Tuition Waivers HELP!!

[mewtoo]

I've received a full tuition waiver and will be getting a very, very, very small stipend at a regional uni. I need loans to supplement this as I like to eat everyday, I find its a very helpful thing to do. I also don't like sleeping under a cardboard box although I'm sure the night sky view is great.

I accepted my loan amount, things were all good until my tuition waiver finally credited to my account and they changed my loan amount to where I only get 900 a semester!

The financial aid office keeps enforcing that this is how its supposed to be, the waiver acts as a grant and thus affects your loan amount. I emailed the graduate program adviser but of course she's out until the 15th of this month. This is not correct procedure, is it? My uncle went to graduate school in the same exact state a few years ago and says that's not how it was for him!

I just really want to know if my uni is apparently full of BS and doesn't know what its doing (which, although we like to think is not possible, totally is) or if I'm just screwed and have a high chance of not even being able to attend now. I'm prepared to rip the school a new one if they are trying to screw me over and are doing it wrong, but I can't seem to get a good answer one way or the other.

Please help before I have a nuclear meltdown. I'm only partly joking.

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[AcronymAllergy]

I do believe that your tuition waiver will affect your loan amounts, as it's factored into your expected educational costs (via FAFSA), and thus influences your expected personal contribution. I personally still qualified, if I'd wanted to take them all, for the maximum amount of subsidized loans along with a healthy chunk of unsubsidized loans even with a full tuition waiver and a stipend that was almost livable, though. Thus, $900 sounds a bit low unless you have another income in your household and/or your costs of livign are very, very small.

 

[mewtoo]

I do believe that your tuition waiver will affect your loan amounts, as it's factored into your expected educational costs (via FAFSA), and thus influences your expected personal contribution. I personally still qualified, if I'd wanted to take them all, for the maximum amount of subsidized loans along with a healthy chunk of unsubsidized loans even with a full tuition waiver and a stipend that was almost livable, though. Thus, $900 sounds a bit low unless you have another income in your household and/or your costs of livign are very, very small.

Graduate students don't receive subsidized loans anymore. :/ And I have absolutely no income coming in, even if you count me as a dependent on my family. Some people are telling me that the difference between my ~$18k (I'm out of state) tuition remission and the $20k loan cap is all I can get, hence how I'm only getting about $900 a semester if that's true. It *is* in a pretty low cost of living area, but not low enough where $100 per month after paying rent and electricity is enough to live on... I've been going crazy waiting till they open on Monday to hopefully figure everything out. I have a feeling getting a part time job on top of my classes and RA job would be a bad idea but it may be necessary. Sigh.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Oh yeah, forgot about the unsubsidized-only stipulation for graduate students, sorry (and bleh).

Hmm, I'm not sure where people are getting that the limit would be the difference between your tuition remission and the loan cap, but I'm not sure...my tuition remission was in-state, and so was about $11k less per year than what you're getting. Although my stipend would've bumped it past your $18k, and even with that, I would've been eligible for the max allowed per year. In general, the amount of financial aid you should be eligible to receive would be the estimated cost of attendance (which includes not just tuition and fees, but also factors in cost of living I believe) minus your tuition remission. I'd honestly be surprised if, given that you have no income, you weren't eligible for the full $20k. And no, as a graduate student, you shouldn't need to factor in your parents' income...unless you're living with them, in which case that might influence your cost of living estimate.

Try giving the FAFSA folks a call if your student financial aid office isn't doing anything for you; they're actually surprisingly helpful.

 

[paramour]

+1. They go by COA, not cost of tuition. My grad education spanned the time when they allowed sub +unsub loans and they were offering me more than that a public univ.

 

[mewtoo]

I've called them multiple times today and they told me that's how its done. The 20k cap minus my waiver. Surely they don't think one can live on $1800 in loans and $4500 a semester (no telling about summer at this point).

I guess this is the best I can do by phone. I move this Friday to there and I guess I can go bug them in person and perhaps get the graduate coordinator's help when she comes back. Perhaps I can get the full story out of fellow GA's too. My confusion about this is all compounded by the fact that one of the GAs told me her loans were not effected by her waiver amount and she had never heard of any other GAs having this problem. I'm extremely confused and putting in a application to walmart to work nights... Never thought I'd have to go that route.

Oh, I also used the online chat with the FASFA people. They said tuition waivers are handled by the university's finaid dept so they don't even have info about waivers or how they work...

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I've called them multiple times today and they told me that's how its done. The 20k cap minus my waiver. Surely they don't think one can live on $1800 in loans and $4500 a semester (no telling about summer at this point).

I guess this is the best I can do by phone. I move this Friday to there and I guess I can go bug them in person and perhaps get the graduate coordinator's help when she comes back. Perhaps I can get the full story out of fellow GA's too. My confusion about this is all compounded by the fact that one of the GAs told me her loans were not effected by her waiver amount and she had never heard of any other GAs having this problem. I'm extremely confused and putting in a application to walmart to work nights... Never thought I'd have to go that route.

Oh, I also used the online chat with the FASFA people. They said tuition waivers are handled by the university's finaid dept so they don't even have info about waivers or how they work...

Yeah, I'm just not understanding the formula your school is using. Basically, they're saying that your tuition remission counts as some sort of loan, and that you're thus only eligible for aid to cover the difference between the loan limit and the cost of tuition...I just can't wrap my head around how that makes sense. At the very least, given that you aren't paying tuition, you should still be eligible for loans to cover the cost of living, which is obviously going to be more than $1800/year.

I'm thinking the formula should be: eligible aid = raw cost of attendance - tuition remission - stipend, up to $20k.

Maybe the financial aid person is thinking that your tuition waiver is some sort of stipend and/or a federal work-study program...?

 

[mewtoo]

I just wanted to update. Saw financial aid today and after a few wild goose chases I got to see the counselor. She discovered that they had had my cost if attendance set for instate instead of out! They fixed it and now have plenty although not the full 20k. Thanks for your help everyone.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I just wanted to update. Saw financial aid today and after a few wild goose chases I got to see the counselor. She discovered that they had had my cost if attendance set for instate instead of out! They fixed it and now have plenty although not the full 20k. Thanks for your help everyone.

Still a little odd, given that I had in-state costs (in a low cost of living area) and qualified for the full amount if I'd wanted to take it...I wonder if there's a difference between masters and doctoral students? I hadn't thought that was the case, but who knows.

Very glad to hear they were able to identify their mistake and get it fixed, though. And heck, if you can live on what they get you, then qualifying for the full amount may end up being worse in the end anyway (more to pay back later).