<p>I just received my appeal letter. I appealed a financial aid estimate for college Sent in all paperwork and received the letter stating "Your appeal was approved but did not affect overall aid eligibility." There was another part of the letter that stated "Appeal was denied Your aid package will not change." but that was not checked in my case. Another part stated "Your appeal was approved and you will be getting a new package." That was not checked either. Mine was approved but what does it mean since they said it will not affect aid eligibility. How was it approved then? Do you think I have a chance of getting any more aid? Any financial aid officers out there who can help me understand this letter or students or parents who have been through this? Thanks</p>
<p>Shoot. I’ve lost count of how many appeals I’ve filed over the past nine years, but I’ve never seen a letter like that.</p>
<p>Call them.</p>
<p>Maizy, I think it means that it was processed but didn’t lower your EFC enough to make you eligible for additional government or institutional funding. What was your EFC before and after the appeal? What type of additional aid were you expecting? If your EFC was $20K before, and $15K after, for example, it still would not make you eligible for federal aid, other than Stafford loans which may have already been applied. It might make more of the loan subsidized, unless you already had reached the $3500 ceiling for a subsidized freshman loan. If the school has limited institutional and discretionary aid (ie. FSEOG/Perkins), your new EFC may still not be low enough for them to “reach” you or it was already low enough that they awarded the max available according to their policies.</p>
<p>I’m sure they’ll explain it to you, in relation to their aid policies, if you call them.</p>
<p>That would make sense.</p>
<p>My efc was around 8000 but the original estimate was mostly loans It is not low enuf for the pell grant. I was hoping for some grants but there were none listed in the original letter.I am not a superstar student like my sister who got tons of grants so maybe that’s why. Im an average Joe. There were parent loans too like 16,000 or so Is this the norm? college is like 25000 My mom is a widow. No other income coming in but hers Maybe I should go to community college I feel bad for her to take out so many loans for me She said she would but i still feel bad. ill wait and see what the real fin aid letter says</p>
<p>Wow, that’s a pretty bad package! Sounds like you got no work study either? I’d call that an admit/deny and, no, parent loans twice the amount of the EFC is not the norm at most schools I know of. Is this a public or private school? Log in and check your FAFSA SAR now to see what your EFC is after the appeal. Is it low enough to get state aid (if you’re going to an instate school)? Many states have higher cutoffs than the feds.</p>
<p>With $25K/year in loans, I would really think about starting at a CC, keeping my grades as high as possible, and applying to schools that offer transfer scholarships.</p>