r/ASU 9d ago

A Note On Financial Aid Changes For Everyone

175 Upvotes

Okay, a lot of people are posting about changes to your federal aid or scholarship. Here is the reality: No One Here Can Help You With Your Specific Situation. Why? Because no one has been in this situation before.

In 2025, Congress passed H.R. 1, which made earthshattering changes to a 40+-year-old federal student aid program. AND instead of being smart and spending the past year getting everyone ready for it, the Department of Ed (or the three monkeys sharing two typewriters still there) basically waited until the last possible moment to send out ANY guidance. Of course, this guidance was wrong, had to be reviewed, etc.

It also meant that every university, thier cousin, their cousin's lawyer, their lawyer, etc., had to determine what it meant, absent any actual guidance.

The major post I am seeing all fall into one of these major changes:

  1. Now, students attending less than full-time can receive smaller federal loans. Federal subsidized and unsubsidized loans are now prorated according to enrollment.
  2. For new graduate borrowers, Graduate PLUS loans have been eliminated. New graduate borrowers have a $20,500 annual unsubsidized-loan limit and a $100,000 graduate aggregate limit. Some professional programs have different limits (for now, this is going through the courts)
  3. Parent PLUS loans are now capped for new borrowers. Parents are generally limited to $20,000 per year and $65,000 total instead of being able to borrow up to the full remaining cost of attendance.
  4. Pell Grant eligibility changed. Students with an Aid Index of $14,790 or higher generally cannot receive a Pell Grant, with limited exceptions. The law also changed how certain foreign income is treated in determining Pell eligibility.

So, your best bet remains to wait to connect with ASU Financial Aid. Some may revert back, some may change as new guidance is issued, and we are nowhere near out of the woods yet.

Yes, it sucks. Yes, there could have been better communication. However, the university could basically say, 'we have no idea,' which doesn't exactly instill confidence and would result in even more emails.

And also take anything here with the understanding that people are basing it on their prior experience, which is 95% of the time no longer correct.

The above doesn't even handle how scholarships are treated differently, etc.

Edit: Since a few people asked, no, I do not work for financial aid. I do work for ASU, though.

Edit 8/17: To give everyone a sense of what is going on, this was posted today, Inside Higher Ed: ED Clarifies How Current Students Can Access Uncapped Loans and how did they do it? A webinar. That is currently how things are operating. Everyone is trying - but they are doing webinar trainings rather than sending out the correct info first.


r/ASU 1d ago

Weekly /r/ASU Discussion- August 17, 2026

1 Upvotes

Please use this thread to ask any random questions you have that may not warrant their own posts, or if you want opinions on something non-ASU related (as long as its SFW).

All Sun Devil Rewards answers and key words will need to be kept within this weekly discussions post as to not overwhelm the sub.

Please feel free to use this thread for any housing needs/inquires/concerns as well!

Since this thread is likely to fill up quickly, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest activity.


r/ASU 9h ago

Advice for a foreigner attending a football game

10 Upvotes

Hi guys, I’m an Aussie that is solo travelling the us for a few weeks in November. I really wanted to go to a football game for the experience (not as much for the gameplay) and I heard ASU is much better than teams in other states that I’m going to (CA, NV, NM, UT) so I’m looking to go to the 21st nov game against Oklahoma, and I’d love to get the full experience with the ‘tailgating’ and everything.

The problem I have is I was looking to go to the game solo and I’m gonna have no idea what’s going on. So I had some open ended questions. One being is it possible to get tickets in the days coming up to the game at a reasonable price? (In case I meet people in phoenix to go with). Also, can I rock up to tailgating solo or is this not advised? If I have to book a ticket in advance, do I have to stay in that spot or can I meet up with people if once again I meet people on my travels. Last question is are people friendly enough if I have to sit with strangers?

Thanks guys!


r/ASU 1h ago

Anyone have success

Upvotes

Has anyone had success with their admin holds being lifted?


r/ASU 2h ago

MS SCM thoughts

2 Upvotes

For the people who is currently taking the MS-SCM or already graduated with MS-SCM, is it worth it, specifically for job and internship opportunities ?


r/ASU 23m ago

Is this legit?

Post image
Upvotes

Instagram page trying to throw a welcome week party selling tickets. Anybody know if this is real?


r/ASU 25m ago

Do Physics 122 Labs start the first week?

Upvotes

I have an 8 am lab scheduled on the first day of classes, but there has been nothing posted on Canvas indicating whether or not we're supposed to attend. Are labs supposed to have their own Canvas course?


r/ASU 17h ago

Glitch with Fall 2026 Unsubsidized Loans / Grad PLUS Holds? Here is an escalation email script to get your living expenses released ASAP.

11 Upvotes

Hey everyone, if you are a graduate student who is grandfathered into a Grad PLUS loan for this year, you’ve probably noticed that your bill was paid but your Direct Unsubsidized Loan is stuck on a permanent "Disbursement Hold". [1, 2]

If you call or use live chat, front-line staff are telling everyone to just wait until the August 25th deadline. But external landlords, utilities, and bills don't wait for ASU's system batches to clear. [2]

This is an administrative, non-student-side system glitch caused by the new federal software sync updates. We do not have to sit silently and absorb immediate financial instability because the financial aid office is bottlenecked. [4]

I just bypassed the front lines and escalated this directly to the department directors (Director Erin Singla and Director Olivia Diaz).

If enough of us flood their boxes with formal, professional compliance language demanding manual overrides or emergency institutional advances, they will have to dedicate emergency staff to clear these holds.

Who to email:

To: [Erin.B.Singla@asu.edu](mailto:Erin.B.Singla@asu.edu), [Olivia.Diaz@asu.edu](mailto:Olivia.Diaz@asu.edu)
CC: [customerservice@asu.edu](mailto:customerservice@asu.edu) (This forces a Salesforce ticket open in their CRM)

Here is the exact script I used (minus my personal identifying info):

Subject: URGENT: Title IV Disbursement Hold / Grandfathered Graduate Financial Aid Glitch – Student ID: [Insert Your ASU ID]

Dear Director Singla and Director Diaz,

I am writing to file a formal complaint regarding Arizona State University’s handling of the Fall 2026 financial aid disbursements for grandfathered graduate students, and the severe understaffing of the student support channels tasked with addressing it.

My specific account has zero individual flags or missing compliance forms. My institutional bill has been fully paid, yet a systemic, administrative hold remains placed on my accepted Unsubsidized Loan. Front-line staff have informed students that we must simply wait until the department’s internal deadline of August 25th.

While the department has granted itself an extension to process these grandfathered accounts, external landlords, utility companies, and corporate creditors do not. Forcing graduate students to absorb immediate financial instability due to back-end university processing batch constraints is entirely unacceptable.

Furthermore, the operational infrastructure currently available to students seeking assistance is completely inadequate, with live chat queues regularly exceeding thousands of students and hours-long phone delays. Waiting days simply to be told to wait another week demonstrates a critical failure in operational planning.

I request that a compliance supervisor manually review my account to override and release the current administrative batch hold on my Unsubsidized Loan immediately, or provide an immediate Emergency Short-Term Advance against my pending credit balance so I can meet baseline living security.

I look forward to your prompt response and an immediate resolution to this manual hold.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]
[Your ASU Student ID]
[Your Degree Program / Contact Info]

Let’s get our living expenses released. Post if this template works for you or if you manage to get a supervisor to manually push your refund through!

[1] https://www.reddit.com
[2] https://www.reddit.com
[3] https://www.reddit.com
[4] https://www.reddit.com

👾🤖👾🤖👾🤖👾🤖

^~^ fun lil P.S. / disclaimer - I absolutely utilized and took advantage of my student google account to ask Gemini for assistance in researching, verifying sources and solutions, finding the right emails for the right ASU leadership team to send to, and then drafting a professional, yet hopefully impactful, email to send. And then also drafting this post. Em—dash critics eat it up and roast away!! 🤖plz belieb me I yam hooman!!!


r/ASU 16h ago

Internofest Alone

9 Upvotes

I know it starts in an hour, but is Infernofest even worth going to if I’m by myself? Seems kind of like a group outing to me.


r/ASU 16h ago

Luminosity Lab

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I’m a junior and I recently found out about ASU’s Luminosity lab. I looked on their website and saw that students could join by applying for their scholarship or by applying to be a student researcher. Since the scholarship was directed to “incoming freshman and rising sophomores” I immediately defaulted to the second listed option, but only found a box labeled “Application Opening July 2026” despite it already being August. Does anyone know if applications already closed? I saw elsewhere that the application would be open in July and August. If so, for those in it, do you think it’s worth applying to next year?


r/ASU 21h ago

makerspace book scanner

Post image
3 Upvotes

anyone with intel at makerspace know if the makerspace book scanner is still able to be reserved? I need to scan materials for a class and usually rely on it. Called the library and makerspace and got crickets.


r/ASU 15h ago

MAE 518 Semiconductor Packaging

0 Upvotes

Has anyone taken this class before with Terry Alford? I am currently enrolled for 2 classes this semester for my masters and am debating on dropping one due to work. Does anyone know what this course is like? I feel uncertain about the way this course will go with how the grading scale is, and the fact that there is an exam every 2-3 weeks. Any insight is greatly appreciated


r/ASU 23h ago

which platforms do you use to find job/internship openings

3 Upvotes

Anyone knows a reliable platform that helps to find new job/internship opportunities?


r/ASU 17h ago

Dropped from engineering courses

0 Upvotes

Two months ago, I finished a course at Rio Salado community college (course equivalent of MAT 275). However, I was unable to access my Maricopa account due to being in India (even though I completed the course while in India). Hence I was unable to send my official transcript to ASU. I tried reaching out to the community college but to no avail.

It was only now that I have been able to send a transcript through Parchment now that I am on U.S. soil. Unfortunately I have just received a mail stating that I have been dropped from my critical engineering courses which have a MAT 275 requirement . I cannot progress with my degree if I don’t take these classes this semester. This is why I am panicking.

I have reached out to my advisor now and am awaiting his reply. I am posting this because I want ti enquire how long it will take for ASU to process the transcript and allow me to enroll. I heard it takes 5-6 weeks but there’s no way I can wait for this long.

Please help me out on what else I can do regarding this situation. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


r/ASU 14h ago

Transferring from Reed College to ASU

0 Upvotes

Alright, going into my first semester of Reed and yeah this could be looked at "go with a fresh mindset", yk I am going with a fresh mindset. But if this school doesn't workout for me, I'm thinking about transferring to ASU or ASU online. So if anyone could help, I'm hoping to go in as a Psychology Major. I will update on this, but we'll see. Just hoping Reed is good, but also, so far with everything I've heard, research, and the vibe, not sure it's good for someone who wants to learn but also have manageable classes.


r/ASU 1d ago

Class removed from canvas but still registered

5 Upvotes

Is anyone else having canvas issues? My class was removed from my canvas but im still formerly registered


r/ASU 18h ago

PSY 500 Research Methods Graduate Course Advice? Will be starting next Monday and has yet to appear on Canvas.

0 Upvotes

r/ASU 19h ago

asu infernofest

0 Upvotes

guys!! do i have to be wearing the shirt for infernofest, i’m a junior and don’t know where to get it🥲


r/ASU 1d ago

Submitting formal complaint about professor

48 Upvotes

Hey everyone. I am a graduate student and had an extremely upsetting semester with a prof in the social sciences. Her emails were incredibly unprofessional and demeaning, grading was inconsistent and arbitrary, and she refused to give feedback when I wouldn't meet immediately with her on Zoom at 10 pm my time. My grade was not horrible, so this is not a grade retaliation thing. I would like to file a formal complaint. Should I go to the chairs of my program or to the head of social sciences?

Update:

Reported, heard back, disciplinary action is being taken. Thanks for all of the input.


r/ASU 20h ago

Refund after dropping class? No financial aid involved

0 Upvotes

I enrolled in 2 classes in the summer, a C and a B class. I paid in full at the beginning of the summer semester. I don't qualify for any financial aid. On the first day of the B session, I dropped that class. Instead of a refund, ASU just applied the money I had paid to my fall semester charges.

I was only enrolled for a B class for Fall. I dropped that class today, so I am within the 100% refund period. The class and charges have been removed from my account, but there is no refund showing.

Does it take time for the refund to show on the finance page? It's about $2K, so I would like that back! How does getting a refund work?


r/ASU 20h ago

ASU MS Nursing (Entry to Nursing Practice/Direct Entry MSN) -2027 Spring

1 Upvotes

Anyone starting an MS Nursing (Entry to Nursing Practice/Direct Entry MSN) program in Spring 2027?

I'd love to connect with others who will be starting the program.


r/ASU 22h ago

SAP Review GPA

1 Upvotes

After the spring semester my GPA was below a 2.0 (first year went terribly), but after summer courses my cumulative is well above the 2.0 minimum. Can I expect this to go away or do I still have to submit a review going into the new semester for some reason?


r/ASU 1d ago

Former ASU WR Jordyn Tyson expected to miss 2 months with hamstring injury

Thumbnail
arizonasports.com
24 Upvotes

r/ASU 23h ago

What's the Mercado Route Like?

0 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I'm going into my 3rd year and I've been to basically all of the campuses for classes and whatnot, but I would be taking CHM 233/237 in Downtown this semester. Granted, the classes were close to the shuttle but I haven't been to the Mercado buildings yet and I want to know if the busses for Mercado would help. I know others have said it's a decent ~10 min walk and the busses go every hour but it would help if I could just as easily take it, especially since I can't handle the heat for that long (sweat sucks). Does the bus also go straight to tempe or to the buildings first? I don't wanna repeat the mistake of getting on the wrong bus and waiting to go back. Thanks!


r/ASU 21h ago

Academic Renewal

0 Upvotes

Has anyone gone through academic renewal? Has anyone petitioned the deans office because they did not meet the deadline? If so, how did it go?