<p>I am a texas resident and graduating top of my class (13/464) and was OFFERED 16645$ in grants and work study. Is this correct for the tuition of north texas?</p>
<p>Tuition & Fees: $7,989 / $15,501</p>
<p>Are Pell grants and stafford loans part of your package?</p>
<p>So far the grants alone covers all of your base costs; tuition, room, board and fees</p>
<p>If not, once you dad files taxes and you get pell, along with your current grants, it should cover your cost of attendance leaving you debt free.</p>
<p>Though you are not entitled to federal funds with your father not having filed tax returns, what Texas law has might be altogether different. Texas, California allow ILLEGAL immigrants to get state funds, for scholarship and aid. Ironically, some LEGAL immigrants may not get them or even state level tuition rates. Where you fall as a US citizen with illegal parents, I don’t know. It’s a crazy time for immigration as the rules do not make any sense and in some cases it’s better off to be Illegal than to be legal.</p>
<p>[Could</a> you be an Emerald Eagle Scholar? | Emerald Eagle Scholars](<a href=“http://emeraldeagles.unt.edu/]Could”>http://emeraldeagles.unt.edu/)</p>
<p>"The Emerald Eagle Scholars program is funded by generous gifts from UNT donors, state and federal grants "</p>
<p>Would OP be eligible for the Emerald Eagles Scholarship (as mentioned in the other thread started by OP), since part of it is federal money? Seems like the answer is no (unless the federal monies can be subtracted and the rest awarded).</p>
<p>“Texas, California allow ILLEGAL immigrants to get state funds, for scholarship and aid. Ironically, some LEGAL immigrants may not get them or even state level tuition rates.”
either way I would still have to get my father to submit his taxes, correct?</p>
<p>I was offered:</p>
<p>fed pell grant 5,645
texas grant 5,000
unt tuition 2,000
fed work study 4,000
stand. loan 3,500
stand unsub loan 1,205</p>
<p>i do not want to take out loans.</p>
<p>Cryinggirl, I am sympathetic. Talk to your guidance counselor immediately. You may have to take a GAP year. Beg your dad to file – with his income, he is likely not going to owe any $$$. You can not get Pell grant unless he files (or your mother, if they are not married).</p>
<p>thank you kayf, but taking a GAP year is not an option for me. but i will take your advice and the advice of others. Again, I feel that I am put into blame for my father not filling his taxes. I have already by lectured by my counselors, the fin. aid office, as well as my teachers. I should not be responsible over what my father does or does not do. I cannot make any excuses. Everyone tells me that there is always a way, somehow these situations will disappear but with my father’s stubbornness, I am left with very little options. Everyone tells me the same thing: get him to file. I want him to file but he is rarely home and can barely provide for my mother and i.</p>
<p>Cryinggirl, I am not telling you to get him to file. You and your mother have told him what the situation is and what is at stake. He may know issues that may affect him and your family in terms of filing his taxes and he may not want to take the risk. You have no idea what the situation with him is, and you have no control over what he does and does not do. Those things are all given. </p>
<p>The fact of the matter at hand, is that you are not entitled to federal funds which are PELL, subsidized loans and work study, SEOG, Perkins without his tax return. That is a a given. Most schools have policies that will not release their own financial aid funds without a FAFSA which again comes back to the tax return. So these are all facts that you are stuck with. For whatever the reason, you are in the same category as thousands of kids whose parents won’t fill out a FAFSA. You are not alone.</p>
<p>So, if you can’t get financial aid out of a school, and there is not a school that has merit aid for you, then all you can get is $5500 unsub Staffords, whatever your parents can give you in money and whatever you can earn, then you have to go to a local state school or take a gap year and sort this all out with time to apply for pure merit money, maybe try to figure out what your father’s situation is in more detail and if it is indeed too hairy to touch in terms of filing a return, or find a friend/family member to live with, get a job and break ties with your family and see if you can take a homeless route to independence (not something I advise at all, but yes, the option might be there) Those are your choices. </p>
<p>So if taking a gap year is not an option, you have to find a school that you can afford or from which you get merit aid. If you write out your options, then you will see what truly are and are not options.</p>
<p>No one is blaming you or the other students whose parents are not filing FAFSA, by the way. And a parent has the right NOT to fill out a FAFSA, and the right to refuse to pay for his/her kids’ college. It’s not a right for you to get your college paid. Not paying taxes is breaking the law, and that can be an issue, but i don’t think you want to touch that one–I would not. You do understand that even parents who do file and pay their taxes sometimes refuse to fill out FAFSA, do you not? </p>
<p>It’s not the end of the world not to go directly to college after high school and to go to a local state school and work part time commuting. That’s how most Americans get their college education. When you read these boards or hang around those who have those other options, it’s really easy to lose perspective as to what is important in life. Health, family, love, balance…those and a lot of other things are far more important so please don’t get tunnel vision. Write out your choices, do what you can with one of them and do the best you can with it. There are many roads to success and they do not have to include sleep away college.</p>
<p>cryinggirl, could I ask if you filed the FAFSA and were you given the FA package by UNT? I thought the FAFSA had to be complete before any funds could be offered.</p>
<p>fed pell grant 5,645</p>
<p>She’s being offered Pell. How did that happen if they didn’t file FAFSA? </p>
<p>That $5645 may end being taken away if her parents don’t file taxes. </p>
<p>As for loans…you may not have any choice. Or start at a CC and then transfer. Less loans that way.</p>
<p>She is getting an award package based on what she is eligible for. However, she will not receive any money nor will any money be released to the school until she completes the process; irs data retrevial, irs non filers letter, low income verification.</p>
<p>I’m confused. Did she file FAFSA and put “will file” or what? If not, how would they know that she might qualify for full Pell?</p>
<p>i did fill out fafsa btw and north texas is offering me aid and parsons informed me that i should fill out the verification worksheets as soon as possible even though i have not been verified.</p>
<p>Sybbie719, UNT told me there was nothing wrong with my fafsa and the money they offered me is the money that is available for me to use. if i do get my father to fill out taxes, it wouldn’t make a difference. </p>
<p>another note, since my father never paid his taxes, filling them right now, he would owe 5000-money that obviously we do not have.</p>
<p>They are choosing not to verify her.</p>
<p>So what happens if they decide to verify NEXT year or in a subsequent year and taxes haven’t been filed? Does that mean the federal aid dries up?</p>
<p>This doesn’t seem right. Her father owes taxes, hasn’t filed and yet she’s getting federal money?</p>
<p>Yes. If she gets caught she can do time. Since that is federal fraud that she is signing her parent’s name on the FAFSA,. This is not some mistake but outright fraud. But it happens a lot, and most of the time it does not happen. Many schools do not verify. That’s their choice. And the likelihood that they will do a back verification is about zilch. </p>
<p>I know this is not the issue at hand, but I don’t think most people have any idea how much illegal immigrants cost us. Yes, some pay social security and taxes, but the vast majority here that I know do not. They run when we try to help them with their taxes, because they do want to pay, not a dime. I live within a mile of a pick up spot for day workers, and I can tell you that we pay dearly for the cheap labor that they provide for people. A lot of fraud, a lot of programs where we look the other way and give when they should not be getting. It’s really crazy. The rules treat the illegal immigrant better than the legal one the way it works now. I hope that when any immigration bill is put together that this is kept fully in mind. It’s often those who are making money off of the illegal labor, not just the illegals themeselves that are perpetrating this fraud.</p>
<p>CPT, yes you are correct. I do not think I can remember a criminal prosecution of an employer. We need mandatory Everify for ALL employers, criminal sanctions, and a whisteblower provision.</p>