Suspended financial aid, what to do now?

Paying for College
1

My start of a new year was ruined because of my past failure.

I did poorly my first semester at the community college and was put on probation. I received a warning which stated,

"All students who have attempted at least 12 semester units and have earned a cumulative grade point average below 2.0 shall be placed on academic probation.

If the student enrolls for additional units at ‘name of college’ after being placed on Level 1 Probation, the following outcomes are possible:

If the student’s cumulative GPA remains below 2.0; and the term GPA is also less than 2.0 for three consecutive semesters, the student will be dismissed and will not be eligible to register/enroll in classes for the subsequent term. 
In extreme cases in which a dismissal resulted from extenuating circumstances beyond the control of the student (i.e. medical issues, military orders, death in the family, per California Administrative Code, Title 5, s55024"

I’m not sure if I’ve misread this but there doesn’t seem to be anything in that email stating possible financial aid suspension.

1st semester: failed
2nd semester: greatly improved. I was able to achieve a GPA higher than 2.0 and had my whole academic goals planned out.

So, I go back home to celebrate the winter holidays with family thinking everything was going as planned. I was also recently accepted to live in the dorms.
Then I receive the financial aid suspension letter a day before New Years.

I had no idea such a thing could happen to an individual. I thought since I improved and took the same classes I wouldn’t have any problems!! I’m angry at myself of course, and not sure how or when to tell my mother.

My main question is, what options do I have left if I decided to not go through with an APPEAL.

And would I be able to apply for those online scholarships that spam my emails?

2

So what is your cumulative GPA?

3

That email seems to be talking about academic probation. I would review your school’s [Satisfactory Academic Progress](https://studentaid.ed.gov/eligibility/staying-eligible) for financial aid which should be more on point with financial aid issues specifically. Have you had time to review your school’s SAP policy to see if you were in compliance with it? If you weren’t, then it might be worth doing an appeal especially since you can now demonstrate an upward trajectory in your grades and have presumably learned some new skills/habits/approaches that have made you more successful than you were before.

Online scholarships in my opinion are a waste of time, especially if you are not an incoming freshman. The overwhelming majority of them are geared towards incoming freshmen, and most of them are saturated with applicants. All they really want is to get your contact information for direct marketing schemes (spam and junk mail, basically). It’s basically the same thing as those surveys you see promising you a free iPad. You would probably have better luck redeeming aluminium cans to pay for college instead.

An appeal is probably your best bet to be honest. They’re often pretty reasonable with students who have a good prognosis (so to speak). Other options could be to find a cheaper school that you can pay for without financial aid (although that might not be possible) or taking some time off for school but I really don’t think that you should do either of those things.

4

What do you mean you were taking the same classes?

Basically you have to comply with SAP. There is a cumulative credit requirement and a gpa requirement usually. The first step is to read and understand it. See if you can find it online for your school. The federal govt will not allow you to have loans and Pell if you don’t comply with your colleges’s SAP.

5

How much higher than 2.0 was your second term?
You needed a cumulative GPA which was above 2.00 to avoid academic probation.
Probation is not the same as suspension, but you need to continue to pass all your courses that you register for, and bring your grades up.

6

How many credits have you earned so far? If you were retaking a number of classes, perhaps you are not accumulating enough total credits to show adequate progress.