Official financial aid award [drastic change]

kw817817 · 07-12-2012, 03:06 AM

I am attending UCSC in the fall and i just received my official financial aid. When i first got accepted UCSC showed me a temporary financial aid package that i would receive. It had a UCSC grant for about $12,000, Work Study and one subsidized loan, and a couple of Unsubsidized loans which i expected that i would need to take out. I just recently received the official my financial aid and it has drastically changed. Now all i have received is a Parent Loan for almost $28,000 and a Federal Direct Unsubsidized loan for $5,500. That's it.Tuition is around $35,000. My EFC when doing my FAFSA was about $12,000 now when i read my financial aid it says $35,000. I'm bascially paying all of my college. Attending college on nothing but loans with interest scares me. I don't know what to do now. These loans are huge and I don't don't even personally know if i can ever pay this off. I need some help on what to do.

swimcatsmom · 07-12-2012, 03:18 AM

Was the information on your original FAFSA inaccurate? Did they change some data after you were verified? An EFC of 35,000 implies a pretty high income or extensive assets.

If you were not verified and the original information was accurate, then you need to determine why your EFC has changed so drastically. You should be able to go into your SAR report and see what has changed. If you think the data has been changed wrongly, you need to contact the school and ask why it was changed.

If your original FAFSA was inaccurate and the current EFC is the correct one, then you and your parents have a choice to make. The PLUS loans are parent loans in your parents names and they alone will be responsible for them. Are they able to take out such huge loans.? If not, then this school is not an affordable option for you and you will have to look elsewhere.

Iron Maiden · 07-12-2012, 07:14 AM

Neither you nor your parents have received a Plus loan. Your parents have to apply for it. They should not. It is way too much money.

The above post is correct. Find out what changed. If everything is accurate you cannot even begin to afford is school and you need to take a gap year and regroup.

Why are you just getting your aid award now? It should have been months ago. Did you file late?

cptofthehouse · 07-12-2012, 07:52 AM

When you are given an initial package, it is put together on the assumption that all of the information submitted on the FAFSA and other financial aid application if applicable to that school (such as PROFILE) is correct. When the school verifies this information, and verification is becoming much more common these days and will be automatically linked to the actual IRS tax returns in the future, if not happening now, the awards will be changed if your expected contributions; ie NEED changes from the new information received.

In other words, the colleges are checking up on those numbers and will use actual figures before giving out the money.

That you no longer get Federal Work Study or subsidization of the Stafford Loan means that something did not mesh with the FAFSA you submitted. Maybe it is a mistake. They do happen. Or your parents/you tax returns when examined did not match the numbers that are in the FAFSA. You need to call the school financial aid office and find out what drove this change. If it is a mistake, you can rectify it. But if the IRS has information that your family got other money than what you reported on the FAFSA and has now released that infor to the school, if this is true, your original award is no good. Your numbers of these financial aid apps have to bear investigation and if there is a difference unless there is a legitmate explanation, the hard figures will take precedence.

Students would be getting actual awards now and through September as schools complete their verification. The award letters are all contingent on the information being verifed. You now have to check the verification.

PLUS is not guaranteed. It is something one of your parents has to apply for, get credit vetted for approval. It is just a suggestion on where you can get the rest of the money. You now do not qualify for need after verification.

mom2collegekids · 07-12-2012, 09:13 AM

It's possible that the school first thought you were qualified for Blue and Gold with a family income of under $80k.....so you were initially awarded a tuition grant of about $12k.

Then, the school may have learned that your parents earned more than $80k (maybe they earned $81k), so the entire grant was take away.

Are you sure that your FAFSA EFC was changed to $35k? If so, then either the school is mistaken, or your family has a ton of assets or lots more income than was first reported.

If there wasn't a mistake and your family doesn't have a lot of income/assets, then likely your family's income is barely over the $80k income req't for Blue and Gold.

You and a parent need to call the school to find out what changed and why. Maybe family income was listed as student income???

kelsmom · 07-12-2012, 12:21 PM

An EFC change of that magnitude means one of two things. Either the info on the FAFSA was incorrect, and it was corrected by the school during verification ... or there was a mistake made (it does happen).

Go to Home - FAFSA on the Web-Federal Student Aid and look at your Student Aid Report. What has changed since your initial filing? You should be able to view the SAR with the school's changes. If you post here, we can help you determine whether or not the redetermination is correct.

mom2collegekids · 07-12-2012, 12:47 PM

My EFC when doing my FAFSA was about $12,000 now when i read my financial aid it says $35,000

Can you clarify. Does it say that your new FAFSA EFC is really $35,000? Or are you assuming that your EFC is now that high because your grants were removed?

If your EFC was really changed to $35k, then you need to investigate that. First ask your parents if it's possible that they neglected to include some income or assets on FAFSA. If they believe that they accurately filled it out, then contact the school.

margg11 · 07-12-2012, 01:31 PM

I'm a rising sophomore at a state university, so I thought I'd give my experience on this matter.

My preliminary Aid Award that was given to me around March before my freshmen year had around $11k, $5k of which was grants/work study. I submitted the actual numbers for my fafsa before that, and the school verified it periodically. My EFC never went higher than a couple hundred points (my efc was around 7000). So when my final award letter came in in July, I was surprised to find that my only award was $5500 in stafford sub/unsub loans. Turns out the universities budget got cut, and a lot of people (with similar efcs) got cut thousands. Mine was one of the higher cuts, but it happens. Its possible something similar happened. Or, because of a FAFSA problem, your school verified information and messed up your aid. I would say, call the financial aid office. See if anyone on your schools facebook page is having similar issues. It could very well just be a mistake. Best of luck.

kw817817 · 07-12-2012, 04:34 PM

I just recentlly checked my SAR and called FAFSA to verfiy why my change was so dramatic. It is because when i went through the verification process i had to list the net worth of my parents investments and that number was really high soley due to the fact that we have another house. I had to list the value of how much that house was worth. and i am assuming because we do own another house that, that is the reason that my EFC went from 12,000 to 35,000. Is there a way to get around this? What can i still do for financial aid for college. The loans that i am offered are huge amounts and i dont know what to do.

mom2collegekids · 07-12-2012, 04:47 PM

There's nothing you can do.

Since those loans are too high, you either need to go to school at a CC or take a gap year and apply to schools that will be affordable. You'll have the same issue when you go to transfer from a CC.

The point of FA is to provide aid for people who don't have the income OR ASSETS. The second home probably has equity worth about $400k. Do your parents rent out that second home? If so, did they include the rental income on FAFSA as well?

Why did your family neglect to include that second home when they first did FAFSA? When people neglect to properly report their income/assets, it leads to problems like this. Here is is, the middle of July, and college decisions were made awhile ago based on an aid estmate provided after your family reported insufficient info.

kw817817 · 07-12-2012, 04:50 PM

At the time i didnt know what they were. I only listed that information when UCSC sent me a email saying that i was required to list if i own any other property. And we do rent out that house. When doing my corrections on my FAFSA i was told that all i had to do was link my the information to my parents from the IRS and thats all i needed to do.

momofthreeboys · 07-12-2012, 05:01 PM

I'm sorry you are going through this but this is why it's important to sit down and do the FAFSA with parents. Both parents and kids have to use a pin to sign the FAFSA so it makes entire sense that parents should be entering data that they are familiar with. I don't blame you OP, but the instructions are very clear about what to do with rental properties and other assets that are taken into consideration. Are your parents involved in your attending college? Are they supporting you financially in any way regarding college?

kw817817 · 07-12-2012, 05:04 PM

I spent an entire night with my dad as soon as he got home from work trying to figure out the FAFSA and filling it out with him and some of the questions were very confusing. My parents are supporting me for college but i dont want to put a huge loan on them. Cause one of the loans they need to take out is almost $28,000 which is a parent plus loan and that is a huge amount. What do i do now that i am only offered two loans that have intrest for my first year at college? Should i take this huge parent loan or are there any oher options for me?

Iron Maiden · 07-12-2012, 05:38 PM

You cannot afford this school. You need to withdraw immediately. You need to either find a cheaper school, take a gap year get a job and work for year, or start community college for two years and then transfer to a four-year college.

thumper1 · 07-12-2012, 05:43 PM

You need to talk to your parents. Are they able to pay for college for you? They may already have a plan to do so. If it is entirely with loans, you might want to reconsider.

Re: the FAFSA...I am sorry you are going through this...but the directions for including properties OTHER than your primary residence seem pretty clear to me on the FAFSA. In addition, if your parents rent the property, the income from those rents would be reflected on your taxes and therefore on your FAFSA.

Please talk to your family. It is possible that they have a plan for this that does not include loans to the tune of $28K per year...which, in my opinion, is too much.