I just finished a bachelor’s degree at Columbia College in Chicago. The school does not offer any science courses, so I decided to enroll at the community college nearby after completing my bachelor’s degree. After being accepted, I enrolled in courses at the community college and was awarded financial aid in the form of federal loans and a pell grant.
The entire semester went by without a hitch. The pell grant was very handy in helping out with tuition. I registered for classes in the summer and fall terms at the same college. 2 days before the beginning of the summer session (yesterday), the school informs me that I never should have received the pell grant because of my bachelor’s degree and that I have 48 hours to pay the money back otherwise they will drop me from my courses.
After meeting with the head of financial aid and the president of the school, they both advised that I drop out of school and work at a grocery store to try and save up the amount so that I can return to school at a later time. I am a pre-med student with a 4.0 GPA and this was the advice given by academic leaders at the school. The head of financial aid has said he will go to the extent of declining any applications for loans to help, even outsider private loans.
It is now too late for me to transfer to a different school for the summer and fall terms. On top of this, the school is even refusing to send official transcripts until the amount is paid, forcing me to consider re-taking the same courses I just completed a few weeks ago, wasting an entire year.
Can a school do this? If they made the error by awarding the grant when they shouldn’t have, it should be their responsibility to pay it back, right? I was essentially lied to all semester long, being told everything was fine. 2 days before the start of summer, I’m effectively being thrown out of school for something I did not do. They keep saying that my FAFSA wasn’t correct, that it did not include that I had a bachelor’s degree. The second I received confirmation of my degree, I updated it so that it showed that I had one.
What should I do? I only wish to continue my academic career, but the academic leaders at Harold Washington College in Chicago appear to not want that for me. They are unwilling to help even with scholarships to try and cover up their errors, regardless of me receiving straight A’s last semester. Should I hire a lawyer?
Since you have a first undergrad degree, you are no longer eligible for Pell grants. It’s not the school’s rule, but a federal regulation. The school is just following the law.
You will have to repay the Pell grant and they will not release your transcript.
Yes, the school has not only the right, but the obligation, to remove your Pell grant. Pell is only for students receiving a first bachelor’s degree. Does your FAFSA indicate that you would be a student enrolled in a degree-seeking program, first bachelor’s? If so, you were awarded Pell based on your answers on the FAFSA - and they removed it when they discovered the info was not correct. Even if that is not the case (I suspect it is, though … ), you owe the school because you were not eligible to keep the Pell grant.
“I only wish to continue my academic career, but the academic leaders at Harold Washington College in Chicago appear to not want that for me. They are unwilling to help even with scholarships to try and cover up their errors, regardless of me receiving straight A’s last semester.”
It was your error. The school did not lie to you, you lied to the school (either intentionally or by not reading the FAFSA instructions, which is your responsibility).
It is not a clerical error-- you received government funds to which you were not entitled.
You do not need to hire a lawyer here- but having a meeting with your academic advisor and someone in financial aid to work out a payment plan is probably a good next step.
It appears (to me) that you filled out this FAFSA a year ago, and put the info that pertained to Columbia College.
BUT…when you added the CC to the FAFSA, you hadn’t yet indicated that you would be attending their post-bachelors…and only did so once you had degree in hand. That wasn’t correct. You don’t wait til you have degree in hand. You knew that you would be graduating in Dec, which is why you were opting to go to the CC for the science classes.
BTW…is Columbia College accredited by an entity that med schools will recognize??? I think US med schools require that the undergrad be accredited by the region’s accrediting agency.
Ok…it does look like CC of Chicago is accredited by Higher Learning Commission. I didn’t know that schools that don’t have science classes would be included.
Edit…it does have sciences, but maybe not the ones that qualify as premed prereqs. It has some bio, Chem and Ochem, but maybe they’re the non-majors versions.
There is a small number of medical schools (<10) that will not accept any CC credits. Not even for things like English or calc.
Many med schools will accept some CC credits for some science classes, provided that student has taken additional upper level coursework in the same discipline at a 4 year college. For example, if the student takes bio1&2 at a CC, the med school expects the student to take upper level bio classes at a 4 year college. (Ditto for chem and physics.)
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BUT…when you added the CC to the FAFSA, you hadn’t yet indicated that you would be attending there post-bachelors…and only did so once you had degree in hand. That wasn’t correct. You don’t wait til you have degree in hand. You knew that you would be graduating in Dec, which is why you were opting to go to the CC for the science classes.
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Ack! Corrected.
I think the problem was that the FAFSA was filed a year ago, so indicated that the degree goal was a bachelors degree. Then he later added the CC to receive his FAFSA. But…at that point, he knew he would be a graduate when he would attend the CC, but he didn’t change his FAFSA in a timely manner to reflect that.
Since the Pell was just for one semester, even if you had a zero EFC, the most you owe is about $3k. Work full time this summer and pay it off.
That said… The school cannot prevent you from getting a private loan from somewhere to pay that off…but it’s better for you to work a lot and pay it off. And, you probably wouldn’t qualify for a private loan. The person you spoke to was probably very angry because the school “looks bad” to the Feds for giving out a Pell Grant to a college grad, so he was mad at you for providing inaccurate info on the FAFSA that they received.
There will likely be a problem with the premed prereqs at a CC since he won’t later be taking “higher level” science courses at a Univ…unless he later takes a 3XX BioChem.
I’m sorry you’re going through this. The school’s records may not have been updated in a timely manner, but that doesn’t excuse you from knowing the rules.
I applied to a local community college in January and sent in all 5 of my transcripts (2 included degrees). I know they’ve been processed by admissions because I’ve talked with them and advising about what gen eds I have to take to get the degree I want. I also know full well that I don’t qualify for either Pell or our state tuition grant because I have a bachelor’s degree, yet my financial aid page on the school portal still lists that I’m eligible for money from both programs. I don’t blame the school. Eventually, all the paperwork will end up in the financial aid office and it will be corrected.
We have to make it our business to understand the qualifications and terms of any awards (grants or loans) that we’re offered. Don’t depend on the understanding of others to run your financial affairs (including, but not limited to human resources when you enroll in retirement and health insurance programs, accountants, insurance agents, and spouse(s) or significant others). Get the advice of experts, but understand as best you can what your options are.