Pell Grant Denied... Help!

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Hello, I got an Ass degree in Business Admin about 2 years ago and obviously I want to be a nurse now. I'm trying to take my pre-reqs and a few more classes to finish up the requirements for it to be a transferrable degree to a CSU, but my school said I've taken too many units and can't get the pell grant.

I won't be working while attempting the pre-reqs, so my family needs the help. I was approved by fafsa for $6,000 if full time and the school said nope.

If not, I'll basically have to take out a loan to cover living expenses to go to school and id rather see if anyone knows a way to work around this to get it approved.

Now that I really think about this, I don't remember receiving Pell Grant funds more than a couple semesters. I was working so I didn't even need it though.

Any advice is appreciated!

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once a degree is received you are no longer eligible for pell grant funds if working on another degree at the same level. While I understand that you are only working on your pre-reqs at a community college, you are not eligible for pell grant funds towards additional courses that would lead toward a second associates degree. I would expect that if you were to take the courses at the University level you would receive the pell grant funds without issue.

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Thank you for your comment. I just don't understand why it won't be approved if my goal is for it to apply toward the bachelors program. Doesn't make sense. :( Do you know if I can at least get a subsidized loan at the CC? Or do I also have to wait to go to the CSU to get that since I already have an associates? I have never taken loans before.

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Because you aren't yet in a bachelor's program, and they view those as "extra" classes that should have been done during your associate's or are now courses for "personal development." You should be eligible for Federal loans though for now, and you should be able to get pell grants once you get accepted into a bachelor's nursing program. I'd double check though how exactly you'd need to file your FAFSA depending on when you'll know if you are accepted.

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I qualified for Pell Grants even after having an AS degree in something other than nursing. I got pell grants when I got my ADN and I still get Pell Grants while I'm now pursuing my BSN. I think it depends on the amount of units you have completed overall.

I got lucky that FAFSA requirements changed and they go by taxes from 2 years prior when I was not working as an RN. When I went back to school for another associate's I had to appeal my initial denial of Pell Grants at the financial aid office at my school. Have you tried doing that?

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I qualified for Pell Grants even after having an AS degree in something other than nursing. I got pell grants when I got my ADN and I still get Pell Grants while I'm now pursuing my BSN. I think it depends on the amount of units you have completed overall.

I got lucky that FAFSA requirements changed and they go by taxes from 2 years prior when I was not working as an RN. When I went back to school for another associate's I had to appeal my initial denial of Pell Grants at the financial aid office at my school. Have you tried doing that?

Thank you for your reply. I have 62 completed units.

I actually did find an appeal form on their site that has a checkbox that will allow me to appeal this particular issue. I printed the form and filled it out and it is requesting I provide an attachment to it explaining why ive exceeded them or whatever the exact circumstances were. I don't really know what to say... do you remember what you wrote for your appeal? Do I literally just write about how my degree didn't take me in the direction id hoped it would and through exploring my options ive found my passion? I dont know, i feel like i wont be doing this right lol. Tips? Did you submit further documentation?

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You mentioned you are wanting to transfer to a CSU school, so I'm assuming you're in California. If you are low income, you can try seeing if you qualify for a BOGG waiver -- now known as California College Promise Grant. This is only good at the community college level. This is a program offered by the state of California. This will cover your tuition (per unit) fees only. Does not cover any extra fees like Student Health fees or Student Government fees or Books. The only thing is, you have to be extremely low income. Check it out though! You never know.

When I applied I printed out the form directly online and sent it in w/ my tax returns. I didn't go through FAFSA mainly because I did it mid-way through the year. I sent it directly to my community college and they approved it. It was a huge savings as I saved $46 per unit. Most of the science classes are between 4-5 units. All of my main science classes were 5 units so I saved $230 three times! It was a huge help.

Whatever you decide, the place to start is the Financial Aid office. They will usually be the ones to tell you what you can or cannot qualify for. Worse case scenario is you just have to try to get a loan from somewhere.

As others have mentioned....once you hit the university level/BSN stage, you should be able to qualify for more financial aid since you are working toward a different degree and not an associates,

Good luck.

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Specializes in PACU, pre/postoperative, ortho.

I ran into the same thing when I went back to school (& also had a small panic attack). I had a previous associates degree in business from 15 yrs prior. Just fill out the appeal stating that the program is unrelated to your other degree & it should be reversed. I never had to submit any additional information or fight for it, & I received the full amt that had been estimated to be awarded by FAFSA.

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Thank you for your reply. I have 62 completed units.

I actually did find an appeal form on their site that has a checkbox that will allow me to appeal this particular issue. I printed the form and filled it out and it is requesting I provide an attachment to it explaining why ive exceeded them or whatever the exact circumstances were. I don't really know what to say... do you remember what you wrote for your appeal? Do I literally just write about how my degree didn't take me in the direction id hoped it would and through exploring my options ive found my passion? I dont know, i feel like i wont be doing this right lol. Tips? Did you submit further documentation?

Yes, I would write about that. I wrote about how classes I was registering for were related to a new major (nursing) and not the previous major.

Mergirlc brought up a good point. The Board of Governor's Waiver/California College Promise Grant. This helped me so much because they covered tuition fees, but if you need cash money that's where the Pell Grants will help. I wouldn't solely rely on appealing online. Call the Financial Aid office or visit them in person. The staff at my former school were always helpful and hopefully yours will be too.

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You mentioned you are wanting to transfer to a CSU school, so I'm assuming you're in California. If you are low income, you can try seeing if you qualify for a BOGG waiver -- now known as California College Promise Grant. This is only good at the community college level. This is a program offered by the state of California. This will cover your tuition (per unit) fees only. Does not cover any extra fees like Student Health fees or Student Government fees or Books. The only thing is, you have to be extremely low income. Check it out though! You never know.

When I applied I printed out the form directly online and sent it in w/ my tax returns. I didn't go through FAFSA mainly because I did it mid-way through the year. I sent it directly to my community college and they approved it. It was a huge savings as I saved $46 per unit. Most of the science classes are between 4-5 units. All of my main science classes were 5 units so I saved $230 three times! It was a huge help.

Whatever you decide, the place to start is the Financial Aid office. They will usually be the ones to tell you what you can or cannot qualify for. Worse case scenario is you just have to try to get a loan from somewhere.

As others have mentioned....once you hit the university level/BSN stage, you should be able to qualify for more financial aid since you are working toward a different degree and not an associates,

Good luck.

I actually did get the california promise grant! And I'm so very thankful. We have 4 kids between us both. So we have quite some expenses.

Im glad i wont have problems at the bachelors level. Hopefully by the we'll be making more too.

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Specializes in Telemetry, Med-Surg, Peds.

There should be an appeal form you can fill out with financial aid. The form I filled out was a Maximum Time Frame Appeal. Also, try and apply for scholarships. There are a ton out there if your willing to put in the work of applying. I got 2 while in school. One was for the duration of the program the other was for on semester. Every lil bit helps.

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I thought id update my post.

Good news! I filed an appeal. I had to get an educational plan, and I submitted that with my appeal. So basically they approved me for all of the classes that will apply to an adn. So im taking more classes like chem and statistics so they won't provide aid for those credits. Oh well. I received a $190 deposit for 3 credits (6 credits arent eligible) and i should get 2 more this semester.

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