Financial Aid Denial Please Help

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Specializes in CNA.

I have recently maxed out on the amount of credit hours that I can take and receive financial aid at my school.

I have been attending a community college and have been on the waiting list for the nursing program for almost two years. During that time the financial aid office told me that I had to stay enrolled in school (which now I know that was not true.) I was told that if I did not I would be off the wait list and would not be eligible for the program. Now I have lost my financial aid due to maxing out on credit hours from that school. I am still on the wait list and was told that this fall I should be entering. My problem is that I can not afford to pay for college on my own. I do receive scholarships though it is not nearly enough to cover tuition and books. I was told after my appeal got denied I could transfer to another school and be able to receive aid. I was told this from my schools financial aid office. I was wondering if this is true and how do other schools look at your credits and if they only count the ones they transfer towards the maximum or do they look at all of the credits you have received from prior schools. Any info would help, especially from those who have been in this situation. I have contacted another college in my area but they are closed for winter break until later next week and I am trying to get an idea of what to do now. Thank you for any input.

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Specializes in Maternity.

this happened to me. easy fix: ask to become a double major. this is what i did, it's a way around it. registrar told me that i did not need to complete the degree, that it was just a way for me to receive aid for the classes i had to take.

see if it's an option at your school.

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Are you talking about federal/government asisstance? Several of my friends have encountered this. MY Best friend has a liberal arts degree from a CC and the first semester of the nursing program she maxed out on credits. There is a waiver form she had to fill out allowing her to continue to receive aid. In order to qualify for the waiver she had to be enrolled in another degree program (nursing) but it was all taken care of once she did. Similar scenario with the other people I know. I don't have all the details with the others but with my BF, the financial aid department wasn't forthcoming with this waiver, they just told her sorry basically. I just googled

"maximum credit limit and financial aid" and got a lot of hits so I am guessing that the waiver is fairly common. You might want to look into it.

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Just go up to financial aid and explain the issue, there are exemptions that you can fill out to get a waiver. At our school it takes about two weeks to figure out, but you should be fine - just go first thing Monday morning! :)

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Specializes in Tele, CVIU.

File an appeal that explains your situation. I had to do this for my B.S. when I was like 12 units from graduating. Good luck.

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Specializes in Geriatrics.
Are you talking about federal/government asisstance? Several of my friends have encountered this. MY Best friend has a liberal arts degree from a CC and the first semester of the nursing program she maxed out on credits. There is a waiver form she had to fill out allowing her to continue to receive aid. In order to qualify for the waiver she had to be enrolled in another degree program (nursing) but it was all taken care of once she did. Similar scenario with the other people I know. I don't have all the details with the others but with my BF, the financial aid department wasn't forthcoming with this waiver, they just told her sorry basically. I just googled

"maximum credit limit and financial aid" and got a lot of hits so I am guessing that the waiver is fairly common. You might want to look into it.

This is exactly what I had to do - fill out a waiver and voila - Financial Aid to the rescue for Spring 2010! The only caveat was that my previous degree was in a non-nursing related field prior to declaring my current major in Nursing.

Definitely find out about a waiver!

And as suggested by IsabellasMommyRN2B: The double major thing is kind of clever too! :yeah:

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This same thing happened to me....last semester I was supposed to start nursing classes and applied for financial aid. I already have a Bachelor's so I was over on my hours. I filed an appeal and was granted aid for 16 of the 31 hours that I would need. I decided to wait for a semester because I was still on the waiting list for another community college that I really wanted to go to. So I reapplied for aid this semester and got denied again, wrote an appeal, and was approved for the duration of the entire program (31 credit hours). So I would encourage you to apply to a different school if your appeal was denied at the first school because different schools handle appeals differently. The schools that I dealt with are actually just different campuses of the same college too. So you never know. Just be persistent and make sure to go into the financial aid office and talk to whoever you need to. Go to the supervisor if you have to and explain your situation.

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Specializes in Ortho, Neuro, Detox, Tele.

i had to fill out a waiver as I had over 140 credit hours before starting NS...between previous years and prereqs. Had to write a letter and refill it out every semester....just a formality really...so wait til you can talk to them.

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this happened to me this semester and i'm only in my 2nd semester of nursing. i've been in school for 3 years already and my nursing degree is only an associates and they said i've been maxed out on my credits (92) and the max is 90. so i sent in an appeal letter and now i'm just waiting.. it sucks because i can def. not afford to pay out of pocket.

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Specializes in Clinical Partner and CNA.

Same thing happened to me too. Except it was a mistake, we have a 99 hour credit limit they denied my aid because they said I was close, turns out I only had 64 credits and it was a different Brittany with my last name (they do that all the time) anywho...I will encounter this problem next Fall and they said all I have to do is to fill out an appeal paper and then attach my acceptance letter (to the nursing program) and I will automatically be approved or to write a letter stating that I was going to get my bach. degree after I graduated my school. They are a way around it, you just have to figure it out. Good Luck to you!

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