Hey guys. So since I started receiving financial aid for college I’ve always been awarded the maximum amount for the pell grant as my efc=0. I always take a full time classload, and this semester is no exception. However, I’m having a slight issue this semester. I’m taking 14 credits this semester, and for the initial disbursement I received the full 30% of the max pell grant, my school has a “freeze” date for financial aid purposes where they record how many units each student has on a certain date, and past that date any classes added/dropped don’t count toward the load calculation for fafsa, and on that date I was enrolled in 14 credits/units so more then enough for full time.
anyway, the only thing different this semester is that I’m taking all my classes online, and that some of them are short session classes which I’ve been told by the FA lady at my school doesnt affect the amount you get, they just base it off how many credits. Well, I received both disbursements now, but I’m missing ~$700 from the second disbursement. Is this due to the classes being short session and perhaps they’ll just disburse the money to me the next disbursement date? I took online classes since I’m not in the area this semester and wont be back until early may to be able to talk to the financial aid lady… I’m upset and confused lol. I really needed that $700 to help pay for various school stuff but I feel cheated and I’m kind of scared that in the end they arent going to give me the money that they owe me. I did the calculations and they gave me far to much for them to have counted me as 3/4 time, and since I received the full 30% of the max disbursement in the initial disbursement and nothing has changed since then I don’t understand why I didnt receive the rest of the amount in the second one…
Any helo would be appreciated. I hope the text wasnt too jumbled.
My school doesn’t exactly give much help unless you’re at the financial aid desk in person, and as I stated in my OP that I can’t physically go to the school until early may which if it’s not resolved by then I most certainly plan to do. Just wondering if anyone else went through something like this and how that got resolved.
To clarify: I go to a CC, my “award” letter states that I will receive the full amount so long as I’m taking atleast 12 credits/semester which I am. Is it common for financial aid to make mistakes like this? I’ve never had any problems before.
Go to the school’s website and see if you can get the names of the people who work in the financial aid office, including the director of that office. Then you call, ask the name of the person you’re speaking with (and write it down, so you don’t forget!), explain the apparent error, and ask for help. If that person is unable or unwilling to help, you ask for his/her supervisor . . . and you keep doing this until you get to the director of the financial aid office. It’s helpful if you already know the director’s name, but it’s not essential.
I know you’re panicking right now, but stay calm when you make the phone call. It may help if you write down what you want to say ahead of time, and then rewrite it a couple of times until you’ve figured out how to say it in the clearest and least confusing way. And if you end up having to speak to multiple people, keep going back to that script, explain everything clearly, and stay calm.
They do not list an email for the fiancial aid office and the telephone number only sends you straight to pre-recorded options/answers of just general questions. I’ve already tried these, I’m a very pro-active person and would not just post something like this without trying. They don’t answer specific questions regarding a students financial aid information over email or telephone because of “security” issues, and thats why I said that I will receive no help unless I’m at the school, showing them my student ID with my picture plastered on it to make sure it’s me. I’m just looking to see if anyone else has been in a similar situation, don’t need any snarky replies thank you very much.
Thanks dodgersmom, The phone number listed on the schools website is the general one for the whole school and for financial aid options it only contains pre-recorded messages with general faq answers that are also pre-recorded. I wish my school had a much better administration for these things. I’ll see what I can get but most of the time you can’t even get through to admissions without it going to voicemail, and they still don’t get back to you…
Call a secretary/administrative assistant in a department where you’ve taken a class (look up “professor so and so” and the name of the departmental administrative assistant will likely be on that page) and ask, “Can you access the employee directory and tell me the name of the Director of Financial Aid and his/her phone number?”
I know for summer school at my daughter’s school they wouldn’t release the full aid until you actually started the minimum hours needed for the award. So it was the second session before her full award was paid out. I’m guessing this is something similar, assuming you haven’t started all your classes yet?
But that is just a guess, you do need to find out from your school.
@sopopoi, I can tell that you are panicked and frightened over this situation and, yes, it is a helpless feeling to be unable to handle a situation in person. However, it sounds like you do not have that option and will have to wait until May to return to campus. May I suggest:
Have a friend on campus talk to the "financial aid lady" and ask her to kindly contact you to discuss this situation as you are frightened and panicked. There are ways she can verify your identity on the phone.
Contact any person of authority (professor, administrator, etc) and ask them to help you get in touch with the FA office from a distance.
Assume the worst-that you will be short $700- and think of a way to come up with it. Yes, it's a tremendous amount of money for someone in your circumstances, but it could be worse, right?
Sadly, your circumstances are very particular and will require an explanation unique to you, and so nobody here is likely able to help you.
Can your parents go and talk to someone on your behalf, assuming that you authorized them to talk to the school about financial matters, which you should do in case something like this comes up and you can’t go in person yourself?
Hi everyone-- so just to update. I decided to wait until after the next upcoming disbursement was released(which happened to be today) to see if I could get in touch with anyone from the school to help me out on the issue. Lo-and-behold, last week I got an email saying that my refund was released by my school. So it seems that at least for my situation/school they don’t release funds for short session classes that start later in the semester until the next disbursement after those classes start. It’s a little silly considering my school has a freeze date well before the second disbursement/short session classes and whether you take more or less credits after that date your financial aid doesn’t change unless you drop all your classes… Don’t know why they don’t just give the full 70% during the second disbursement… Anyway, thanks to everyone who replied! A lot of you were very helpful with your suggestions, I wish my school was more accessible for help. Maybe I’ll go ahead and suggest they implement a number for questions only nothing pertaining to looking up student information… Anway just wanted to post that my issue was resolved in case someone else comes across something like this.
The disbursement schedule is because school have a huge compliance nightmare when there are short session classes. It is much better for a school to delay disbursement, because they lose less money in the long run … too often, if the Pell is paid, students will drop the later class, the school has to repay Pell to the government, and they can’t collect it from the student.