<p>My dad lost his job and was found to have stomach cancer. He has even had two surgeries because of it and has been undergoing chemo for a year. In the past 12 months we've spent approx. 75,000 on his medical bills and he's now making less than 1/3 than what he previously used to make in a year. 6 family members, 2 other kids who will be in college in a 1-2 years, and my mom doesn't work. I put together the special circumstances appeal form, and finally I got this email:</p>
<p>Tina,</p>
<p>I have received and reviewed your appeal. Taking into account your familys circumstances, it does reduce your Estimated Family Contribution on the FAFSA, but not enough to change the amount or type of aid for which you are eligible. Unfortunately, I will not be able to take action on the appeal. Please let me know if you have any other questions.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<hr>
<p>Can anyone explain this to me? All I receieved were pure loans... and I was hoping I would atleast get some kind of grant in exchange. This is a slap in a face to be honest... I feel like they are saying, ok your dad has a terminal illness but who cares. </p>
<p>I am so sorry to hear about this! I will keep you and your family in my thoughts and prayers. </p>
<p>Try posting your question on the Financial Aid forum here. Some of the parents who read that forum have worked in college financial aid offices and one of them might have some ideas for you. </p>
<p>The main thing is that, while you may not think of a loan as good financial aid, UT definitely does. Loans are UT’s main method of financial aid, and it’s inevitable.</p>
<p>Just about EVERYONE in the country is worse off financially now than they were last year. Your family is certainly worse off than most, but UT can’t do much about that. Their endowment has taken a major hit as well.</p>
<p>Loans are a legitimate way to fund your education–it’s better than not going to school at all.</p>
<p>I will have to explain it to my dad like this. Naturally he feels very offended… because at the very least, he was hoping his condition could help me out.</p>
<p>ah hearing this makes me worried because my dad also went into surgery and wont be at work for approx. 6 months. i also sent in a special circumstance form but havent heard back from them yet…but after reading your post i have a feeling they wont change mine either…</p>
<p>Thats the other thing too longhorn9791… my dad won’t be able to work for a few months either and is still going to be undergoing chemo for the rest of his life (he’s 62) to prevent more growth. On the special circumstances form, it specifically asks how long will treatment continue, and what is the cost of treatment. In my case, chemo costs close to $1000 a month. This went on for a year and is expected to continue every year. That kind of money adds up… and taking in account everything else I listed in the link I posted… i’m just pretty surprised they wouldn’t AT LEAST take out the parent loans and give a grant instead. I don’t know how much needier a person must be to receive a grant…</p>
<p>yeah thats realllyyy messed up to hear. i dont see why they wont change it because i know for a fact the university gets alot of money back from students who decided to go to another college and declined their financial aid</p>
<p>Things just honestly keep getting worse. My parents got a letter today from their insurance stating that the hospital and treatment services are “out of network” so I think that means we have to pay out of pocket for all his bills. They’ll be speaking to financial aid in person this Monday… hopefully, at the very least, they can replace the PLUS parent loans.</p>
<p>TMT90, they don’t have any other type of loan to offer you really. They can give you federal loans, which include the Stafford Loan for you or they can give PLUS Loans. Perkins Loans are an option for very low income kids–if you get lucky they may award you one of these, but most likely they’ve already exhausted their alloted funds for most loans, so they can’t give you anything. Stafford has a cap of around $3500 for freshmen.</p>
<p>There are two noteworthy state loan programs, B-On-Time and College Access Loan. The B-On-Time Loan is like a scholarship–if you graduate on time with a 3.0 GPA, the loan is forgiven. However, funds are EXTREMELY limited, even though the Lege just increased funding for the loan by 82%. The other state loan is the College Access Loan, which will be awarded to you personally. I don’t know what the odds of you getting this are.</p>
<p>However, the main reason they give so many PLUS Loans is because that is the vast majority of their allocated federal funds. The government tells them how many federal loans they can issue, but the PLUS loan really doesn’t have a cap, so they issue a lot of those.</p>
<p>Ah I see. Well honestly I don’t mind the loans, its just my parents who are really really frustrated with the entire situation. I just wish my parents didn’t have to take loans on my behalf. They have enough to worry about.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if this would work but if and when you file your taxes for the upcomming year, make sure you include lost wages, medical bills, etc and show a lower income then the year before which would give you a lower EFC making you eligible for grants such as Pell and institutional grants.</p>
<p>You have to consider the fact that UT loves loans and won’t change the situation until you talk to them in person. You should go to the UT Offices in Houston so that you can talk to the financial aide advisers.</p>