Denied funding - resolution of excess hours

[quote=itsirkmr;3721309
Your reply assumes so much, both about my life, and about the way things are when one is an attorney.

.[/QUOTE]

In my original post, I asked you point blank if there were any specal cicumstance that prevented you from working. That question suggests that I might support your receiving money from the federal government (ie. taxpayers) if there are special circumstances. But neither of your posts provides any justification why the taxpayers should help pay for your continued education. If you can't get a job as a lawyer, you must have some skills that are marketable.

And yes, even if your loans are not subsized, the money still comes from the taxpayers. I am glad that there are limits and restrictions as to who is eligible to receive money from the taxpayers. If there were no limits on how much and how often people could borrow money from the taxpayers, some people would spend their entire lives in school -- taking the deferment that student status confers until they died without ever paying it back. If you are ineligible for loans through your school and also ineligible for private loans, there are probably some good reasons for that. If not, then please fill us in on what makes your case so special. Then I might be more supportive.

Make you case ... a stronger case than "I want your money, but I won't tell you why I deserve it."

I suggest you look at relatively inexpensive schools and take classes part time. Look for a job with an employer that offers tuition reimbursement. Perhaps you can get a job with a hospital that will help you pay for school. Another good deal would be to work for a college that offered tuition discounts to employees.

Schools do not decide who receives loans. Your FAFSA is reviewed by the federal government, which decides whether to back the loan, then tells the school for how much you've been approved -- and that's set by statutory criteria. If the school has other aid available to offset the loan, such as scholarships or grants, it does decide whether you receive that alternative aid and adjusts the balance of your loan accordingly. But it's the government that decides what you can or cannot afford to pay, and there is no allocation of loan money to schools. It's a commercial enterprise, whether the loan is underwritten by the public or private sector. (There are schools that do not accept student loans, but that's usually because they refuse to comply with federal financial reporting requirements.)

Whether the OP's earning potential is higher than that of someone who doesn't have a college degree is irrelevent. If she's willing to pay the cost of borrowing the money from the bank, she qualifies.

I obviously don't know how your school handles financial aid....but that's not how my school handles federal aid (grants & loans). The financial aid officer for the school makes decisions on federal financial aid.

And evidently, earning potential isn't irrelevant. It means the student does have more ability to pay for school themselves.

It's common to deny federal student loans once a student has a certain number of hours. The school where I did my pre-reqs had the advisers warn pre-nursing students who didn't get in and were looking to apply again for the next year, that if they continued full-time for that year, they could have trouble getting federal financial aid (grants & loans).

My school's process is identical to what's outlined on the government's web pages on the subject. The only loan that's administered at the campus level is the Perkins.

Earning potential is not material to obtaining a student loan. Nor is an individual's credit. You are eligible to borrow up to a certain amount for each of four years. If you stay in school in the hopes of getting into a program that will take you over that four-year limit once you're admitted, then, yes, you will have problems obtaining some forms of aid.

It's interesting that one of the arguments is that a loan would cost the taxpayers money. Unless she were to default in the future, how would this cost the taxpayers anything? Is the presumption that she would receive a subsidized student loan?

My Federal Nursing loans are administered on my campus (as in my school made the decision about the loan and holds the loan) and are not Perkins loans (I've never received Perkins loans). Check with your Financial Aid office. You might consider the possibility there's something about my financial aid you don't know....shocking thought, I know.

Of course federal loans don't consider credit or income. The idea though is that is you have a degree, d/t the increased earning power you have other options to finance school and if you have accumulated more than the cap of credits and don't have a degree, then you're not making adequate progress toward a degree.

I feel the need to respond to llg's post. I think it's time to get realistic about the cost of a modern college nursing education. Community colleges have wait lists of years with no promise of ever receiving admittance. State school are nearly impossible to get in with place like Sacramento State and San Diego state that have 3.9entrance GPAs making nursing school more competitive then med school and placing affordable education out of reach for most nursing students. Private education becomes the only option for many. Not becase we feel entitled to it but because of the current situation.

Nursing education, even at a community college, is exorbitantly expensive. You can not realistically work very much while in nursing school, it would take years to save up to pay for all your expenses and tuition, books, etc that one would accumulate in nursing school. Even when I had a full scholarship to complete my pre-requisities having to come up with rent, utilities, gas and car insurance, parking, phone bills, health insurance, textbooks, school supplies, really the bare minimum for life I struggled immensely to come up with the money to pay for these items since I could only work so much and still expect to pull the straight A's necessary for admittance. Even in the best of situations it's an uphill, unattainable thing for most people. As you pointed out back in the day a college education was unattainable for most. That's why financial aid was created. Not to lend money to people because they were entitled to it, but because we as a country believe that everyone with the ability, will, and desire to get an education and become proficient in a profession should get the chance to do so and that financial reasons should not be what stands in their way. The more educated we as a country are, the better, more prosperous our country will be.

Also many people go to college when they are 18. How in the heck are you suppose to know your calling in life when you are 18. Should those that have found their calling in nursing later in life be punished without the opportunity of obtaining a loan because they didn't know from minute one that their passion in life was nursing? Come on...

I am in the process of completing my second degree in nursing and have been lucky enough to receive substantial help with financial aid. I would have never been able to get this degree without it. And excuse me for tooting my own horn here for a minute but I'm going to be one hell of a good nurse who already volunteers substantial hours at a local non-cost clinic and will benefit my community with my nursing skill knowledge. Trust me, my community, my country will be a better place because of my nursing education. That is what financial aid is about. I'm not spending it on nail salons, and movie tickets. The money is being responsibly spent and will be responsibly paid back, most likely when I sign up for the military when I graduate.

Who are we to sit back and make judgements on each other on who is deserving of financial aid? If you have the desire and ability and you're going to be responsible in paying back the money why shouldn't someone receive financial aid? I don't care if it's your first or your 50th degree. In fact one could argue that giving financial aid to someone who is getting a second or third degree is a better investment because you know they are capable of finishing a degree program and have better opportunities in place to repay the money.

Saving for college is the most ideal situation but it is hardly realistic in the educational climate of today. The increasingly skyrocketing costs of a college education means that more and more people are having to seek out financial aid. It's not selfish, it's not entitlement, it's reality.

Itsirkmr:

I was originally denied finacial aid as well. I don't know how specifically it got worked out, but I had a professor call back and speak to the head of financial aid and find out what I needed to do to get federal financial aid. The next thing I know they were able to offer me federal financial aid, I was just on financial aid "probation." I think meaning I had a limited time to get this degree and if I was still asking for aid in four years that I would be cutt-off. So my advice to you is to call back and talk to someone else in financial aid. Try to speak to the head of the financial aid department. Try getting their email and send them an email. Also, I have heard of students writing a letter describing their situations, outlining how much they need and what it is going to go to, outlining any financial hardships and sending it to financial aid and then they received some aid assistance. Talk to the nursing school and ask what students in similar situations have been able to do. You cannot be the first person to be in this situation at your school. Keep your head up. Where there's a will there is a way. Welcome to nursing school, where you spend a good majority of your time being a hoop jumper and trying to navigate the frustrating world of getting a nursing education. I wish you good luck.

The same thing happened to me. I transferred from community college to another and the pre-reqs were not the same. So I am close to 99 hours. I had to file the SAP (student appeal process), write a letter explaining my plan for school, what classes I had to take, why I had to transfer, when I planned on starting the nursing program, etc. Did you try to write a letter or explain why you wanted to be a nurse?

I understand putting limits on students that have degrees already or that make too much, but they shouldnt be able to stop anyone from getting student loans. Again I do not have any kind of degree yet, my husband works in law enforcement to support myself and our two children. I did not qualify for grants this year because I worked last summer, but if they don't approve me to get loans than I will have to quit school. Good Luck to you and anyone else in our situation!

I assume that you are trying to receive financial aid from a community college? To my knowledge, most universities will give you a federal financial aid loan for any "post-bac" classes that you want to complete for a new degree program. At my school the limit is 12,000 in loans for post-bac. If you go to a University, you may also qualify for monies to complete a second degree (again, these are financial aid loans). If going to a public university is an option for you, I strongly suggest you try this route. Also, many private colleges may offer loans to those who wish to return to school.

Give this lady a break, people! We don't know her circumstances, and we wouldn't want other people passing judgment on ours.

Best of luck to the op, I hope you figure something out!