Very important concern regarding FAFSA and my school

[cutelatina]

Hi to everyone of you,

I'm a new student at Preferred College of Nursing in LA (PCNLA), I need to know if FAFSA will cover the whole tuition fee amounting to $19,500? My EFC is 0 and expecting that I will not pay anything out of my pocket.

Before I attended the orientation they informed me that I was approved of $9,500 and also eligible to receive a pell grant amounting to $5,500. But suddenly during the orientation, they told me that i was only approved of $15,800 and without pell grant. Therefore they want us to pay the remaining balance of $3,700 which is payable in 18 months and if we failed to miss the monthly payment we are going to be terminated from the program.

In addition, when following up the status of my application in FAFSA they told me that my school will be the one to decide how much are they going to lend.

So can anyone be of help... I need to know if I am really going to pay the remaining balance to PCNLA or FAFSA can cover everything. Thanks.

[shaas, ASN, RN]

Hi, there.

The undergraduate/vocational school loan limit for the first two years in college will not exceed what you've been awarded. Exceptions are made for the private colleges and universities (Ivy League and the likes).

Most of your for-profit vocational colleges (such as PCNLA) will do this (DeVry, ITT, American Career College, etc.) to their students regardless of the EFC. It's a profitable legal loophole that these vocational schools are using to lure unsuspecting students who somehow do not seek the traditional route of education.

Two choices:

1) give them your or your parents' hard-earned money and go there

2) seek out cheaper LVN/ADN programs (community colleges), or other options in the regular academia (UC's, CSU's, etc.).

I am very partial toward the second option. If you were my little sister, I would never let you set foot in these for-profit places that call themselves "schools." Times may have changed, but there are still people who revere erudites and value education from reputable, educational institutions.

Please, consider carefully and fully weigh your pros and cons. I wish you the best of luck. You'll need it.

Shaas

[Taxminia0311]

I agree with the above resolution, Community College is the best route, don't go the private school route; they are bunch of rip-off's

[FromWhatItSeems]

Preferred College of Nursing has a history of this problem. Their head Instructor,a woman who has her degree from the Philippines, tells prospective students that their full tuition will be covered.Once they enroll and get past the 5 days refund limit, they are told they are not eligible for full tuition. I know one girl who came back to class crying after being told she had to come up with over $3,000 money out of pocket,when she was promised by this woman full tuition would be covered. After some background checking,this school raised their tuition by $3,000 immediately after they were approved for Financial Aid,with another raise in tuition for this school year. Unfortunately, this is the reality regarding "for profit" schools. If you do research regarding this school, it has horrible reviews. As a matter of fact, all of the campuses do,some of which have had their LVN license to teach pulled bu the state.

Not a well liked school by the online research conducted. We suggest you skip this school.

[Taxminia0311]

cutelatina said:

Hi to everyone of you,

I'm a new student at Preferred College of Nursing in LA (PCNLA), I need to know if FAFSA will cover the whole tuition fee amounting to $19,500? My EFC is 0 and expecting that I will not pay anything out of my pocket.

Before I attended the orientation they informed me that I was approved of $9,500 and also eligible to receive a pell grant amounting to $5,500. But suddenly during the orientation, they told me that i was only approved of $15,800 and without pell grant. Therefore they want us to pay the remaining balance of $3,700 which is payable in 18 months and if we failed to miss the monthly payment we are going to be terminated from the program.

In addition, when following up the status of my application in FAFSA they told me that my school will be the one to decide how much are they going to lend.

So can anyone be of help... I need to know if I am really going to pay the remaining balance to PCNLA or FAFSA can cover everything. Thanks.

Trust me go through Community College route, I myself was thinking of going through a private college and almost ended up in the same situtation as you...until I decided to go to Lorain Community College for the Lpn program and then bridge over to the R.N Program.

As I write this letter Im in my last pre-reqt and soon will be able to apply to the lpn program, it was totally worth it if I had to do it again.

[Jolie, BSN]

We are just beginning to explore colleges and funding for my daughter, who is a high school junior, so I am far from an expert on the subject, but as I understand it:

After you complete and submit your FAFSA, you will receive a confirmation letter from the federal government indicating the amount that you and your parents (if you are under age 24) are expected to contribute towards your education for the coming year. It will also indicate the maximun amount of federal financial aid for which you qualify (in the form of grants, loans and federal work-study). Your school may choose to offer you additional aid out of their pockets which is unrelated to your federal qualifications.

Keep in mind that the amount of financial aid indicated in the letter is for one year only. It is no guarantee of the same amount of assistance for future years of your education. And keep in mind that depending on the type of loans you receive, you (or your parents) may be required to begin payback even before you graduate.

I strongly encourage you to investigate other avenues of education such as a community college or public university with lower costs and more transparent and understandable payment requirements.

Best to you.

[ZenLover, MSN, RN, NP]

Go the community college route like everyone has stated. I myself applied to VCU Nursing School to an Accelerated BSN program that is very competitive. I was scared to have all my eggs in one basket though and wanted to apply to another local private school that is for profit and not even accredited yet. They did not even want to acknowledge my previous bachelor's degree or pharmaceutical certificate. I had taken 3 previous medical terminology classes and received As in all of them, and worked as a medical transcriptionist for years. Yet I needed to take their medical terminology class. They also wanted me to take their computers 101, even though I had already taken that, achieved 2 Access Database certificates and currently work at Capital One in their Card IT department...yet they wanted my money to figure out how to boot up windows? It was a joke! They only wanted my money.

VCU accepted me as is. end of story...go with a reputable State or Community college and you'll be better off and better treated!

[Puddin2day]

Like kellyski, I want to test for an ROP LVN program. Having almost 32K in loans (Kaplan College) is just insane. Now add a possible reality that I might not get a job as a "new grad". Too darn scary for me.

[garnetgirl29, BSN, RN]

I've never heard of that school, but I would definitly not do a private school b/c of the cost. I'm in my 2nd semester at a community college and Pell Grant completely covered my 1st two semesters, AND I got a hefty refund from the leftover funds. My last semester is during the summer and Pell won't pay for summer courses, so I do have to pay for that one myself. Fortunately though, it's about $1000 for the summer semester & I'm getting $1300 back from Pell. So, I guess you could say that Pell is paying my summer tuition. :) My entire tuition and books have been covered by Pell because the enitre 10 month program is only about $5000.