There is no such thing as: running out of sub loans, UNLESS that was a Perkins loans. Was the earlier offered loan a Perkins loans or was it a Direct Loan?
Can you copy/paste her actual awards (the old one and the new one)?
Can you include the EFC and the COA
she can replace WS with a real job if needed.
There are a lot of people, so I’m just going to respond in general.
The school definitely offered us both; it is not a case of our not accepting the package quickly enough.
The WS and subsidized loan came after the appeal. When we called the school they admitted fully that the problem was their not having enough money, rather than any missed deadline or mistake of ours. It may be that the higher ups will say something else, but we won’t know until we can talk to them (hopefully tomorrow). The school is a religious one, which may mean they were offering us unauthorized federal aid in the first place (but again, that wouldn’t be our fault).
My sister says that the school website is terribly designed and so she doesn’t think there’s a way to find a confirmation, but that she accepted the aid when she accepted admission to the school.
I can’t copy and paste anything, because they only sent us paper copies, but I can try to scan them or something tomorrow (I have to ask my parents).
It’s not a huge amount of money, but it is money that we chose the school (which is not a particularly good school or one my sister wants to attend) on the basis of not having to pay, so it does matter if they now withdraw it. They knew they were bribing us when they offered it, and they can’t just take it away now that she can’t go anywhere else.
She’s going to be 17 with no job experience in a neighborhood with a lot of college students and not too many businesses. I don’t think finding a job will be that easy, but I guess we’ll have to see.
I don’t know all of the details because it’s my sister and not me, but I’ll ask her about the portal and for the documents tomorrow. My mom’s calling financial aid tomorrow to find out more.
Schools can spend their money however they want. They can spend state and federal money however those goverments tell them they can. So, yes, the school can take away aid before she starts (or in any future years if your family’s financial situation changes).
If the school isn’t a good one and your sister doesn’t want to attend, she may want to consider taking a gap year and reapply to a new list of schools. She should look for a college that will give her some aid for her stats. She can work during the gap year but she can’t take credit classes or she’ll lose the ability to get freshman grants. If you post her stats and your home state, people here can suggest some options.
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they were offering us unauthorized federal aid
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??
what does that mean???
A school has limited work study and Perkins loans that they can offer.
They can offer unlimited subsidized and unsub fed Direct Loans
How much was your sister offered in Direct Loans?
I believe the school determines who qualifies for Perkins, WS and subsidized loans. It is very possible that, with the additional scholarship/grant money that your sister was above the threshold for being considered for any of these awards.
But the only way to know is to contact the college.
And as noted…schools can change the awards.
How much work study award did she receive?
What is your sister’s summer job?
How much was the WS award?
I have to ask her and my parents before I can post any of her personal informtion, but I will say that her desired course of study is one that makes it unlikely she’ll find anywhere she’s happy, and that we’re very limited in where she can go by not being able to afford housing (it’s unlikely she’ll make enough money to pay off student loans).
I’ll ask her about the other things after.
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I will say that her desired course of study is one that makes it unlikely she’ll find anywhere she’s happy, and that we’re very limited in where she can go by not being able to afford housing <<<<
What does that ^ mean? Does she have a unique major? What is her career goal?
If it’s unlikely she’ll earn enough to pay off loans, then maybe she should start at a CC.
Please, we’re not asking for personal identifying info. A FA pkg w/o a name isn’t personal.
Her career goal is to be a private school teacher (the same as both of my parents, so we are all well aware of the financial shortcomings).
The financial aid package we were offered was enough that she shouldn’t have to take out loans. CC is not necessarily cheaper than that.
Unless it is necessary for her to attend this particular type of religious college in order to qualify to teach at the type of private school that she is targeting for employment, there should be lots of places where she can get an education degree. Since she’s only 17, a gap year to look at a wider college list and to apply to places early enough to lock in the aid she needs makes good sense.
Typically, private K-12 schools don’t care where you went to undergrad. Even if this is a strict religious school that might “like” their teachers to have a college education from on of their schools, that wouldn’t likely be something they demand since that requires money.
Typically, if the prospective student has an association with their church (membership, volunteer, VBS, teach Sunday School, etc), then that’s enough for the school.
Many, many fab teachers start out at a CC if necessary.
You’re right…no loans for sister. Many/most religious private schools pay their teachers below-public rates. Even if the school follows the public pay schedule (like my kids’ schools), that still means lowish pay for the early years, so paying back loans would be difficult.
Yes, that would make sense (as I pointed out many times… sigh), but she didn’t want to.
Loans would indeed be a terrible idea.
We mostly wanted to know if there was any point in going after the college for illegality, so I think at this point I’ll abandon this thread and return to my own college search. Thank you all for your help.