except me. These award letters were roughly pretty good, and plenty of my acquaintances received very high award letters; some only needed to pay around $5,000 a year (which is very good), and a couple nearly nothing. For some odd reason, the financial aid office didn’t grant me the award letter that I desperately needed.

I began calling the financial aid office as well as going there myself, trying to fix the problem, as early as April. At first, I had to wait as I had to supply some additional documents that weren’t available to me at the moment (only 2 weeks or so). Once I had everything, I supplied every piece of my information I had, such as proof of residence, and a non-filer’s agreement to notify Rutgers that I myself did not have a job, only my stepfather, who is the bread winner of the family.

For some odd reason, I had to wait an insane amount of time before getting my award letter. While most people got it in the middle of March, I received it a day ago, nearly at the end of June. While the wait was extremely unacceptable, and I had to call the office, email the office, and visit the office an insane amount of times to make this happen, I was hoping that when I receive the award letter, it would all be worth it.

When I filled out the FAFSA months back, my EFC was 00000. My father does not make a lot of money and money does not come easy. My stepfather makes around $30,000 to $35,000 a year, which is nothing when it comes to supporting a family of three. When I checked my award letter for Rutgers, I was expecting to pay a lot less than the original tuition cost of 31 grand a year; however, the net cost I would have to pay to attend Rutgers is around $27,000 a year.

I have absolutely no idea how the financial aid office managed to assign such a enormous amount for me and my family to pay each year. I have a friend who is very similar in stats, we have very similar income, exact SAT score, and I was engaged in plenty of activities at my high school. However, he is expected to pay $5,000 a year, while I am expected to pay 27 grand.

I don’t know what to do at this point. I have no means of paying $108,000 without interest at the end of my four years of college, I am in a rough financial situation, and I am lost in what steps to take next. I heard about making some appeals, or arguing my case in the office, but I would like to hear some advice from you guys who perhaps were in a similar situation.

TL;DR - My FAFSA EFC is 00000, and Rutgers has barely given me any aid. I don’t have the means to pay $27,000 a year, when a friend in the exact situation only has to pay $5,000, and my family makes a little over $30,000 yearly. I don’t know what steps to take next in order to reduce the cost of attendance.

2

I’m sorry about your predicament @DrPhil7268. Maybe contact your guidance counselor? Explain what happened. If your school has a good relationship with Rutgers (i.e. your school sends a lot of kids there), the guidance counselor should be able to contact Rutgers and ask/clarify about your situation. Good luck!

3
  1. Who do you live with? Your mom and stepdad? If so, what is their combined total income for 2016?
  2. Did the parent you live with receive child support from your other parent...or spousal support in 2016?
  3. When did you submit your financial aid FAFSA form to Rutgers?
  4. When did you notice that you were selected for verification (needing to send in additional documents).
  5. Check your FAFSA. Is your EFC still $0. If so, you should have received a $5900 or so Pell Grant and the $5500 Direct Loan. Nothing else is guaranteed.
  6. And lastly, you do understand...Rutgers does not guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students.

And please…stop comparing your financial aid awards to anyone else’s. That is not worth doing. First, you don’t know the circumstances of each family’s exact finances. Nor should you.

4

With an EFC of $0, you should qualify for a Pell Grant of $6,095, and a NJ state grant. Did the financial aid award show these grants? Also you can borrow $5,500 student loan.

Can you commute to a Rutgers branch campus, or a community college?

5

@msmaria

Public school guidance counselors very very likely will NOT deal with financial aid issues because frankly, they should not be asking about family finances…at all. In fact, some school districts specially forbid these financial conversations as they are considered an invasion of privacy.

Our school counselors were not allowed to discuss finances…and certainly would not have intervened in this type of situation.

This is a student and family responsibility.

6

https://www.hesaa.org/Pages/NJGrantsHome.aspx

Did you complete requirements to apply for NJ grant aid?

7

Perhaps this is the situation in your state (it probably no longer the case). However as a blanket statement it is absolutely not true. Because more states are responsible for reporting stats of students 2-years post grad, there is even a bigger push for schools to have College Access for All. This includes having FAFSA nights where organizations come in to assist families with filing the FAFSA and assisting students in applying for state and federal aid.

I know in NYC (which is the largest public school system in the country) and NYS, every GC and administrator can log in for FAFSA completion stats at their school including who in the senior class has not applied for aid.

This is becoming more prevalent at public high schools across the country.

8

@thumper1

  1. Yes, I live with both of them. The income for that year was $31,000.
  2. No, my parents didn't receive any child support.
  3. I submitted FAFSA on November 26th of last year.
  4. I had to send in additional documents in the middle of April and May. After that, it was a waiting game that wouldn't end until a day ago.
  5. I did, I received those two, which I am not complaining about. The college did not award me whatsoever, and the remaining cost is ~~$27,000, which is absurd for me.
  6. I can understand that, entirely. However, there are people who are far less qualified for need than I am, families with greater incomes, yet they're only required to pay around $10,000 a year, while I am expected to pay a full sum.
9

So when you have pieces missing from the application (non filers, proof of residency etc) why did you not notice or address it until later? You didn’t start addressing the issue until April. If you didn’t start getting the missing stuff together in April, when was it actually complete? April? May?


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While the wait was extremely unacceptable>>

[/QUOTE]

Because you didn’t provide the documents?

10

@mommdc

Not yet, but I’ll complete it shortly. I believed it to be automatic, that is also what I was told!. Do you think that could spark something up? I have absolutely no idea what steps to take next, and I want to do whatever it takes to reduce that amount.

11

https://financialaid.rutgers.edu/tools-and-resources/net-price-calculator/

The net price calculator on Rutgers website shows a direct cost (tuition, fees, room and board) of about $28,500 for instate student for 2017/18.

If your EFC is zero and you get $6,000 Pell Grant and $8,000 NJ state grant, and take the $5,500 loan, then you would have $9,000 left to pay.

Is that affordable?

12

If you have no idea what to do, ask the financial aid office about the state grant or call HESAA

https://www.hesaa.org/Pages/ContactUs.aspx

13

@Sybylla

I had to wait for numerous documents to arrive since my resident card was still on its way, which arrived then. I couldn’t have done anything until I received my documents, that is what the financial aid office said. Someone told me that they might have by accident considered me as an international student. Everywhere on my enrollment pathway (the Rutgers website to-do checklist), it says “sign up for an International orientation” and such. The in-state tuition for Rutgers is $15,000 every single year, I am a permanent resident since March this year, and somehow I am required to pay $27,000 with the Pell Grant and the Student Loan.

14

@mommdc

I know, you are right. Except I am not rooming, I plan to commute as I live twenty minutes away. i completed the net price calculator with roughly accurate information (I even decided to input my parents’ taxes as a lower cost than they actually paid) and I came about $7,000 - $9,000, so I am confused.

Also, as mentioned, the $27,000 cost is net. That is after the deductions from the pell grant and the loans.

15

Are you saying that you never checked your financial aid portal at Rutgers to see if your financial aid application was complete?

one of your challenges is because you have waited so long in getting yourself together in the process, there may simply be no funds to give you (SEOG and federal work study are probably gone).

16

@sybbie719

No, I was not granted the award letter because of a delay in their system. I had everything needed to get the award letter by early April, and it was submitted rather early. I’ve had to wait over a month for them to “verify” the documents to prove my residence, which seemed odd, because that is unusually long (around 5 weeks). After that (beginning of June), I got the message that everything was received and was now under investigation, which was a good sign. Yet, the verification lasted until yesterday when I finally received my so-called award letter.

I’d post a link of my award letter, but oddly I cannot post a link in the comments.

17

Until you got your actual resident card, you were not eligible for aid. Therefore the school could not give you a financial aid package.

18

@sybbie719

I understand that, but I think you’re clearly misunderstanding me. I knew I would be eligible by the time of the award letters, or roughly around that time (March). I had everything April, and it was supplied as soon as I received it. The system took nearly two full months to “prove” my residency. I know people who had similar issues but theirs only took around two to three weeks. The office nonstop baited me with statements such as “Your award should be available within a week” etc. They did that the first time I supplied my documents, and numerous times after whenever I called and visited them.

My problem right now isn’t the fact that they took absolutely forever to award me, but the award itself. The tuition cost for attending Rutgers is $31,000 for me (without any grants etc.), which seems clearly wrong. I am a NJ resident since March, I am planning to commute and NOT dorm.

I am being charged as if I am either a) an International Student, which could be a possibility because whenever I visit the enrollment pathway, there’s numerous links regarding international orientations, or b) regarded as an out-of-state student, which seems wrong.

I don’t know how to sort this problem out. I know colleges often make mistakes like these since they have to deal with thousands of applicants, but this is a pretty extended mistake that would be hard to make in my opinion. Thanks.

19

Do you qualify for in state tuition? There is a information about tuition and instate vs out of state on the website.

20

If you applied last fall before you were a resident, I’m sure they did put you in the international/non-resident category. If you have only been dealing with the financial aid office since then, the admissions office probably doesn’t know about all your new documents. YOU have to request a change of status at admissions. The FA people only care that you are a US Citizen/legal resident so they can process your federal loans and grants.

You are thinking of this like there is ONE office that handles your file. NO. There is the admissions office, and there is housing, and there is billing, and there is FA, and there is your major, etc. Each person only changes the item in their area of responsibility. When you got your green card, YOU needed to let the admissions office know that you were a domestic student and not an international student. They will change your status and they will let the billing office know that you should be charged for instate tuition and no housing. The FA office has probably completed your awards correctly. You have been awarded a Pell and student loan. Until they know you are a NJ resident, they can’t process your NJ grant. The FA office doesn’t make that determination and FA will not tell the billing office what to bill you, just what awards you have.