Worry I will run out of financial aid. What would be a good plan?

Paying for College
1

I know there is a 6 year cap on pell grants, usually a 6 year cap on federal loans, and usually a cap on state or institutional aid as well. I haven’t taken out any loans, have used two semesters for state aid, and have 137% LEU of my pell Grants. While this may be enough aid to pay for school until I graduate I still worry about the worst case scenario. What would be a good plan to have? I have attempted 43 credits total, earned 31, 20 count towards my degree.

For this spring I plan to take only one class that my scholarship I earned from the leadership academy will pay for(I can only use it then). I hope then I can get a scholarship to take one or two classes in the summer (I did last summer to take one class). Then hopefully I can get a picture of whether I should continue with school or leave and work, do a trade, join the military, or just do an associates degree without using financial aid eligibility during spring & maybe summer and still earning credits if I do well enough. Does this sound wise?

Would it make sense to use other sources of funding to pay for school during my remaining time at CC to save my financial aid for when I attend a four year school or only use state aid to save my pell grants for a four year school?

For worst case scenario is that I could use up my lifetime eligibility for pell grants before I get a degree, what could be other sources besides loans and paying out of pocket (scholarships, working for a company with tuition assistance or reimbursement, joining the military and becoming eligible for the GI bill, institutional and state aid)?

I have two Ws and two Ds that I repeated and a few remedial courses which don’t count towards major but eat up my maximum time frame or aid. This happened for all reasons that are common (family death, health issues, poor study habits and time management, etc). Sap terminations can be appealed for extenuating circumstances if for some reason I did reach maximum time frame but reaching lifetime eligibility cannot be appealed even if there were extenuating circumstances.

I was wondering if anyone has been in the worst case scenario and what they did about it.

Even though I know what to do I feel bad that I wasted the taxpayers money because those credits could have been saved or used towards classes even if they don’t count towards my major gaining new knowledge. I’m not trying to have a sense of entitlement but I wanna know ways that I can salvage the situation (proving myself by getting the best grades possible to open up doors for scholarships, doing work to get scholarships, working for a company with tution assistance, or serving in the military).

This shouldn’t define me because there are other ways to gain new knowledge, be successful, and I wouldn’t be getting financial aid if me or my moms income wasn’t low.

2

I might be overthinking this because I may be eligible for institutional aid that can pay for everything at some schools (but not very many) but I just want to be prepared for the worst case scenario.

3

A “good plan” would be:

  1. Talk to your academic advisor. Set a plan to take courses towards your degree and graduate in less than 6 years.
  2. You need to earn a higher %age of credits. You are very close to or at the level of NOT meeting Satisfactory Academic Progress if you have completed 31/43 credits. Find out how close...because if you don’t meet SAP...you won’t be able to get any financial aid.
  3. Yes, SAP issues can be appealed for extenuating circumstances...but don’t count onnthat happening more than once.
  4. The Pell Grant is only allowed for a certain number of semesters (really it’s credits)...and there is NO appealing that. The Direct Loan has an aggregate amount for undergrads which I believe is $31,000 for dependent students. Once you reach age 24, that number goes up...but really, you shouldn’t WANT more undergrad loans than that.
  5. This is important. If you don’t meet SAP...it is highly unlikely you will receive institutional aid at any college.

What is your GPA?

4

What is your major? Is it something that has a career option that you could shift to for a semester at the CC so that you aquire a certificate or associates degree that can get you a job quickly? With a better job, you could study part-time and pay as you go for the rest of your degree. Even better if you get that job at a college/university that offers tuition beneftis to employeees. In that case some or all of your studies could be free.

5

@happymomof1 I’m in engineering but thought about switching to something else like engineering technology, biotechnology, chemical technology, environmental science, or meteorology but am not totally sure what I want to do.

@thumper1 my completion rate is 71% and my school requires 67% to be in good standing. My GPA isn’t too great because it fell below 3.0 after last year but is still high enough to keep my financial aid and will get it back up so that I can transfer.

6

Transferring into an engineering or engineering related program will likely require a really decent GPA. So…so work on bringing that up.

7

@SuperGeo5999, great job on avoiding student loans! My older son lived at home while getting his associates at a community college before transferring to a 4-year college. That associates took 3 years to get because he took a reduced class load so that he could maintain a high GPA, and he was also working to pay his tuition. With merit aid from the 4-year college and the money he saved from working those three years, he’ll graduate debt-free in 2 more years. All to say, I have great confidence you can do this as well. You seem like a hard worker so don’t beat yourself up. Best of luck to you!

8

@buckeyeinbama is student loan debt common at CC? I think the majority of students at university take out some form/amount of debt with how expensive it is it is hard to pay with scholarships, grants, parents income, or their money only. It seems that it is so affordable that student loan debt is less common at CC but I might be wrong becuase since most community colleges in most states are not statewide systems like mine they have fees that we don’t have so it costs more for each CC to be its own institution. I assume if your son wasn’t eligible for aid from the FAFSA then his only option would have been private loans.

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@SuperGeo5999, I can only base my response upon what my older son has told me, and the stories are horrifying about the amount of debt students are piling on. This was certainly less true when he was at the CC, but not so at his 4-year college.

What I can tell you is that he started working when he was 16 and we made sure he saved his earnings, knowing he wanted to go to college, and knowing we weren’t in a position to help him because we’re behind on saving for retirement. He was able to use his high school money to pay for CC while he continued working to save money for when he transferred to his current 4-year institution.

Wonderful surprise: A good many 4-year colleges offer merit scholarships to transfer students with high GPAs, so that was a definite plus. This certainly wasn’t true in my day, so definitely do as thumper1 says and work toward increasing your GPA in preparation for transferring when you finish your Associate degree.

Regarding the FAFSA: we do submit, and my son did receive some need-based grant money from his 4-year college, but it was a very small amount. He rejected all of the loans, of which there were many. We’re hopeful that his grant money will go up for next school year given that we’ll have 2 in college at that point.

His current plan now that he’s at a 4-year college: He’s very fortunate that his job pays just under $15/hour, and he saves on room and board by continuing to live at home. It’s a 30 minute commute each way, but he’s been able to keep his classes limited to Tuesdays and Thursdays so that the other days are reserved for working and studying. It’s worked well for him, so crossing fingers this will continue.

My son is also quite fortunate that his employer works with his school schedule, and is glad to increase his hours to full-time during school breaks. This is HUGE, for the obvious reason that it allows my son to “make hay” when classes aren’t in session. It’s also the bonus of being an excellent employee, so certainly quid pro quo.

He’s met MANY students at his 4-year college who live the same 30-minute distance from campus, and yet they live on campus instead of living at home. They’re taking on enormous debt for that privilege, but I honestly don’t believe (based upon what my son tells me of his conversations with classmates) people are having these discussions with kids.

I say all of this to you not in the interest of bragging, because had we done a better job my son wouldn’t be in this position, but to illustrate that there’s a way to get through college without taking on debt. All the very best to you!

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@buckeyeinbama good for your son. I have a decent savings right now. since I plan to take only one class this spring potentially I should work more hours or find a Job that pays more. When I attend full time my state grant pays for my tuition and then the pell grant money goes to me so potentially I could save more of that if I return to full time studies next academic year at CC.

11

If there’s a 4-year Indiana public that you can commute to after you get your associate’s degree then I’d finish at your cc and apply there as a transfer. You may have to attend part-time if going full-time and working is having a negative impact on your GPA.

According to your other threads you have health and anxiety issues, so I don’t think the military will be an option for you. Attending full-time so you get more aid each semester may not be the best strategy for you if the course load is too much. Talk to your academic advisor to set up a plan to finish your degree and stop by your financial aid office to ask about Indiana grants for part-time study. Your advisors have dealt with these types of situations before, so they’ll be able to advise you.

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@austinmshauri I believe the only state grant where I can be part time is the adult student grant and I have to be independent (24 or older) to be eligible. There’s another one but it is for certificate programs only. I live near Purdue but if I move where my grandma is then there will be options there too since she lives near a big city.

13

Your grandma doesn’t live in Indiana, does she? So you’d be paying OOS rates.

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@austinmshauri no but remember what I said in the other thread if I move there. I would get established there first.

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/2108346-thinking-about-moving-to-another-state-to-be-with-my-grandma-p1.html

15

@SuperGeo5999

I would strongly urge you to read the responses on your grandma thread about establishing residency.

  1. Your residency for tuition purposes is where you parent lives...not where your grandma lives. Grandma lives in another state...so you would be paying OOS rates at a public university in that state if you try to transfer there before age 24...AND have lived and worked there as well. Grandma’s state of residency is NOT yours. Your parent state of residency is yours.

That’s Indiana…right? Where does grandma live?

  1. Your other thread was closed because you had a lot of other issues that you needed to deal with. It is very unclear whether you have done so...but I’ll add...committing financial aid fraud is not something you want to add to your problem list.
16

My grandma lives in northern ky and the community college that is a statewide system in Indiana has a recipracatory agreement with that place in a town not too far from where she lives in ky. She happens to be close to both Ohio and Indiana.

17

So…the community college has some reciprocity with Indiana…but what happens after you finish your CC courses? Aren’t you partially through those now?

When and where exactly do you plan to go to a four year college? CC might have reciprocity…but the four year colleges in Kentucky…might not. Check first.

18

@thumper1 I would like to go to Purdue or a branch campus here but maybe if I do get established in northern Ky then I might want to go to school across the river in Cincinnati after I live in northern ky for atleast a year to be eligible for tuition recipricatory with Ohio.

19

If your parents do NOT live in northern Kentucky…how will you get reciprocity tuition in Ohio? Your parents live in Indiana…right? As far as I know the Ohio public universities do not offer instate tuition to students whose residency is Indiana…and for tuition purposes…that is what yours will be.

Is there some sort of tuition reciprocity between Ohio and Indiana?

20

University of Cincinnati has tuition recipricatory with northern ky and certain Indiana counties. I would live in northern ky for a year and become eligible for in state tution there once I pay into the tax system.

I was asking this question to determine what options I have if i did move and leave college for a while and wanted to return later. If I go back after I turn 24 I could be independent on the FAFSA.