Wanting to go on a year abroad program overseas for one year. I know if you were to coordinate the year abroad program with your home university then you would be eligible to receive the Pell Grant and other forms of financial support. My problem is that I am currently at a community college and plan to transfer to a four-year university when I return. Since I wouldn’t be planning the year abroad with the community college but rather independently, would I still be able to receive aid coming from the FAFSA (pell grant)? I was able to already send the 2018-2019 FAFSA information to the college overseas. I just don’t know if I could be considered for the aid because of my status.
Does the school overseas participate in the PELL/loan program? Will you be registered in a degree seeking program?
If you mean degree seeking as in using the courses taken overseas back in America toward a degree? Yes. But since I am doing it independently, I don’t know how many courses would be accepted back at the University I hope to transfer to in America. The University says they use FAFSA to estimate financial aid eligibility, but I am unsure as to whether this is in the assumed context of students who are doing the overseas program in correlation with their home university only, or for people like me (doing independent study) as well.
I doubt that you will be able to fund your study abroad based on what you wrote. Theoretically you would not be a matriculated student at the CC or the 4 year school, which is a condition for financial aid
How much will your study abroad cost? You may be better served coordinating the study abroad through your four year school.
A Gilman would be impossible to get if you aren’t enrolled in a college. The application requires a lot of documentation from the study abroad coordinator and some professors.
To,get the Pell, you must be a matriculated student at the college where you are taking courses.
It does not sound like this will be the case…so you won’t be eligible to receive any federally funded need based aid. That is only given to students who are taking courses as matriculated students at a college…towards a degree.
Your independent study abroad doesn’t sound like it fits this.
Can you arrange to do this while still clasified as a student at your CC?
@sybbie719 It will cost around $21,000. Are you saying I should try and attempt to coordinate before I am accepted at the four year school or wait until after I may be accepted to plan the year abroad?
@happymomof1 I talked to my advisor about this and she said that it wasn’t possible. I wonder though if talking to a different department such as registration or admissions would be better suited for my questions.
I’d do the year/semester abroad after being connected to the 4 year school. You’d then know which courses will transfer and get the benefit of the FA through that school. If you are a full matriculated student at the foreign school,and the school is listed on the FAFSA as a school the Dept of Ed works with, you might be able to get aid. The aid is sent to the school, they do not send checks to students directly.
A lot of schools in the US WANT you to do a year abroad. They have a lot of programs they’ve already approved. My daughter’s school has 3 ways to do a study abroad: a) their program in London which is the easiest as the courses transfer back directly and your FA can be used (including school merit aid); b) schools that the university has an agreement with, with the courses pre-approved and these schools usually give a discount in tuition; c) any other school, and the home university will try to work with you to make sure all the courses transfer but there are no guarantees and you have to arrange your own tuition, but you can use FA (although not the school’s merit aid)
Under the third plan, you might be able to do the same program you’ve already investigated, but with the 4 year school’s pre-approval and get to use your FA/Pell.
What is so special about this year long program abroad?
I agree with the poster upstream…transfer to your four year college…and look at study abroad options affiliated with that school.
The other thing to consider is time at the 4 year school. If you already have 2 years at a CC, and then you do a year abroad, you will be transferring as a senior. Some schools do not take senior transfers. Some require a certain number of upper level courses to be taken at that school. You might have to take an extra semester or year at the 4 year school. If you are associated with the 4 year school before you go abroad, the courses taken may be ‘associated’ with the 4 year school.
Yes. Go speak with the registration office and with whoever is in charge of your CCs own study abroad options. If you don’t finish your AA/AS degree before leaving to study abroad, then it is possible that at least part of that time could be considered part of your AA/AS degree program.
My question is if he is looking for Pell to offset the cost and his loan, where is the other 10K coming from?
What are you taking for your year long study abroad? At this point in time, it would probably have to be directed to your major. Op is finished or close to finishing, it is highly unlikely that he will be able to do the study abroad at his CC for those credits to be required for his degree program.
@sybbie719, the OP stated in another thread that s/he will be borrowing $20K, with his or her Dad as the co-signer. This approach is fraught with pitfalls. IMHO, your limited resources should be directed at getting your 4-year degree, instead of embarking on a year abroad program, which is completely funded by borrowed funds. OP, have you figured out how you will fund the remaining 2+ years at your 4-year institution?
As @thumper1 asked, what is so special about this year long program abroad?
@jamrock411 I am seeking to have job opportunities available to me in Israel. The program is specifically designed with courses teaching internal politics and the language of the country. I have lived there for some years and it is where I enjoy being. Right now the CC is dreadful and if I would not go study abroad now, it would be probably another minimum two years before I could go. It’s not that I can’t wait, but rather I just really don’t want to wait so long. I still have one more year at CC, then say I could transfer. At that point I would spend one more semester at CC and then transfer in Spring of 2019. Obviously I wont be accepted and then go straight into a year abroad, so I would likely be there for Spring 2018 and Fall 2019. At that point, the year abroad program would not work since it starts in the fall, meaning the next time I could go would be Fall of 2020. This is a very long time which I don’t want to wait on. As you can see, not doing it now will delay me being able to go for quite a long time.
That’s fine…but you won’t be seeking a degree with admission to the college sponsoring this study abroad.
So you are NOT eligible to get the Pell Grant… any other college financial aid.
@taylor96 Go check out your repayment scheduled if you and dad take out 20k in loans.
It needs to be done on your own dime since it is not affiliated with any school.
@gearmom
20k is not a lot. I am very organized and follow on budget. If I totaled even 100k in student loans in the next four years, I believe I could pay this off within a four to five years after graduating. In the broad scope of things it is not that much if you land a decent paying job. So please don’t lecture.