Undergrad Financial Problem

I’ve been dealing with a whole lot of issues since applying fafsa for colleges. My older brother put in incorrect information about our mother in the financial aid application including her social security. We barely talk anymore since he left so I don’t know how he got through to the college. It took a while for me to fix my application process and give it into my college in Cleveland. I have to keep on phone calls with the college though because every time they ask for one thing, they want another thing. Now my college is about to start and my the fafsa office said it would take a couple more days for my fafsa to get through… and if I do not pay by the due date my payment charges increase. Can i still go to the classes I have enrolled in even though nothings been payed for yet? I tried getting a loan but I have no one to cosign. Please share your thoughts…

You need to talk to your college about this. We don’t know the college or it’s policies. We don’t know what aid you anticipate getting. We don’t know what your financial aid award looked like. We don’t know how much your college costs and what portion you are paying out of pocket.

Ask your college…in many cases, if your aid has been approved and is pending (like federally funded loans, for example), you are fine if the balance has been paid by you.

Has your aid been approved? Are you sure you have sufficient funds to pay for this college?

Its cleveland state uni. I would have to pay about 400 a semester out of pocket but thats without the loans the college said I’d be able to get… I know with my circumstances it shouldn’t be that hard for my financial aid to go through but every time I speak to the fafsa or treasury office of the college to talk about money or class attendance, they send me to another place or just tell me to wait week after week. My main priority right now is whether I’d be allowed to attend my classes the first week without having paid a cent since no one from the college is being helpful in making me understand my situation.

So you are paying $400.

The max federally funded student loan for freshman is $5500. Unless your parent applied for and was denied a Parent Plus…then the student loan would be $9500.

Are you saying Cleveland State costs $5900 total for the whole year? Or what?

I wish it was just for the whole year…About 5830.40 for fall and same price for spring.

So your total for the year is just under $12,000…

Your fall bill…is $5800…and you know you have to pay $400 out of pocket.

Where is the other $5400 coming from? All Direct Loans? Was your parent denied a Parent Plus Loan? Even if that is the case…the total loan for a freshman would be $9500…and half of that is $4750…

Yes, you should go to class when the semester begins even if your bill is unpaid. You don’t want to fall behind.

Your college costs ~$12k/year. You can only borrow ~$5500/year ($2750/semester). It sounds like you may be eligible for the Pell Grant too. A full Pell Grant is ~$3k/semester, so if you’re Pell eligible your net cost could be $400/semester. Do you have it? If not, ask the college about a payment plan. But yes, definitely go to class.