Hi. My current school said there is a new Federal law that makes all transfer student’s Federal aid split in two parts for the first semester at the new school. One payment with a 30 day delay, the second with a 60 day delay. I cannot seem to find this on any Federal Aid site. Is this really a new Federal law? Thanks you for your time.
What school is this?
If it is a Federal law, it is all schools, right?
I can’t find this on a federal site, but I did find something like this on here:
http://www.daytonastate.edu/studentaccounts/financialaid.html
I contacted FAFSA and they said that they never heard of this new law. They said if it was in effect they would know about it and it would be on the federal site and public knowledge.
If this law is real, does that only apply to the new school you are at? I have received aid at another school. I also received aid for the first part of this year. So all that reset when you go to a new school?
Federal Direct Loans are always disbursed to the schools several weeks into the term. And the full year amount is divided amongst the terms (so 2 disbursements for semester schools, and 3 for schools on quarters).
This applies to all students, not just transfer students.
Please give us the source of your initial post. Is it on the website of your college? If this was something told to you on the phone, I think you misunderstood. Call back and ask.
I have a hard time accepting “always”. I have never heard of this at any school. They are usually distributed BEFORE the term begins. Don’t you think it is counter productive to make all the students pay thousands of dollars first, and then give them their aid?
If aid is disbursed after 30 and 60 days, why is it nowhere in the FAFSA website? Why have they never heard of that at the FAFSA agency? Why have most schools never heard of this? Check any school’s financial aid calendar. Disbursement is generally 1.5 weeks before the term begins to 1.5 weeks after. There may be exceptions to this, but I have never heard of any. I have also never heard of the two disbursement rule. Ever. Only one disbursement.
I have a link to my college site that shows this. Though I do not wish to share it, due to privacy issues.
I am not the one who is misunderstanding anything. Do you know what federal aid is?
It’s usually CREDITED before the term starts, but not actually disbursed until several weeks into the term. One daughter’s financial aid was posted to her account in early Dec for the term that beings on Monday. Her bill, and my portion, was due last money, but I’m sure the school hasn’t received the money coming from outside sources (state, fed. loans, etc).
My other daughter’s payment isn’t due until 3 weeks after she starts school. It too posts the credits for awards, loans, etc., but if she were to receive a disbursement from an overpayment, that wouldn’t be paid until the school had actually received the money from Pell, the loans, the scholarships, etc.
Did I say the student paid first? NO…the amount of your approved Direct Loan is listed as a credit on your bursar’s account. BUT the money doesn’t actually get disbursed to the colleges untii a few weeks into the term. And this is ALWAYS the case (whether you like that word or not).
Other forms of aid are disbursed before the term starts or closer to,the start of the term.
And yes, I am very aware of what federal aid is.
I would call the financial aid office at your school for a clarification of what you think is the case.
I do not think this is a new “law”.
I agree with you…I’ve never heard of this two disbursement “per term” and once after 30 and another after 60 day thing.
And her school mandates 4 disbursements a year? Because that is not Federal law…
What does this refer to?
That is what I am trying to say. First time borrowers are subject to a 30 day delay for aid. All students are subject tot 2 disbursements per year, summer to summer, rule. At least according to law. Single term borrowers are still subject to a 2 disbursement rule. Meaning, 2 disbursements in one term.
This is where my confusion lies. I am not a first time borrower. Nor am I a single term borrower.
The only conclusions, therefore, are, either:
A. Those rules reset if you transfer to another school and you need to start all over again.
or
B. My school is stupid.
I have yet to find conclusive evidence to support option A. Federal law simply uses the phrases “first times borrowers” and “single term borrowers”. It does not specify the phrase “these rules start over at each new school you go to”.
I am not in law school, but as a German, I like to be specific. If my school is doing something wrong (would not be the first time), I want it rectified. If Federal law says I am supposed to get all of my loan now, why should I have to wait 2 months?
The other poster. It seems they are on track with me now. Originally they were suggesting all students get 2 disbursements per term at 30 and 60 day intervals.
Please read my previous post and see if you can add anything. Thank you.
Saw this question on Yahoo Answers: "Hi. I was told that since I am a transfer student, my Federal Aid needs to be in two disbursements. One 30 days after school, making me pay the remainder of my tuition out of pocket. And books. Which will be impossible. The second, 60 days delayed.
I was told that since I am a first-term, first-time borrower, this law applies. However, I have had Federal Loans before. I also had them last fall.
Does all that get reset at a new school? That doesn’t seem right if it is a Federal Law. Shouldn’t my other loans and fall loans count? Thank you."
Not sure if this is OP, but if not…it appears this is happening to other students.
If this was a brand new federal law, other schools would know about it and would be implementing it. I haven’t heard anything about this whatsoever other than in online forums.
On an aside, my husband is going to school too. They said his FAFSA and SAR is invalid due to an EFC of $99,999.
FAFSA has never heard of this. Our EFC is $00000. The FAFSA agency says they cannot do anything about it. School says they can do nothing about it. No aid for him.
Just an example of how stupid “higher education” can be…
No. That is me trying to utilize of all my resources to come up with good answers.
@scarednconfused: Unrelated to your question, but thought you should know that the use of the word ‘retarded’ is generally considered to be socially unacceptable.
If your husband’s EFC is $99.999 then you should go over the amounts entered to look for errors. Perhaps you entered 1,000,000 instead of 10,000, thinking that you were entering 10,000.00, Report back what you find so that others can learn from your mistakes.
Considering the big picture, why are you concerned about the 30 and 60 day disbursements, is there a cashflow issue?
Well, for one, like I said, if I am Federally entitled to my money now, why should I wait a month to two months? Would you be happy if you bought a movie ticket and they said “Thank you, come back next month to watch it!”?
Even though it is personal, yes, we could certainly use the money! We have a bunch of kids in the house that have needs.
We did not enter anything for monetary amounts, as none of the financial questions applied to us. Which ties in with the previous sentence.
Why would “retarded” be social unacceptable where you live? It is a valid English word acceptable in all English speaking territories that I know of…
Most schools don’t actually credit your account with federally funded aid…grants or loans…until the drop/add period has past. They want to be sure they are giving Pell Grants, and Direct Loans to students who are actually enrolled in the courses for the full term. Students don’t receive Pell money until the term is well underway. What if the student drops courses and is less than half time? If that happens, they are not entitled to the full amount.
If a student drops to below half time, their loans are also not for full time amount.
This is not YOUR money until you actually have demonstrated that you will be in the course for the full term. There is a drop dead date whereby you would not have to repay federal grants and loans given to you if you drop the courses.
But really it’s much cleaner and easier to simoly not disburse these funds until a later date…and many schools do this.
But the question on your first post has not been verified by anyone.
I still say,call your college and ask.
Did you enter $0, or leave the fields blank?
And I totally agree with the above poster who said to check every entry on your FAFSA. If your SAR indicates an EFC of $99,999, when you Have very low income and it should be $0, something is entered wrong.
You didn’t buy anything, so your comparison to the movie ticket doesn’t work for me.
Why do you need to spend some of your financial aid money on your kids’ needs?
You hit the nail on the head when you used the word ‘entitled’ in your post.
So are you saying that all valid English words are by definition socially acceptable?
I invite you to educate yourself and visit the website linked below - R-Word - Spread the Word to End the Word: