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mjoann
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 7:08 am
Post subject: Why can't I get financial aid? |
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Hello,
I am seriously confused about my financial aid (i.e.. lack of it!)
I just graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.A.. I had nearly all A's,
including all of my sophomore, junior and senior years, and all of my
upper division classes. After my first year, my personal goal was to
achieve the highest grade in every class I took, and I did. I was on the
Dean's list every quarter, and won the "Outstanding Senior" award in my
major. I also have standardized test scores that rank in the 98-99%
percentile, and am a member of Mensa.
On top of this, I have been a full time student with income below the
poverty level. I am independent and my FAFSA showed my expected family
contribution to be zero.
Here's my problem: I am registered as a graduate student for this fall
and just received my university's idea of a "financial aid award."
Despite my excellent academic history, and heavy financial need, I was
not awarded anything other than the standard federal loans.
According to the people in the financial aid office, the university does
offer a number of programs to help graduate students. I have talked to
some of my peers who have significantly lower GPAs and/or significantly
higher income, yet still received this actual non repayable aid.
I have worked very hard to achieve all A's in challenging classes, and
my academic record is nearly flawless. My professors are always
delighted with my work. What am I doing wrong? The school says they have
already awarded all the aid they had and cannot do anything more.
However, I don't understand why I didn't qualify for the academic and
GPA based awards while people with lower GPAs did. Is there anything I
can do? Some of their award money comes from the state government and is
supposed to be academic based... should I complain to the governing
agency? I think something fishy is going on with the award system!
I chose this particular school because it is near my home, and
relocation would be quite difficult for me at this time. The only thing
I can think of is to wait until next year and apply to a school that
rewards academic excellence! However, if I take a year off to work full
time, that really knocks me out of the running for need based aid.
I thought working hard would pay off=(
mjoann
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Steve Stone
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 7:11 am
Post subject: Re: Why can't I get financial aid? |
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| Quote: | I thought working hard would pay off=(
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Reality can really suck.
In the real world hard work does not always pay off.
It depends on how many "buddies" of the admin are in front of you
looking for a hand out or who needs to be greased first. Maybe it will
get them a multimillion donation. Maybe they want to bring in some
foreign nationals on the dole to use as bait. "We have a multicultural
student body. Come to our University."
Be true to yourself, be proud of your grades and what they mean.
Use your grades to your benefit as much as possible.
But realize the real world sucks.
Steve |
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MD
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2005 6:14 pm
Post subject: Re: Why can't I get financial aid? |
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<<<<The school says they have already awarded all the aid they had and
cannot do anything more>>>>
I'm a little less cynical. Did you apply early before they ran out of
money?
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mjoann
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 1:07 am
Post subject: Re: Why can't I get financial aid? |
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MD wrote:
| Quote: | The school says they have already awarded all the aid they had and
cannot do anything more
I'm a little less cynical. Did you apply early before they ran out of
money?
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Yes, at the beginning of February, as soon as I had received my W2 form.
I believe the first reply was on to something...
My school does actively pursue minorities and international students. It
is a state university in a relatively well-off suburb that has
relatively few minorities. However, the school has a significantly
higher proportion of minorities than the actual population. It is not an
accurate representation of our community, the state, or even the nation
as a whole.
At this year's commencement ceremony, we had an astonishing number of
Indian citizens. The booklet listed everyone's current home city, and
these weren't American born Indians, they still use India as a home
address. I thought it was pretty strange that our school of engineering
graduates were over 95% native Indian (I actually did the math.) Of the
Masters recipients, an extremely high proportion was also from India. My
family and I found it quite strange that people in India would have even
heard of our Ohio suburb, let alone chose it as a destination. It must
be because the university actively recruits them with scholarships. Nice
to know that my ancestors have contributed to this state for 250 years
and founded half a dozen local cities only to be repaid like this- the
state university using scholarships to ignore locals and gift foreign
citizens.
Our international studies program currently has a similar scandal. They
have funding to send Americans abroad and bring foreigners over for
study. They are supposed to divide the funds equally, but last year they
spent nearly 100% importing from other countries while academically
deserving local students didn't receive any aid to study abroad. The
foreign language professors were outraged and there is a huge uproar in
the department.
I've devoted the majority of my time to my studies for over four years
to achieve an excellent record. I guess the biggest reason I didn't
receive any aid was that I am a white American. I'm not going to throw
away my goals or talents just because the local university is corrupt,
so I suppose I'll just add another $20,000 to my student loans and hope
to God I can get some kind of aid when I go for my Ph.D.!
mjoann |
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