I just transferred to Rutgers this spring. I was going to go to community college last fall however, for the first time my CC was full. According to NJ Stars (and my mother who might be wrong but she read on the NJ Stars website that this is correct), if that happens, they’ll pay for you to go to your state school. However, also for the first time, Rutgers was full to capacity in Fall 2014. So I went to an out of state private college. It ended up being too expensive and I transferred to Rutgers the next semester. My mother talked to someone in financial aid for months about this, getting nowhere until she told someone the terms and conditions of the NJ Stars program at Rutgers’ financial aid and then they said that my mother was correct, I was eligible for NJ Stars. However, we never heard from them until a couple weeks ago claiming that HESSA said if they paid any of my tuition, they would be in violation of NJ state law. I’m very confused. I have no idea what happened. Although I suspected that what my mom was saying about NJ Stars paying my tuition was too good to be true, Rutgers said I qualified! And then I suddenly didn’t? I was depending on this to pay for college. Now we’re working with Fin aid again to see if any left over grants or scholarships can be awarded to me however, its not looking too good I was wondering if anyone could shed light on what happened, if this has happened to anyone before, or if anyone has any ideas as to what I can do to pay for college, since I cannot afford it, or anything I should ask financial aid about that wouldn’t have already been discussed.
Thanks!
From a quick look at the HESAA website, I see that you are required to attend your home county CC unless it is full, the implication being that you can then attend another county CC. I see nothing suggesting a four-year school as an alternative. But I think the best thing you can do is have a discussion with with a HESAA representative: 609-584-4480.
The four year program is via NJ STARS II. http://www.hesaa.org/Documents/NJSTARSII_program.pdf It states you need to be a “Successful NJ STARS scholar” to “receive up to $2,500 annually”. Call the phone number for clarification.
From what I read in order to get NJ Stars at Rutgers, you must be a community college graduate from a NJ county community college.
You state that your NJ CC was full so you chose to attend college out of state.You attended a private OOS school and once it became too expensive, you transferred to Rutgers. Based on the eligibility requirements of STARS & STARS II, you would not have been eligible for STARS once you entered Rutgers, because you did the following
You transferred to Rutgers from an OOS school (kind of violating your eligibility).