Question about award letter/unsubsidized

pugglemom1223
Sat, 27 Nov 2010 13:35:18 +0000

Thanks, I’m trying not to worry, but I’ve been planning this move for a couple months now and had a budget all figured out… I never expected this kind of issue. I am 25 years old, so I am independent student and nowhere near my aggregate limit. I didn’t have any summer aid, and my package for the fall semester of this year was half the maximum allowed Pell and Stafford loans for the academic year. If I was staying at my current school, I would be getting the other half in the Spring.

I plan on calling them first thing Monday morning and requesting to speak to an actual Financial Aid employee- not just the student workers in the office. I’ve made up a list of questions to find out what is going on, i.e. what is the cost of attendance, am I able to get the unsubsidized Stafford, if not, how did they determine my award, can I ask for my COA to be re-evaluated since I live off-campus (and not freeloading off mom and dad either- I have my own rent/utilities/groceries, being that I am an adult and have been on my own since I was 18, etc) and have a 30 mile commute.

It’s just frustrating because just when you think you understand how all this financial aid stuff works, a wrench gets thrown in your spokes and something like this happens that screws things up. Luckily I re-adjusted my budget and cut it WAY down and so long as I am able to find a decent part time job, I should barely scrape by, but even just getting another $1200 or so by having my Cost of Attendance met would be a HUGE help, if they can’t give me the full unsubsidized Stafford that I normally get.

It’s incredibly misleading when you are told you are eligible for x amount of unsubsidized loans per academic year, but the fine print is up to the cost of attendance, which varies from school to school. Oh well, just gotta be patient and keep my fingers crossed and find out what’s going on Monday.

Thank you to everyone for your input though, it has been very helpful.