SVMMom

Could any of you wonderfully knowledgeable people please help me out? Here is my situation.

My D was given a Federal Academic Competitiveness Grant in her Award package. Now it has been taken away. These are the requirements from the FAFSA site.


Eligibility Requirements
To be eligible for each academic year, a student must:


1. Be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen;
2. Be a Federal Pell Grant recipient;
3. Be enrolled at least half-time in a degree program;
4. Be a first or second-year undergraduate student or a student in a certificate program of at least one year in a degree program at a two-year or four-year degree-granting institution
5. Have completed a rigorous secondary school program of study (after January 1, 2006, if a first-year student, and after January 1, 2005, if a second-year student); and
6. If a first-year student — not have been previously enrolled in an ACG-eligible program while at or below age of compulsory school attendance; or
7. If a second-year student — have at least a cumulative 3.0 grade point average (GPA) on a 4.0 scale as of the end of the first year of undergraduate study.


My daughter meets all these requirements. She took 11 AP courses, got As in all of them and mostly 5s, a few 4s, on her tests. The University gave her 38 credits for these AP classes. This makes her technically a Sophomore. Therein lies the catch 22.

They are saying she does not have any grades for her 38 credits and therefore is uneligible because she has to have maintained a 3.0 GPA in her first year.

WHAT?!! She could not possibly have grades! They gave her the credits!

They also said it was FAFSA rules, they had to follow them. I called the FAFSA help line and they said they had never heard of this before. That it was up to each school's financial aid department to determine the awards and that I should go back and talk to them about it.

This is making me crazy! Does this happen to students at all schools or just at this one?

How can I fight this?

Thanks

mom2collegekids

I'd tell them that it's not the "end of the year" yet (if they are calling her a sophomore)...

"7. If a second-year student — have at least a cumulative 3.0 grade point average (GPA) on a 4.0 scale as of the end of the first year of undergraduate study. "

Tell them that until the end of this school year, she's eligible. Then, at that point, she'll have real grades, and she'll still be eligible.

romanigypsyeyes

Good luck. I've been fighting with my U on this for 2 months. I am in the same boat. Let me know if you have better look than I did.

mom2collegekids

If my above suggestion won't work...try this. Tell them to take out SOME of the AP credits to get your number under 30. Finish this year, then add them back in.

If they agree to do this, then be sure to only have them take out the ones that you don't need this year as pre-reqs for other classes. (have them take out the social studies and/or Gov.

romanigypsyeyes

^ My U told me that it didn't matter. Once I was a soph, I couldn't drop down. It was ridiculous.

SVMMom

This is crazy. The grant was designed to encourage kids to take rigorous courses. So if you do take a lot of APs, then they take it away? So are they saying to take rigorous courses, but only a few? That makes no sense!

romanigypsyeyes

^ Welcome to the wisdom of the government.

somemom

It does seem like the very exercise that qualifies a student (successfully taking APs) also knocks you out due to having too many units or no GPA.

It seems like some one rewrote something this year and just screwed it up!

Did your DD take any CC classes in HS or summer university classes that could be used to show a 3.0+ GPA?

SVMMom

She did take a CC algebra class btw 9th and 10th grade so she could jump ahead in math. She got a 4.0. Would this be enough to make a difference?


Also, when I called FAFSA they said it was up to the school to determine whether to give the funds or not. How they interpret the requirements.

mom2collegekids

Have you taken this issue to the highest person within the F/A ranks of the school? If so, start going over their heads...to the ass't provost and such.

Seriously, if I kept getting nowhere with this issue, I'd tell them that this is their last chance, and then I'm taking it to the media where the general public will not look favorably at this situation. The school will look bad. Do they want that ????

2collegewego

I would take it to the highest person in financial aid and go further within the school but I would also consider calling my congressperson. This seems like an unintendended consequence of how the law was written. Your congressperson may be able to help your particular case but, if nothing else, he/she should be made aware of this problem.

swimcatsmom

The FAFSA helpline is probably not your best bet for answering these questions as they generally only know the rules for completing FAFSA and not for how aid is awarded. They are not trained FA officers at all and probably know nothing about the rules for individual programs such as the ACG. My experience dealing with the FAFSA by phone (PIN problems) was that they were very willing to help but not actually able to (I have found CC much more helpful). Schools are given very strict rules and training about how to award grants such as the ACG. The FAFSA helpline people are given training in how to complete FAFSA.

I honestly don't think threatening to to go to the media will have any effect other than to alienate the FA office. They are following the rules. They often may not agree with them and may think they are stupid, but they have to follow them. Most FA officers I have dealt with are truly trying to help the students they deal with, not trying to shortchange them by 'interpreting the rules'. The ACG rules for this year at my daughter's school are exactly what SVMMom is being told

In a previous thread about this ACG taken away? (started by romanigypsyeyes) Kelsmom (an FAO in real life) posted that grades from CC classes might make the student eligible for the sophomore year grant. Kelsmom posted this in post #25

Post #20 also explains the new ACG rules (created by the government) that are causing this problem.

mom2collegekids

>>>
I honestly don't think threatening to to go to the media will have any effect other than to alienate the FA office. They are following the rules.
<<<

If they are following the rules (which they may not also like), then that is a better reason to go to the media (altho the emphasis would be on the stupid rule, not the college itself for enforcing.). Then pressure will be put on the gov't to change that rule. If it's a federal rule, then the local congressman or senator will be pressured to look into getting that rule changed. The point is to get those in power pressured to make a change and make it rather quickly.

If the F/A office is powerless, then they should WANT the rule changed.

Originally, it was written that it had nothing to do with FAFSA and that it was the colleges fault. IF it is FAFSA's fault, then the glare of public attention will force a change.

swimcatsmom

It is not the college or FAFSA (FAFSA is just an application form you fill out to get your EFC, nothing more - they don't award aid or make rules). The problem is the rulemaking by the federal govt who don't seem to take much, if any, input from people who know the most about financial aid (CC folk of course , and financial aid officers). Some new grants aren't even always awarded initially because the rules are so difficult to interpret. I remember reading on CC that happened with the ACG and the TEACH grants. The rules for the SMART and ACG have changed annually since the inception of the two programs and they can't seem to get them right (the current year SMART rules do seem to be better as far as I can tell, the ACG rules seem to be worse).

Both programs are scheduled to go away in 2011-2012 school year so the likelihood of them getting it right before then seems remote.

romanigypsyeyes

^ Wait, the TEACH grant is going away? What?