My daughter got her BS degree, but now wants to go to a community college to get a 2 year degree that will help her in the field she is interested. We are california residents and she will be going to a california community college.
I made a deal with her that is she finished her BS degree in 3 years, I would pay for 2 years at the CC. The plan was to continue to get her Stafford Loans mostly to cover her rent. I was told today by the community college that she won’t qualify for a any loans because she already has a BS degree. They also told me I won’t have the option of getting a Parent Plus loan.
Does this seem correct? I am having trouble finding good info for this exact situation.
how much did she already borrow for her BS degree? I don’t know if the problem is that she’s already at her max or if the CC doesn’t do loans or if it’s not allowed.
Can’t she live at home and commute? It seems silly to borrow for rent for two years anyway.
I think one condition is that she has to be enrolled in a degree program so did she formally do that as opposed to taking classes? Also she has to stay within her allowed limits per year.
Students seeking a second Bachelor’s degree may still qualify for the Perkins Loan, Federal Work-Study (FWS), Stafford Loan and, if still dependent, the Parent PLUS Loan. Students may also receive the Stafford Loan for a second bachelor’s degree up to any remaining eligibility under the undergraduate aggregate loan limits. (If the student has exhausted the undergraduate Stafford loan limits, a possible workaround is to enroll in a graduate or professional degree program instead of pursuing a second Bachelor’s degree.) Students who are seeking an Associate’s degree but already have a Bachelor’s degree are subject to the same restrictions.
Maybe you should call the FAFSA line and try to get the correct citation to bring to the CC people.
She would have to be enrolled in a degree program to get loans. She should be able to get loans as long as she is working toward an associates degree - if it’s a certificate program, it might not be aid-eligible (but if it is for any student, it is for her). She’ll get freshman level loans until she has enough credits in that program to get sophomore level loans. She can’t borrow a total of more than $31,000 for undergrad loans, though. YOU will be able to get Parent PLUS loans. Having a bachelors degree only disqualifies the student from Pell (and most likely SEOG - we never awarded SEOG to students who had a 1st bachelors degree).
Don’t call the FAFSA help line - call the school. Talk to someone who is in a position of responsibility (not a clerical staff member or a student advisor).
She is enrolling at the Community College to get an Associate Degree for a Registered Vet Technician after completing a BS degree in Zoology. The nearest college that offers the program is a 3 hour drive from our home.
Her loans thus far have been the 3 years of available Stafford loans at the UC she attended which is somewhere around $20K total.
I had one conversation with the Financial Aid department, but I will likely need to have another. They make it tough on new students as they don’t officially enroll them into the vet tech degree program until after they start classes, so this might be the reason for the answer I got.