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Financial Aid award notice was changed in September !


amyx4
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Financial aid has been one big nightmare. If anyone has any suggestions, I would be thrilled. I have an appointment tomorrow in the financial aid office.  Ds is a freshman at the StateU. 

 

Our FASFA was audited. During the audit they discovered that dh had moved his pension. His company was sold. Pension was moved to a retirement fund. During the audit StateU removed all financial aid from ds account. (freaking out!)    I go in to the office in mid August to make sure that the financial is restored to what he was originally offered in the spring. I discuss with financial aid what would happened if ds ends up living at home vs. on campus. At no time does anyone tell me that his financial aid would change if his housing changed.

 

Late August he signs into the StateU account and hits "accept" for each of the various awards.

 

Well....in mid Sept. he gets a notice that his package has changed. He goes into the office this week and they tell him that the package was changed due to him living off campus. They changed both his need based aid provided by the StateU and his Merit Scholarship provided by the StateU.  They did not change his Pell Grant or his State Grant.  Financial aid tells him that all the money is gone for this year.

 

When I book the appointment, the secretary told me that financial aid is always subject to review.

 

I don't have a clue where to begin and I would appreciate any BTDT advice. Thanks!

Edited by amyx4
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I am sorry you have to deal with it.

I just wanted to let you know that it is normal for colleges to reduce financial aid when a student lives off campus instead of in the dorm. They calculate cost of attendance factoring in room and board, and since living off campus is cheaper, they come up with a reduced cost for students living off campus, which in turn reduces need based aid for students living off campus. 

So, you may be able to have other aid reinstated, but  lowered aid due to living off campus is a standard procedure for many schools.

Edited by regentrude
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:grouphug: Sorry I can't offer advice and definitely offering best wishes for something to be able to be worked out for you.  Unfortunately, I agree it's normal for students to get less aid when they don't live on campus.  It's also normal for those in various offices to forget to say things.  :glare:  :grouphug:

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So here's the update. After the (pension roll-over) audit, the original package that he was offered in the spring was put back into his account in August. His merit money was there too. (I misread his account)

 

Here's where the mistake happened. On his fasfa he checked the box for "on campus housing" for all the colleges he applied to. When he picked the StateU he never signed up for housing with them. Never got emails about choosing roomates, or move in etc.  So we didn't see the cost of housing in his account but the StateU's financial aid was seeing the cost of housing in their account.

 

So, this week StateU's financial aid office told him that he should've gone back to the fasfa to change his housing to "off-campus". When the financial aid office changed it to off campus housing, it caused him to lose the StateU's grant money.

 

Clear as mud.

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So he wanted to live on campus but missed all the deadlines? Is he living at home or in an apartment?

If he is living off campus, make sure the financial aid office knows he's not living at home rent free as that will preserve at least some aid eligibility,

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