<p>Hello all,</p>
<p>I have already received a Bachelor’s degree from Full Sail University.
However, I am going back to school for a second Bachelor’s degree and my current institution does not recognize this degree at all or any of my classes/credits and I will be starting over to square one.</p>
<p>Being that according to my new school I don’t really even have a degree they recognize, but technically do have one, does this make me eligible for any grant money?</p>
<p>Probably not as far as any federal grants are concerned. Full sail has a school code listed on FAFSA so is recognized for federal aid. If you already have a bachelors with them you will not be eligible for the main fed grant, the Pell grant, which is not available to students who already have a bachelors degree.</p>
<p>I was told by my Financial Aid office to contact FAFSA about this, to which FAFSA told me to contact the FA office.</p>
<p>Any suggestions/ideas on how I should move forward with this? It has been extremely frustrating. </p>
<p>=/</p>
<p>First, Swimcatsmom is correct. You won’t be eligible for any of the money the FAFSA form controls accept unsubsidized loans since Full Sail is recognized by FAFSA, so they will see you as already having a bachelors.</p>
<p>Institutional aid might be possible but that’s going to also be tough as most schools will see you as wanting a second bachelors whether or not your classes transfer. Institutional aid is tough for all but freshmen at most colleges.</p>
<p>The advice to attend grad school makes sense to me. The majority of the schools that allow second bachelors do it for the full pay student.</p>
<p>Would I not be eligible for subsidized loans?</p>
<p>Grad School is not an option being that no universities accept my Bachelor’s Degree, which is obviously required to be able to take the graduate level courses. In order to enroll in a masters program, I have to have a degree that transfers in, which I do not. In order for me to pursue my education at either the undergrad or graduate level, I have to complete a second bachelor program.</p>
<p>I take it that Full Sail doesn’t have regional accreditation, which means that it is more difficult to have the degree accepted by most other colleges and universities. If you look for other institutions accredited by the same accrediting body as Full Sail perhaps you will find a grad (or transfer) program that will work for you.</p>
<p>If you have found that you absolutely must have a degree from a regionally accredited college/university, then you have to find something that is going to be affordable for you. Your best bet may be to get a job and go back to school part-time for the re-do of the Bachelor’s degree. Try to find a place where you can get some kind of credit/placement by exam or portfolio.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>
<p>You will be eligible for subsidized loans if you have need. Remember, though, that there is an undergrad limit of $23,000 for subsidized loans. You will also be eligible for unsubsidized loans. The combined sub & unsub undergrad limit is $31,000 for dependent students & $57,500 for independent students. You will not be eligible for other federal aid (Pell, ACG, SEOG, FWS, etc). You MAY be eligible for institutional grants … but you would need to talk to your school’s financial aid office to find out. I work in the financial aid office at a public university & we do not offer any institutional aid to second bachelor students.</p>
<p>You do “technically” have a bachelors degree. The wording in the federal regs regarding prior bachelors degrees even includes bachelors degrees from foreign countries that are not recognized in the U.S. If Full Sail granted you a bachelors degree, then it is a bachelors degree as far as financial aid is concerned.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about Full Sail. Why is your bachelor’s degree not considered a “bachelors degree” for the purpose of enrolling in a graduate school program?</p>
<p>Full Sail is a technical school. There are most likely no corresponding courses the new college can use toward any of their degree programs. It’s not that the degree isn’t recognized as a degree. It’s just that there are no prerequisite courses that can be counted toward the requirements for the new school’s programs.</p>
<p>Kelsmom, I understand that if the student is applying as a transfer student. They would need to have fulfilled some coursework, I would guess. BUT LOTS OF FOLKS apply for masters programs in fields that are not anything like their undergrad degrees. I know folks who were engineering majors in undergrad who got degrees in English as masters (and the flip…humanities majors who became engineers). In both cases, the student had some prerequisite requirements to fulfill, but their first “bachelors” in a totally unrelated field did not preclude them from applying to a masters program.</p>
<p>The problem is that Full Sail is not anything like a “university” in the sense that we use it here on CC. It is a private, for-profit technical school that offers degrees in music business, recording arts, web development, game design, and a few other limited fields. There are no general education requirements, anyone with a high school diploma or GED is accepted, new classes start monthly, etc. According to the website, the only accreditation is from the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology (ACCSCT). So no traditional college or university is going to recognize the OP’s “bachelor’s degree” from Full Sail as being worth anything; that’s why he has to start all over. </p>
<p>[Full</a> Sail University: Campus and Online Degrees](<a href=“http://www.fullsail.edu/]Full”>http://www.fullsail.edu/)</p>
<p>Grad schools don’t necessarily have to honor a particular degree as meeting their standards for admission to their programs. I think that is what is happening in this case. Years ago, I worked at a school that would not accept students with a GED. They had graduated from high school, but we did not recognize a GED as having provided the students with the requisite education needed to succeed in our program. That is most likely the way the OP’s school looks at Full Sail.</p>
<p>I’m so glad the school I am attending does not have that policy about the GED! And I am beating the whatsit out of most of the high school grads there as far as grades are concerned ;)</p>
<p>Swimcatsmom, back in those days (I was riding my dinosaur to work at the time …) there were no nontraditional students at the school. Admissions wasn’t considering the nontraditional student. I imagine things are different now! :)</p>
<p>Riding my dinosaur to work - LOL!</p>
<p>Non traditional student is so much more polite and pc than ‘one of those old fogies going to college with all the 18-19 year olds’ (which is how I describe myself on my facebook profile).</p>
<p>Thank you all soo much for your responses.</p>
<p>At the risk of sounding totally uninformed,</p>
<p>What is institutional aid, exactly?</p>
<p>I can assume that institutional aid is anything awarded to me by the school.<br>
I guess my question is what kinds of aid can this be/would I possibly be eligible for in my situation and is there any sort of instiutional grant I could receive?</p>
<p>I found out today that not a single class out of my entire BS (emphasis on the B.S.) from Full Sail will transfer into a local community college.</p>
<p>Also,</p>
<p>I heard that grant money could be award if it was mututally determined by FAFSA and the school to be the best course of action in pursuit of furthered education.
The degree I received there is not only totally useless in the job market, but no other school recognizes it. Not even community colleges.</p>