<p>I got a check from my college's accounting office today. I opened it to see what it was: $386 check, titled PELL. Shocked, I went onto the college website with my student ID: my spring 2009 Pell amount dropped from $2100 to $386.</p>
<p>Upon doing some research, I found nothing, except one: Senator Pell died last week at the age of 90. Does that have anything to do with this?</p>
<p>Am I the only one, or is anybody else having problems? </p>
<p>I'm more than positive this has to do with the recession, but Obama said he was going to send big credits to college students... oh, well.....</p>
<p>Will I EVER see the rest of this money? HELP!</p>
<p>Why would your college be sending you Pell money? Thought that money went from the federal government to your school to cover part of the tuition.</p>
<p>Call the college finaid office and ask what's up. I don't think that already committed Pell funds have been reduced.</p>
<p>Because my college is a CCC - Glendale Community College - and it gets the money and sends me a check for that amount. I am free to use it as I wish. $386 will hardly pay for the books I need: English, Business Calculus, Microeconomics, and ESPECIALLY accounting. </p>
<p>I AM ANGRY! And what's worse is that I can't call because the school is closed Fridays during winter: NO CLASS, NO OFFICES!!!</p>
<p>My kids have never received a check titled Pell. All their aid, merit and need, is paid into their bursars account. Once tuition and fees/meal plan/books etc are charged to the bursars account any excess is paid to them. it is just one check and does not differentiate between loans/pell etc/</p>
<p>You need to contact your school and ask what is going on.</p>
<p>I dropped a class, but got a W bringing me down to 10 units, and of course, 12 is full time. But our school works in such a way that if you are enrolled in 0-3 units, you get 25% of the aid you were entitled to, so if you enroll in 9-11.5 units, you get 75% of it. </p>
<p>I don't know why it's happened.... probably a mistake. </p>
<p>But I checked my page and it said $2140 last week... today it says $386. Shocking.</p>
<p>I doubt it has anything to do with the recession. My daughter's Pell grant amount didn't change mid-year. I agree with the others. Call the school and have them explain to you any changes that were made and why. It could just be a mistake, or it might be some point of policy of which you're unaware.</p>
<p>Check your full time/ part time status, are you being charged back for monies over paid last term?
What about the bursar account, could they have applied some to your tuition and fees and mailed you the difference?</p>
<p>I'm wondering if this student is being backcharged for NOT having a full time credit count in the fall. AND in addition...I wonder if he/she has a full time credit account for the spring. </p>
<p>Can they deduct from spring Pell if the student didn't end up completing a full time courseload in the fall?</p>
<p>Plus...would the college really just mail the student the Pell money without first crediting the account for any payment due? Honestly...makes no sense.</p>
<p>Most likely they are backcharging. As a result of dropping from full-time to 3/4 time during the fall, it appears the student received $535 more in Pell Grant funding than s/he was eligible to receive. As a result, they would have to complete a return of funds calculation and return the $535 to the federal government. That would leave the student owing the school $535. Given the fact that they expected the stuent to return in the Spring, they probably opted to collect the owed amount from the Spring disbursement instead of asking him/her to pay out of pocket.</p>
<p>That is the main issue....what are they estimating for your Spring courseload. Also, what other expenses might you have that the Pell grant needs to cover. Schools do not just send the student 100% of the Pell...some of the funds typically have to cover other expenses, books, fees, tuition, etc.</p>
<p>I am certain that your school sent you a bill, either to your address or via your school email. Please get that bill out and look at it. It will tell you everything you need to know. If the school had to do a return of funds for Pell last semester due to your drop in credit hours, there should be a notation on the bill. Do you have other aid? Perhaps you had some other grants that were reduced to 3/4 when you went to 3/4 time. Maybe you had charges on your account that you owed - the aid money may have paid the charges & you received the difference between your aid and what you owed. Maybe the school overawarded you earlier in the semester & did an adjustment. </p>
<p>The bottom line is, you need to be aware of what your charges are and what aid is being applied to those charges. You also need to read the info on your financial aid award letter so that you know the effects of dropping below full time on your aid. I don't mean to be harsh, but there is no excuse for not knowing what is on your account. </p>
<p>Last night, a friend who recently returned to school for a second degree told me that her classmates actually asked her what it costs for a credit hour. When she told them, they said, "You're kidding. That much?" They just take their grants & loans and don't even bother to look at what they are charged ... let alone consider the fact that the loans they are taking out have to be ... yes! ... repaid.</p>
<p>PLEASE take charge of your finances today. Find out what you are charged for school, how much aid you are getting, and why you received the refund you received. If you are in college, you are an adult. You need to begin paying attention to things like this NOW.</p>
<p>I am going to be taking 19 units: all the important stuff... and 19 units consists of biz calc, accounting, microecon, english, etc. Trying to sophomore transfer into USC Marshall for the Fall! </p>
<p>btw... 19 units is the most you can take at our school. If you want to take more, you have to fill out some form and get it approved by Admissions.</p>
<p>But yeah... if I don't get to the bottom of this, nobody else will.</p>
<p>Really, thanks for all the help and advice guys!</p>
<p>I think you may have found the reason for your reduced check ... 19 credits costs a whole lot more than 10 units. I am guessing your school bills you for the 19 hours & your Pell applies to it for payment ... so you would get a smaller refund. If, on top of that, you had an adjustment to aid due to 3/4 time status last term, that would be an even bigger bite out of the Pell payment. That may well explain it.</p>
<p>I didn't mean to be harsh in my last post. I just really want to stress that you need to be on top of this. It's very important that you get in the habit of checking your bills ... mistakes can happen, and you will want to be on top of what people charge you.</p>
<p>Some schools with set tuition rates for each semester of full time enrollment set a limit on the maximum number of credits a student can take for that rate. If a student registers for more than that number of credits (usually between 16 and 18), they are charged an additional fee. Sometimes this fee is per credit hour and sometimes it is a flat rate.</p>
<p>For example: Boston University charges $36,540 per year for tuition. If a student registers for 19+ credits in a semester, they are charged the $36,540 plus $1142 per credit hour for each additional credit hour they take over 18.</p>