Has this happened to anyone else? My son’s college changed his financial aid award suddenly, last week, due to the Covid-19 outbreak. They are going to online only for spring term and sending students home. So they supposedly refunded our room and board, but took an equal amount out of his grant, so that we get nothing back. He cannot come home because our internet isn’t sufficient to handle online school (1mbps download, .5 upload at best) and we cannot purchase any alternative where we live. So now he has to find an apartment, buy groceries, buy internet service, buy a car, making our costs jump by thousands. The college just does not care; they just don’t want to lose any money.
Worst of all is that next year he’ll be required to live on campus, so if he signs a one year apartment lease, he’ll lose a deposit and maybe more, in the fall. Again, the college rarely waives anything for anyone - they’re there to make a buck and make no accommodations for the students. I’m most furious that the award letter has been changed. The college president issued a letter proudly announcing that everyone’s room and board would be refunded, but didn’t say anything in that letter about losing financial aid. I so hate this school that I cannot wait for my son to graduate. I will never give them another dime. but they still won’t care. Sorry for the rant, but I did wonder if this was standard practice in the education industry. Anyone else experience this? I have to come up with thousands more than I expected this year. Oh yeah - the college suggested taking more loans. Thanks.
I am sorry this is happening, can your S petition to remain on campus? It would also be helpful if you named the school.
Not sure on the options schools have when offering R&B refunds to students receiving FA, but this situation doesn’t seem right. @belknappoint@kelsmom@thumper1 ?
I think it is correct that since they are ‘refunding’ your room and board charges, those sums would go back to the original source, be it a grant or loan or whatever. It’s not the school’s fault that your son now needs to live near the school rather than at home.
If students receive a full credit for R&B but those fees were paid by a scholarship, students would be making a profit.
I am sorry about this situation. A lot of it does make sense to me though. Let’s pretend that the sticker cost of the college is $70,000 and your son normally gets $50,000 in grants. Now, let’s pretend that everyone at the college is getting a $10,000 refund. This refund is coming from the room and board cost, not from the tuition cost. You are still not paying any more to the college than you did before. The college really cannot be held responsible for the fact that you don’t have sufficient internet at home. Would it be possible for your son to stay for awhile with a friend from college or a loyal alumnus? If my daughter were in college already (she is currently a HS senior), I would be more than willing to host a friend who could not travel home.
Your son, unfortunately, is choosing the most expensive option, which is to get a private apartment and car. Does your son’s college have a large endowment? If so, there may be emergency funds available. If the school does not have a large endowment, I would appeal to friends and to the alumni group. He could even offer a nominal amount to cover food costs. You would have to pay to feed him if he were at home. I am very sorry that your family is going through this.
The problem is that your student is not coming home. It’s not the school’s responsibility to ensure that students have Internet or any amenities at home. That they are offering loans is an opening to seeing there is any way that money could be used for internet resources
It makes sense to me that scholarship money go back to the source when no longer used for the purpose awarded
In my city (and granted, it’s a city), some Internet providers are providing free Internet to students. I don’t know if some thing like this would help you upgrade, or change providers, but thought I would throw it out there, realizing that it does sound like your Internet options are very limited.
Some schools are allowing students with extenuating circumstances to stay, it does sound as if not being able to have sufficient resources (Internet) at home to do the online learning would make a good case.
I really believe that all colleges will be adjusting their timelines for on campus deposits/commitments for Fall 2020 and providing refunds as needed, as your school is doing now with the housing refund.
Your son is getting a refund for unused room and board. If part of this was grant money, then it would seem right that that part would be tapped.
Did you expect that the refund would only come out of money that you paid out of your pocket?
I agree with others…every college I have heard of has made allowances for kids who cannot go home for whatever reason. Your son needs to petition to stay on campus.
I think you need to go back and find out what the grant covered, I assume grants cover tuition and you pay what is left and and fees R&B … but if your grants covered full tuition and R&B it makes sense the college is doing this , if it is for a grant that only covers tuition this I get why you are pissed. Please fill in the blanks and name the school, maybe the bad PR will make them change their mind.
I paid full fees for this term. None of it is actually coming back to me. Instead, his grant was reduced, so their tab shows that I didn’t overpay, because the room and board amount I paid now goes toward tuition, because of the reduced grant. Nowhere does it show that the grant was intended for room and board. Nowhere is that written that I can see. But according to them our cost of attendance is now lower so we owe them more.
It’s a dishonest way for them to pretend they are helping us out with a “refund.” It seems to me that there is responsibility on the schools part. Because I didn’t pay for him to go to online school, which we all know will be totally substandard compared to real in-person education. They really do anything they can to milk more money out of students. I so wish we had gone with a public university. He’d be getting a superior education and we’d have a lot more money! He would probably even have an internship by now.
If they want any warm fuzzies they’re not earning them. I can’t wait until he graduates. They’ll never get another penny from either of us.
Thanks for the suggestions on housing. There isn’t much of an alumni network, I guess not surprising when they treat students this way. If there is an alumni network, I don’t know how to access it. I don’t see much choice except an apartment. We cannot get better internet where we live, it is not available. Hard for city folks to understand, but there’s a huge digital divide. Even my kid still in high school will have to go somewhere to get adequate internet for school. He can probably connect while sitting in the car outside the public library but he has to go early because the lot is filling up every day. It’s how it is.
By the way, yes, he did petition to stay on campus and they said no. They also suggested he could not attend this quarter and graduate late as an option. I’m sure if he did that they’d keep this quarters tuition and fees.
I wondered if we were going to see this. When the amount charged for room and board drops the cost of attendance also drops. If grant aid is based on the total COA maybe the rules say they have to reduce the aid.
I wonder if any kids will lose federal grants due to a reduction in the COA.
Granola- you may not know how to access the alumni network but your son sure does. That’s what this generation does- Instagram, a What’sApp group, Linkedin, your son will know how to get the word out to recent alums and their friends that a student needs a place near campus for X number of weeks/months. Give him a budget- X dollars a month which includes food, housing, transportation, etc. and he can figure out the best way to finish off the semester. Even a retired professor who lives near campus? A staff person- librarian with an empty bedroom, food service worker who is living in a three person share where one person just moved out? Kids know how to network when they need to…and the employees of this college are just as shell shocked as your son is.
I’ve got friends in college towns who are “hosting” stranded students now- strangers, friends of friends of friends, distant relatives. Everyone understands that when a dorm closes, not every student can just jump on a plane and get home. Some students live in countries where the borders are closed. Some students don’t HAVE a home. Some students can’t afford a plane ticket. I’m touched by how much effort people are putting into helping out students right now. People get it- money is tight, this situation is scary and abnormal, but nobody wants to see a kid homeless if they’ve got an empty bedroom and food in the pantry.
Make your son own this and you’ll be surprised how quickly he can solve the problem…
This happened to us (at an Ivy) in January – pre-Covid19 outbreak situation. Our son is an RA this semester. Because he gets free housing & discount on board/food, our “need” was less & our grant was reduced & we suddenly owed a few thousand more on our bill. It still was cheaper than if we had to pay for R&B, but instead of saving $7k, we only saved $5k.
Great ideas on housing, thanks. I’m not sure in the age of Covid that anyone will want a student living in their house, but we can try. I hate Airbnb but that’s not a bad idea, will check it out. If no one is traveling, there might be some rooms going empty.
I think the real punch was just that I am paying the same amount of money out of pocket for this term, but no longer getting room and board. That just really sucks. And now more costs to cover.
One year of the college president’s salary and I could retire! But we made the choice, so that was our mistake.
Have your son go on linked in and do a search on his college, also he can find the schools alum website , or call the office of alumi relations or toss the school out here and maybe someone knows someone, also may be due a long term car rental vs buying. I am sur ehe must know someone off campus who is now home and may be willing to sublet.
Our parent FB page is filled with students trying to sublet their off campus apartments for highly discounted rates. Have your student search the social media pages for his school.
See if you can get a sublet for an apartment of an off-campus student who went home due to online. I know at my son’s university a lot of off campus kids went home once it closed. Good luck. There are so many unfortunate CV fallouts - it sucks.
FA is typically based on COA and EFC. If COA changes but EFC doesn’t, the college could adjust its FA award. For colleges mandating students to leave campus for the rest of the school year, they have adopted different policies regarding how COA would be recalculated. Some colleges keep COA the same regardless, whether the students move off-campus or go back home to stay with their parents. Others don’t.