<p>I have read that the SMART grant is only good up to 120 semester units. Has any one had experience with the spring term of senior year?</p>
<p>If a student is going to graduate with over 120 units are they going to lose the SMART grant or even worse, be granted it and then be charged back on a later audit?</p>
<p>I am asking here as CC seems to know more than my school's finaid dept on some issues. They are showing the grant for spring, yet DD will finish with closer to 130, though some of those are internship P/NP units she might be able to drop, if need be.</p>
<p>I don't have actual experience with SMART but have been watching the rules over the last couple of years as my daughter should qualify for it. The rules for SMART changed recently (not sure exactly when). I think the schools are now supposed to figure the eligibility based on how they determine whether a student is a junior/senior etc. At my daughter's school they publish their rules on the financial aid site. They have to have 60 hours but less than 94 to get the junior year SMART. For the senior year SMART they have to have 94 hours and less than the maximum hours required for the degree. Clep and AP hours do not count toward the hours.</p>
<p>We actually have the opposite problem to you - my daughter may be just shy of 94 hours at the beginning of her senior year because she is doing a semester abroad her junior year and will only do 12 hours that semester. Unless she really overloads her other Junior year semester she will not reach the 94 hours (she is already doing 17 hours next semester). </p>
<p>At one point the IFAP web site had some info about the SMART grant. I will see if i can find it.</p>
<p>For the short units your DD might pick up a summer school class. My DD will have 115 at the end of term with 120 needed to graduate, but 2 of those are internship and 5 others are internship last term, so that would take her down to 110....I am hoping they interpret it that the student has less than the max before the final term!</p>
<p>Thanks, I think, Kelsmom, my Lord, could they make it any more complex!? You would think for a student in a qualifying program graduating in four years with no extra stuff other than picking up some govt/civics summer classes to make up for lack in HS classes, that it would be simple.</p>
<p>Not so!</p>
<p>It seems like one needs to determine the method the school has chosen and apply that; I guess I can just be happy they awarded it and not worry. </p>
<p>Many many years ago DH was charged back SSI-DIS payments he received in UG based on his Dad's disabilty. He was charged back because his 10 hours a week in the campus office put him over an income thresh hold. Mind you we were married when he had to repay it and he had graduated from college before I ever met him, so it took them a long time to figure out they screwed up! I assume finaid is not as disorganised as Social Security;)</p>
<p>I think you s/b fine as long as she is not over the maximum credit hours at the beginning of the semester. I don't think it matters if you go over the hours once the semester is completed.</p>
<p>I was trying to read the rules on the post kelsmom posted - Good Lord - my eyes were reading words and my brain was just seeing "blah blah blah blah!".</p>
<p>We are trying to figure out how to get her a couple of extra hours to get her up to the 94. Summers are out because next summer is planned out already and the summer after the study abroad she hopes to stay in Europe and travel. I don't want to have her take more than the 12 hours while she is overseas as it will be such a different system plus part of the experience is being able to explore the country. Her school does have some short courses over Christmas break so that may be an option. It is all too complicated.</p>
<p>We also had experience with SS. My husband was retired and my daughter was under 16 so she and I got payments for her also. When she turned 16 it the payments to me were supposed to stop. They kept coming and when i called them to point out that I should not be getting them the lady got quite p*ssy with me (I think she thought I was trying to get more money and had difficulty with the concept that I was telling them they were overpaying me). Eventually they realized they had overpayed me and I had to repay it.</p>
<p>Poor you kelsmom! You would think it would be possible to make the rules easier to understand. Who writes these things?!</p>
<p>My favorite financial aid blurb I came across a few months ago is
[quote]
If an FAA makes an adjustment for a student who may be eligible for a Federal Pell Grant, the FAA should use the EDE corrections function or the SAR to send the adjusted information to the CPS. The FAA is not required to submit the adjustment to the CPS unless the amount of the student's Pell Grant changes as a result. If the FAA uses EDE, the school will receive the resulting ISIR, and the student will receive the one-page SAR Information Acknowledgement. If the FAA uses the SAR, the school will receive the resulting ISIR, and the student will receive a SAR. An adjustment to a line item is made just like a correction. If the FAA uses the SAR
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It may make sense to a real financial aid officer like you but I just cracked up when i read it.</p>
<p>swim mom- can she pick up an art or pe class P/NP? Berkeley offers little 1 and 2 unit classes you can pick up to broaden your horizons and get units but not over stress. Or some sort of an internship with PNP?</p>
<p>My eyes, too, were crossing as I read all the if/then/and/but/exceptions/yadayadayada!</p>
<p>How are they counting units for the kids who bring in CC units from HS? Not AP, not IB, CC. If I show up at local LAC with 30-50 CC units, am I year one away from home, but year two for ACG and then in spring year one for SMART?</p>
<p>
[quote]
swim mom- can she pick up an art or pe class P/NP? Berkeley offers little 1 and 2 unit classes you can pick up to broaden your horizons and get units but not over stress.
[/quote]
We may look at that. She already has 17 hours schedules for next semester and is looking at 17 her fall junior year. She would need another 2 hours somewhere. They have a couple of classes like rock climbing that would do it - but 19 hours is still a lot even if 2 are rock climbing. Just fitting them in next semester is impossible as she has a work study job. Maybe next fall she will have to not work to fit it all in. But she will need to make some money for the study abroad. It is all such a balancing act! </p>
<p>
[quote]
How are they counting units for the kids who bring in CC units from HS?
[/quote]
According to the rules for 2008-2009 at my daughter's school hours earned during high school cannot be counted towards the eligibility hours. I think they are changing the rules every year to try and get it right. They need to get some actual financial aid officers in there to write the rules.</p>
<p>I went through SMART training today, but it was basics. I'm thrilled to report that regulations will change again for next year! :D Be glad, though, that the feds were kind enough to reconsider changing them MIDYEAR this year. The presenter will be sending me his Powerpoint later this week. I'll see if I can pull out the details when I get it. He tried to make things as easy to understand as possible.</p>
<p>If you haven't heard about your grant yet, it's possible your financial aid office is still double-checking your info to make sure all requirements are met.</p>
<p>ooo may I ask at what university/college you work at? Well UCLA is supposed to send out a revised ePAL (financial aid notificiation) at the end of 3rd week and it is middle of 7th week already. I hope you're right about them making sure I have all the requirements but I still think its taking too long. And I can't do anything about it because UCLA's student financal aid office sucks (they dont reply to emails or answer the phone). lol</p>
<p>any advice? Is there a way I can contact the federal student aid directly to tell them whats going on? I'm pretty sure the funds were disbursed to UCLA already.</p>
<p>I work at a large urban state U that isn't on the CC map! In defense of UCLA's financial aid office, the SMART is not easy to manage. A lot of work goes into making sure students meet all the criteria - checking majors against CIP codes, checking enrollment to make sure the student is enrolled in a course that counts directly toward the major, monitoring class standing, and making sure gpa requirements are met. Schools may wait to disburse the funds to be sure the student doesn't drop the course that counts toward the major. The school is responsible for being sure each student meets the criteria. The school does not receive any money for a student in advance - so it's not like UCLA is sitting on money that the government sent for you - they ask for the money once they certify that you are eligible.</p>
<p>I understand that you might have issues with the f/a office and their service. However, after just a couple months at a large public U, I have to say that there is SO MUCH that goes into awarding aid that the general public doesn't see. It's a lot more difficult to do all the things that go into a student's financial aid package than you can even imagine. I have done so many loan revisions in the past week that my head is swimming! Every revision requires checking multiple aspects of a student's file - because I can't assume anything. I have to double-check enrollment, year in school, aggregate loan limits, packaging, etc. for even a simple change. If I do something for a student & don't check, and if I make a mistake, my school can be held responsible & possibly be fined. It's very labor intensive. That is not to say that a f/a office shouldn't try its very best to give the best possible customer service ... I just felt the need to point out that your f/a office is probably working amazingly hard behind the scenes.:D</p>