Denial of financial aid for previous associates degree

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Hello everyone, I have worked my tail off to be accepted (and i was!!!) into the Practical Nursing program at a community college where i am from. I got a letter in the mail yesterday which is 16 days from the start of the class saying that I am ineligible for financial aid due to already having an Associates degree which is in an entirely different field. I cannot find anything saying that i should be ineligible. I will be calling and talking to them tommorrow but i wanted to see if anyone else has had this problem and if they appealed and won. I really want to be able to do this. Thanks for any input you guys have.

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I ran into that. Not sure if it's the same issue you had, but I basically "used up" the hours that financial aid would cover at my community college getting a previous associates degree (that was actually useless, but I was younger and not too bright at the time). My financial aid office allowed me to appeal and awarded me a "timeframe extension" on financial aid. The college only allows so much financial aid and I was over THEIR limit, but not the lifetime limit allowed by the government/financial aid gods. So I was approved, but financial aid would only cover the classes required for the degree, so there was no padding to get full-time status or anything like that (my ADN program averaged 10-11 credit hours per semester). If your school offers that, it may be the way to go. It's a bit of work to write the appeal, meet with financial aid, etc, but it's worth it if your school allows extensions. I graduated in May and take my NCLEX in a couple weeks. Good luck!

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Its good that you got the appeal. WHen you say they would only cover the classes did that include the books and stuff as well or did it only pay for the classes? My school does have an appeal and they also have a spot on it for timeframe extension. Good luck on your NCLEX!!

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Specializes in ICU.

Usually once you complete a degree that's it. There is usually not anything left. We had a financial aid guy speak at our orientation the other day and from what I understood you will have to do an appeal but that is not guaranteed. It depends on how much was used for the first degree. And then I think it is just a loan, no pell grant or anything.

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I know you can only get one bachelors degree. But I've never been told in any meetings or even research that you can only get one associates. There are limits to how much financial aid you can get but I'm not close to that.

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Specializes in Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.

A school can only give you FA (financial aid) for up to 150% of the hours for the program and they count any and all course work completed whether FA paid for it or not. For example the LPN program takes 60 hours. That means the school can grant you FA for 90 hours. But oops! you completed 95 hours for your associate degree in business already. You are not eligible for FA for that program. Also, you would be eligible for a bachelors degree that requires 120 hours because the max would then be 180 hours (you have 95).

You can file an appeal. In my experience, schools happily accept appeals with any semi-good reason, because they might not get any money if they don't. They just want the proper paperwork for when they are audited.

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I was in the same boat for an ASN program. I appealed, the nursing director tried to access some emergency funds, but in the end it was to no avail. My only option was to go for my BSN. I was so devastated at the time (this was 2 years ago), but ultimately it has worked out because I start upper level classes for my BSN this fall! I truly hope that they can find a solution for you right now, but if they can't, don't despair and don't give up!

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Specializes in Neuro, Telemetry.

Miiki is pretty much spot on about the amount of credit hours you are aloud to take for each degree. There is also a rule about degrees. Yes, it will only pay for one bachelors degree and then that's all you can get and doesn't mention associate degrees. But the other issue is that you have to be moving forward in your education. Once you receive and associate degree, if you want to continue your education, it has to be at the bachelors or higher level. Doing an LPN program is technically a step backwards from an AA degree and wouldn't be covered. Even if you didn't use the full 90 credit hours aloud for your AA. If you were to go for a BSN, hen you would be covered up to the 180 credit hours aloud.

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Specializes in Hospitalist Medicine.

I've run in to this roadblock, too. I earned an associates degree 20 years ago. Coming back to school, many of my previous credits were "too old" so I was required by the school to re-take them. Now I'm being turned down by the school for financial aid because I have maxed out on credits at the associate level. The school I'm transferring to to complete the BSN after the ADN has no issue, but I have to jump through hoops to get my max time frame appeal approved. UGH!!!

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Specializes in hospice.

Yikes. This is an issue I hadn't heard about before. I have a bachelor's degree from a million years ago (okay 17) and am currently waiting to get into a LPN certificate program at the local CC. I didn't realize that I'm likely ineligible for any financial aid. Meh.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
Yikes. This is an issue I hadn't heard about before. I have a bachelor's degree from a million years ago (okay 17) and am currently waiting to get into a LPN certificate program at the local CC. I didn't realize that I'm likely ineligible for any financial aid. Meh.

Especially having a bachelor's you would be ineligible for financial aid going "backwards " for an LPN diploma. The max credits have been enforced for at least the past 5 years. Those with a bachelors are no longer eligible for grants or federally subsidized loans. There are details on the federal student aid website.

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Specializes in Surgical Intensive Care.
Especially having a bachelor's you would be ineligible for financial aid going "backwards " for an LPN diploma. The max credits have been enforced for at least the past 5 years. Those with a bachelors are no longer eligible for grants or federally subsidized loans. There are details on the federal student aid website.

Just wanted to add my experience. I have a previous bachelors degree where I used about 12k in unsubsidized/subsidized loans. Last fall I started taking classes for an ADN program at a local community college and had no issue obtaining federal aid despite having a previous degree. I have since decided to leave the community college and actually go for my BSN at another college. I am all set to start the BSN program in August and, again, I have been approved for federal aid (loans) for the program. I am sorry you guys are running into these issues, but I've never had this issue. Now, there is no question that federal grants are no longer an option, but as far a loans it has been my understanding that as long as you don't reach annual or lifetime limits it shouldn't be an issue.

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