Is my school SCAMMING ME?

Paying for College
1

Hello!

I really need help resolving an issue. I attend a small historically black university here in the U.S. During the fall 2015 semester I was expecting a refund amount in the neighborhood of $1000. However, I was told that I would not receive my refund because I was working a Work Study Job. Then I was told if I wanted to receive my refund, that I could resign from the student workers program. But here’s the catch, the hours that I had not yet received a paycheck for in work study, was DEDUCTED from my check. So I recieved about $740 and they deducted what I made in work study from my refund down to the dime.

When I spoke to the Financial Aid office about the issue, I was told that as an out of state student I have a budget. All of the funds that I’m receiving (loans, refund, grants, scholarships, work study) could not exceed my out of state student budget. I was thinking, how do I even have a budget?

Now that I am in the Spring Semester, I would like to work. However, I’m now being told the same thing once again. To choose whether I would like a work study job, or a refund. I was just notified that I wouldn’t be able to get a work study job this semester, because I resigned last semester! Notable to mention if I choose work study, I would get no refund and also owe the school $25 for some reason. I don’t think this is fair. Someone please help me out to let me know if this is right!!! Much appreciated.

2

You cannot receive need based aid in excess of the cost of attending your school.

3

Did they reduce a grant or a loan by the amount of work study earned?

4

Yes they did reduce a loan

5

What does that mean? Need based aid in excess of the cost attending school?

6

You cannot receive more in aid than the Cost of Attendance.

If your school costs $20000/ year you cannot receive grants, loans, scholarships, work study of more than $20000.

You don’t need as large of a loan since you earned work study income.

There is no “scam” going on.

7

OP, you worked to reduce your debt/loan amount, basically.

8

It sounds like the “refund” you mentioned several times is just loan money, which is replaced by your work study earnings.

9

You need to be more aware of how much you are borrowing. They’ve reduced your loan by the amount that you earn, but how much is the loan?

If you think you need the ‘refund’ (it is not a refund, it is the amount of all your aid, including loans, that exceeds the amount the school bills you for tuition, fees, room and board), and the schools do build in an amount above tuition, fees, room and board to cover books, incidental, travel, etc (called Cost of Attendance or COA), you can take the overage (refund) and if you still need more money, you can get a non-work study job.

10

I have not received more in aid, than in my cost of attendance. This is the concern. If there were no refund involved, I would still owe the school each semester because of my work study position. The aid that I have does not cover my complete out of state balance.

11

Post some numbers here so we can see - if you want additional advice.

What is your aid package?

What is your school’s COA for nonresidents? (This should be on it’s website).

12

You should sit down and review your FA package thoroughly until you understand it. If you still don’t understand how it works make an appointment with FA and sit there until you do. You REALLY need to be aware of the amount of debt you are taking on so you can make sound decisions. I seems like you have a choice between work study or a loan amount to get to your full Cost of Attendance(or budget as you are referring to it). If you work you get the money in the form of a pay check, and if you don’t you get a check from loan proceeds which you will eventually have to work to pay off, with interest. Which would you rather do? Work now and not take on debt, or not work and have to pay the money back after graduation? As someone mentioned, if you want the loan money AND extra job money then refuse the work study and get a regular job.

13

You can work outside of a work study job, right?

14

If you don’t work then they have you take out the student loan, if that and the other aid adds up to more than tuition, fees, room and board (if you live on campus), then the overage of the loan will be refunded to you.

But that is not “free money”, you have to pay that back, with interest, after you graduate.

So if you can work and earn some of that money, then you need to borrow less. Better for you.

You should always take out the least amount of loan.

15

You should only be receiving a refund from financial aid after all of your costs to the college are paid. So…if your costs are not covered even including this refund money…you shouldn’t be GETTING a refund. Refunds are sent to students AFTER all billable costs are paid.

16

How much do you owe the school now? Can your parents pay it? If you post your aid package, maybe we can help you figure out what’s going on.

How much does the school cost per year?

How many grants/scholarships did you get? How much were they?

If you need a job to help cover your living expenses, try to find one on campus. I think some colleges have non work study jobs available, but they probably get filled quickly.