My son already has a pell grant but I got this email last night: The Massachusetts Office of Student Financial Assistance (OSFA) is sending this email to make you aware that a letter is being mailed to you to inform you of your current ineligible status for a 2015-2016 MASSGrant. My daughter is a sophomore in college and never got anything like this. I didn’t want to make the corrections that they suggested unless I know that its a legit website.The rest of the email is below:
The Massachusetts Office of Student Financial Assistance (OSFA) is sending this email to make you aware that a letter is being mailed to you to inform you of your current ineligible status for a 2015-2016 MASSGrant. The MASSGrant is a financial aid program offered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to resident students only. Your 2015-2016 FAFSA information was sent to OSFA by the Federal Student Aid Center and your eligibility for a MASSGrant was determined based on your FAFSA data.
You can visit our website at www.mass.edu/osfa to view and correct your 2015-2016 MASSGrant record. When you access our site, select the “For Students” and “MASSAid Student Portal” options to navigate to the logon screen. You also are able to go directly to the MASSGrant student logon screen by clicking the following link:
You can call your daughter’s college’s financial aid office. I know this is an obvious answer and I’m sure you thought of it but it’s probably the best way to get information on that e-mail. Sometimes mailings look so legit.
It doesn’t look like a real mass .edu or .gov site. That is a .com site so they may be scammers trying to make you create an account and steal your info. Or they could be trying to get you to pay a fee for something that should be free like the fafsa.com people when fafsa.gov is free. Don’t click but google for the info and get the real massaid sites .edu or .gov.
Which is the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education
Office of Student Financial Assistance | 454 Broadway, Suite 200, Revere, MA 02151
Phone: (617) 391-6070 | Fax: (617) 727-0667 |
If you click the MASS AID link from this site, it takes you to the original link that you posted.
Are you eligible for Mass state aid? Perhaps when you filed the fafsa last year, you clicked the link which would have automatically signed you up for Mass state aid. If you did not click the link for state aid, when you filed the fafsa, you did not apply for state aid.
If you are eligible for mass state aid, contact your college on how to apply for mass state aid.
Just to clarify, I have two college kids. My son is going to be a freshman and this letter was sent regarding him. I am not sure if he is eligible for mass state aid. He hasn’t heard from all of the schools that he applied to or made a decision yet. My daughter is in an out of state nursing program. She gets a small amount of ma. state merit $$.
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I have a parent plus loan from nelnet.
I would call the phone number that Sybbie posted above and call for more info.
Maybe you have a MA school listed first on the FAFSA but didn’t click on link that is on the page after you submit FAFSA to go to state application. I have heard that you might get an email if you missed doing that. How long ago did you do FAFSA and what is the deadline for MA state grant?
steps for students, did you do all of these? And if you are not sure I would call them asap because the deadline to apply is May 1!!! That’s probably why they emailed you.
The MASSGrant supports financially needy students enrolled in approved courses of study. MASSGrant uses the information on your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to determine your Expected Family Contribution, and your EFC must be at or under $4,995 to qualify for the MASSGrant. You must attend full-time (meaning at least 12 credits), seeking a certificate, associates degree, or bachelors degree.
Since your son is Pell eligible, he is probably massgrant eligible
I called the number and followed the instructions using the link that they provided. I changed his college to a local college (he is unndecided still) and the problem was solved. If he doesn’t select that school, I can change it back using the link.