Financial Aid Problems

[KatWrangler]

My husband wants to go back to school. We can no way afford it or a loan. He applied for Financial Aid and thought everything was going okie dokie. Uh, no. He qualifies because of income, but because he already has a degree (Landscape Archtect that he got in 1987) he is disqualified for Pell Grants.

I am sad, upset, discouraged.

Are there any other resources out there? The FA office said he could talk to some guy that helps people like my husband. But that won't be till July 15th! The plan was for my husband to go to summer school and start taking pre-requiste classes. Now, he can't.

[happysmileylady]

That doesn't make any sense. My Dh earned an associates enroute to his bachelors, his AA degree was a year and a half ago, but he got pell grants for this year and this summer. Double check with the financial aid office again.

Aside from that, check out fastweb.com and do searches for scholarships and grants online. There are THOUSANDS of dollars in scholarships out there available. There are all different types-some are for specific ethinic groups, specific majors etc, some are contests, some involve essays, projects etc. But seriously, the number of scholarships out there really means that very few people should have to pay much for school.

How much is the summer school and pre-reqs? My DH's summer school is just one class, it's $975. They dropped a $300 Pell grant in and we now are only paying $675. We are just going to pay that out of pocket, but that's not going to affect any financial aid for the next school year. Can you not swing one or two classes out of pocket?

[KatWrangler]

He got a letter of denial. So last night he went up to the FA office and that's what they said and or the letter said.

His LA degree is a Bachelor's. The new profession he wants to go for is in the medical field. The college is a local Community College.

[happysmileylady]

Originally Posted by KatWrangler

He got a letter of denial. So last night he went up to the FA office and that's what they said and or the letter said.

His LA degree is a Bachelor's. The new profession he wants to go for is in the medical field. The college is a local Community College.

Is he going for another BA? Or is he going for grad work?

[chely7425]

I ran into this too... you only qualify for Pell Grants for your first bachelors, and not grad school work either. Hence why I am not going back to school at the moment.

[KatWrangler]

Originally Posted by happysmileylady

Is he going for another BA? Or is he going for grad work?

No. This would be an Associates Degree as a Diagnostic Medical Sonographer. He has mentioned Nuclear Medicine along this lines or MRI something like that. But the degree at the CC is Diagnostic Medical Sonographer (16 month program plus pre-requiste classes).

[KatWrangler]

Originally Posted by chely7425

I ran into this too... you only qualify for Pell Grants for your first bachelors, and not grad school work either. Hence why I am not going back to school at the moment.

It stinks, it really does.

[PlayaMama]

i don't seem to remember pell grants being that much money?

has he looked in to private scholarships?

would his increase in income justify the loans?

[sunyata]

You know that you wouldn't have to start paying back student loans until 6 months after he was done with school, right? And by then, hopefully, he would be making more money. I know it's not ideal to get into debt, but it's often worth it for student loans.

Also, call your local unemployment office and ask them about the WIA program. They are paying for my tuition, books, supplies, scrubs, and anything else that's required for me to complete nursing school. There are lots of ways to qualify--I'm not sure of what all of the different criteria are, but I qualified by being low income. There were a lot of hoops to jump through, but definitely worth it for me. They did recently stop accepting new people in my county because they're running out of money here, but I'm sure that's not the case everywhere. And they have a wait list if you can't get it right away. Oh, I just remembered that I couldn't get WIA until I finished prereq's and was accepted to the nursing program. The rules are different in every county/office though and it's a great program, so I'd suggest at least calling.