Getting Financial Aid for A.S in Nursing and the 150% rule:earned AA degree already

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Specializes in Med Surg, PCU, Travel.

I applied to a couple of State Colleges here in Florida for the ADN program. One of them, Daytona State College, is saying I do not qualify for financial aid because I already have an Associate of Arts Degree with 76 credit hours and I will be over the 150% rule(90 credits) for financial aid if I attempt their ADN program of 72 hours.

As far as I know financial aid is not possible ONLY if the person already has a Bachelors degree, or had already earned an Associate of Science degree and trying to get a second Associate of Science degree.

In my AA degree all prerequisites were done pertaining to nursing so I can apply for both BSN and ADN programs. For Daytona State, 30 credits of the AA goes to the ADN leaving me with 42professional credits, to complete if I get accepted.They seem to be counting in all the other courses I took that pertain only to the BSN. Yet I heard of quite a few people who got an AA degree first because they were uncertain of doing the ADN or BSN and then later decided to do an ADN degree and got it all with financial aid. Has anyone done this and how to I get it corrected, file an appeal? or are they just being difficult.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

I'm in California where the community colleges just started enforcing a 150% rule also. Here, You can appeal until you reach 120 credits, after that, you can't even appeal. I was unable to even appeal because of the number of credits I have. Interestingly, here in California, if you are over the credit limit, you can still go to tech/vocational school or pursue the BSN and get aid. HTH!PS I have friends who have successfully appealed.

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Federal financial aid is based on the number of hours you have taken, not on any degrees you've earned.

The regulations have really tightened up in the last year because so many people don't repay their federal loans and the government is trying to find ways to limit the debt. The latest estimate I saw is that student loan debt is over $700 billion! So you're not going to have the same success appealing and getting loan forgiveness as in the past.

If you've exhausted your financial aid for an Associates, your best bet might be to go for the BS in nursing since you'll still have some aid available for the advanced degree. Or better yet, get a job at a hospital or nursing home that will help pay for you to earn a nursing degree.

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Specializes in Med Surg, PCU, Travel.

Ok I see this is apparently a new rule. Upon further checking, Daytona State limits are at 90 credits for an Associate Degree, while the other Florida State college at Jacksonville I applied to, is a lot bigger and has limits of 180 credits for an Associates Degree and a whopping 240credit limits for a Bachelors . These limits are something all students will need to pay attention to cause they vary alot by district, I guess they don't want too many people changing their majors anymore.

Well I guess Daytona State of going to be scratched off my list, I don't want to start going there and then all of a sudden run out of aid in the middle of the program and have them stick me with a bill, even if I win the appeal. I am awaiting a response from their financial aid department to see what to do, but honestly, I don't what to attend DSC, it was just a last resort because its the closest college campus to me is like 2 miles...lol

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Specializes in Medical-Surgical, Supervisory, HEDIS, IT.

You could always do a student loan from like Sallie Mae or something like that...

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Don't count it out completely yet, it's good to keep your options open. File an appeal- it's very simple. I did it just this semester for the same reason, already have AA now going for ADN. I was scared to death they would say no, but they gave it to me on the condition that I can not withdraw from or fail any courses.

So I suggest filing an appeal, and do it now. You can decide not to go to that school still, but at least you will know that it's an option. Oh, and the appeal was fairly straightforward- for my school, I downloaded a form from the school website and filled it out with general info and a paragraoh stating why I'm appealing (have an AA, wanting to pursue nursing AS blah blah).

Good luck to you.

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Specializes in Forensic Psych.

It's actually not a new rule. The government has long had that rule to avoid paying for career students, but many schools let it slide. Now that their purse strings are tight they're demanding schools enforce the SAP guidelines. You can defining appeal! Some schools are quick to work with you. Others, like mine, will leave you SOL and you'll have to pay out of pocket. That's why when people come on here talking about getting other degrees while they're taking prereqs people warn them to consider financial aid. Even if you don't use it for your first degree i the credits you attempt will count against you. EVERY credit you take for any program anywhere counts.

I would appeal and start considering other ways you can pay for it or consider a BSN. You need around 200 credits to max out your time frame at a four year school vs 90 at a two year.

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Specializes in Med Surg, PCU, Travel.
It's actually not a new rule. The government has long had that rule to avoid paying for career students, but many schools let it slide. Now that their purse strings are tight they're demanding schools enforce the SAP guidelines. You can defining appeal! Some schools are quick to work with you. Others, like mine, will leave you SOL and you'll have to pay out of pocket. That's why when people come on here talking about getting other degrees while they're taking prereqs people warn them to consider financial aid. Even if you don't use it for your first degree i the credits you attempt will count against you. EVERY credit you take for any program anywhere counts.

I would appeal and start considering other ways you can pay for it or consider a BSN. You need around 200 credits to max out your time frame at a four year school vs 90 at a two year.

That sounds like a good idea. I did actually apply to a 4 year university and waiting on decisions from the schools then I will decide on doing BSN or ADN. I want to do the BSN and it makes sense cause its about the same time frame since I already got the AA, however I need to work and the ADN will be more felxible since some classes are in the evening. If I do the BSN I will definitely need student loans.

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