Summer Classes

<p>So how is fin Aid done for summer classes. I need to take two classes for the summer and if we werent in such a deep recession i would pay for it with no issues but... everything sucks now and it's too much to ask of my parents as i have 2 sibs in college too. </p>

<p>I submitted all the forms but what is usually given or does that depend on the institution?</p>

<p>I go to UMich but i will be taking classes at a 4 year school near my summer house bc i am living there for the summer.</p>

<p>Anyone have an idea or dealt with this already?</p>

<p>You are only eligible for annual limits on your aid, with loan limits determined by year in school. If you haven’t used your annual loan eligibility, you will be able borrow the remainder of your eligibility if you are enrolled at least 1/2 time. That is assuming the school puts summer in the 08-09 award year. If they put it in the 09-10 award year, it will affect your annual eligibility for next year.</p>

<p>There is a bit of glitch, though - in order to receive federal aid, you must be enrolled in the school as a degree-seeking student. If you are just taking classes as a guest student for the summer, you will not be eligible for aid (regardless of whether or not you have remaining eligibility for the year).</p>

<p>really? that’s odd, or at least different then how the fin aid at the guest school explained it. They knew i was i guest student bc i asked her if i can still get aid being one and she said yes and she explained to me that the Loans or direct loans are separate from those we get during the normal school year - whether this be the 08-09 or 09-10. could it differ depending on schools?</p>

<p>The law says that a student must be a regular, degree seeking student at an institution to get federal financial aid. I know that some schools get around this by admitting the student for the term - so they are technically in a regular degree seeking program. If they do admit you & award you aid, be aware that this aid DOES count toward your yearly total! UM is a summer trailer, meaning that the aid year begins in the fall & goes through the summer. Let’s say you are a dependent freshman with a full Pell. From fall through summer, you may receive a total of $4731 Pell and $5500 Stafford loans (of which up to $3500 may be subsidized, depending on need). You CANNOT receive more than that. However, if you attend a school in the summer that has a summer header - that is, they begin their award year in summer & include fall and winter terms in the aid year - you will be using aid from next year (you will have to send the 09-10 FAFSA to them). That is, you will reduce the amount you are eligible to borrow at UM next year. Believe me, I know all about summer header problems — I have spent hours reducing students’ awards for winter because they attended a summer header school last summer & are not eligible for aid this winter because they’ve already used their annual limits.</p>

<p>okay that clears it up. i guess i will have to wait and see what happens.</p>

<p>Don’t wait - if you need money to go to school, you won’t want to find out too late that you can’t get the money you need. Call and ask questions - then go back to UM and run it past their financial aid people. Better to find out now than to be surprised later!</p>

<p>The other thing I wonder is … maybe they have their own loan program for summer guest students? Or maybe you have to get alternative loans for summer session? Either way, you’ll want to find out — you need to know the loan terms.</p>

<p>They also may just offer parent PLUS loans for summer - that’s very likely.</p>