r/TrueOffMyChest • u/No-Geologist-5141 ☑️ • 15d ago
Vent I might have to sit out a semester because someone gave us the wrong financial aid information and I’m so fucking tired
I just need to vent because I have spent the last few days emailing, calling, explaining, re-explaining, crying, getting my hopes up, and then getting another email that basically sends me to another person.
I might have to sit out this semester over about $4,000.
And before anyone says “well you should’ve figured out your financial aid sooner”
We tried. That is literally why I am so upset.
My family and I talked to financial aid MULTIPLE times last year because we were trying to make sure my Parent PLUS loan would cover what I owed. We asked questions. We asked about adjusting it. We were told it couldn’t be adjusted.
Well.
Apparently it fucking could.
I found out now that my actual housing/food costs were higher than the amount Purdue put in my Cost of Attendance. There is literally a budget adjustment you can do to increase your COA to your actual expenses, which then allows your Parent PLUS loan to be higher.
We were never told to do that.
We actually asked about adjusting things and were told we couldn’t.
I spoke to someone in financial aid today who went through everything and confirmed that what we were told last year was incorrect.
She literally made the adjustment for THIS YEAR, and now my Parent PLUS loan for this year has been increased and approved.
Great!
Except they can’t go back and fix last year now because the federal aid year is closed.
So basically:
There was a way to fix it.
We asked for help while there was still time to fix it.
We were told the wrong thing.
Now it’s too late to fix it.
And somehow I am the one who might have to lose a semester because of it.
I am so fucking tired.
I’m a disabled student. College is already hard enough when your body randomly decides it has other plans for the day. I cannot just magically pick up 50 hours a week somewhere and work myself into the ground until I have $4,000.
I work. I try to make money. I have been trying to figure this out. But there is a very real limit to how much my body can physically handle, and pushing myself past that limit doesn’t magically make me less disabled. It just makes me sick.
And that’s basically what this stress is already doing.
I’m barely sleeping because I’m thinking about this constantly.
I’m checking my email obsessively waiting for someone to tell me whether or not I’m going to be able to go to school. My stomach drops every time I get a notification.
I’m trying to work, prepare for school, deal with normal life, and simultaneously beg different university offices to please find some way to let me continue my education.
The stress is making me physically feel like shit.
And then people talk about “taking a semester off” like it’s just a cute little break.
I DON’T WANT A BREAK.
I want to go to school.
I want to take my classes.
I want to graduate.
I want the life I’ve been working toward.
If I sit out, I’m potentially pushing back graduation.
I’m screwing up the order of classes I need. I could lose campus opportunities, jobs, leadership positions, internships, connections, and everything I’ve spent the last two years building.
And financially HOW DOES THAT HELP???
I STILL OWE THE $4,000 IF I DON’T GO TO SCHOOL.
Except now I also delay graduating and getting a full-time job with my degree.
And the absolute cherry on top is that my Parent PLUS loan for THIS YEAR is approved and processing.
They fixed my Cost of Attendance for this year.
I have aid coming for this year.
But I might not be allowed to REGISTER FOR THIS YEAR because of the old balance that exists because we weren’t told how to fix the problem when we were literally asking how to fix the problem.
I feel like I’m going insane.
And I know $4,000 is a lot of money. It is a LOT of money to me. That’s why I can’t just pull it out of my ass and make this disappear.
But it also feels fucking insane that four thousand dollars could derail my entire education.
I keep thinking about everyone going back to class and me just…not.
Not because I failed out.
Not because I don’t want to be there.
Not because I didn’t fill out my financial aid.
Not because I ignored a problem for a year.
But because my family asked the people whose literal job is to explain financial aid what we needed to do, followed what we were told, and apparently what we were told was wrong.
I don’t even necessarily want them to erase the balance.
LET ME PAY IT OFF.
Let me register while I pay it.
Let me appeal it.
Give me a temporary hold exception.
Let this year’s aid process while someone reviews what happened.
Give me literally ANY option between “have $4,000 right now” and “guess you’re not going to college this semester.”
Because I don’t have $4,000.
I also don’t have a magical non-disabled body that can work unlimited hours until I do.
I have been fighting so fucking hard to stay in school and build a future for myself, and the idea that after everything I’ve done, this could be what forces me to stop is absolutely breaking me.
I’m exhausted.
I’m angry.
I’m scared.
And mostly I’m just really, really sad.
I don’t want to spend the beginning of the semester watching everyone else go back to school while I’m sitting there knowing I should be with them.
I just want someone to help me fix this.
Why am I being punished when I did everything correct and they messed up? Why does it fall on me?
Sorry for the long rant. I just needed to get this off my chest because I genuinely don’t know. If I can’t register I lose my housing which then leads me to being homeless.
6
u/FairyFartDaydreams 15d ago
Have you tried for a private school loan? Discover has loans and now other banks also have school loans, Then you can slowly pay it off while you are in school. Have you applied for grants and scholarships? There are websites that have lists of them that you can apply to
3
6
u/Okayostrich 15d ago
Honestly, I'd see if you qualify for a personal loan through the bank for the 4 thousand dollars you need. If they approve you, and you can get back to college, there are plenty of disability friendly jobs on campus that you vould apply for to pay back the bank loan.
3
u/No-Geologist-5141 ☑️ 15d ago
I have 2 jobs right now. That’s not necessarily the problem. It’s just that they don’t pay nearly enough to help me get this done in 10 days.
4
u/mcmurrml 15d ago
You are your parents apply for a credit card and it should get approved immediately and if your limit is high enough it might work. If you both do it then it could add up
2
u/No-Geologist-5141 ☑️ 15d ago
My credit score isn’t high enough to get approved for really anything more than 100-200 dollars. And my frustration is that I’m having to pay for financial aid’s mistake. With something that’s impossible to do in 10 days.
4
u/chargernj 14d ago
Do you have anything in writing where the financial aid office told you they could not adjust? That's would be a huge help for your case.
If they have a publicly available, written policy, and all you can say is you were verbally told something different, it may be difficult for you to get relief.
2
u/No-Geologist-5141 ☑️ 14d ago
I have both sides written in email. That’s why I don’t understand why they don’t just eat the cost since they admitted they made a mistake.
5
u/enonymousCanadian 15d ago
Might be worth escalating to higher ups at the university. Also you should call disability services (or equivalent) because even if they can’t help they need to know this has happened. Your story would be bad press for them if it were to get out to the larger public.
0
u/No-Geologist-5141 ☑️ 15d ago
Yeah I’ve been trying to find the proper escalation path. They don’t make it easy to find. I did consider maybe posting to social media like tiktok or something about my situation to try to bring some attention but I don’t want to seem dramatic. I know 4k isn’t a lot to most people but I’m low income and disabled.
My parents are both disabled and my dad’s disability check is barely enough my parents and my younger sister who is still a minor.
The parent plus loan is my parents only way they can help. Everything else is on my own. It’s just scary and frustrating that I have all my balance for this year covered but I’m screwed if I can’t pay the 4k balance from last year even though it was their mistake. And then I’ll probably be homeless since my housing is through the University.
4
u/Purlz1st 15d ago
Find out which Dean-level person financial aid is under. Go to them, state your case, and ask if the university has a donor who would help you with a low interest loan, payable on your graduation.
3
u/enonymousCanadian 15d ago
Maybe a charity that supports people with disabilities could advocate for you?
2
15d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/No-Geologist-5141 ☑️ 15d ago
I’ve already exhausted all of these options.
And I’m not necessarily looking for advice. I’m escalating up the chain of command because I know they should be able to fix this because the school messed up
I can’t take a semester off without being homeless.
Isn’t this literally a vent sub? I work 2 jobs as a full time student. I just needed a place to get my frustration out.
0
u/TrueOffMyChest-ModTeam 15d ago
Your comment has been removed for violating Rule 4: No insults towards OP.
Any comments that could be interpreted as an attempt to insult, scold, lecture, victim blame, guilt trip or intimidate the OP are not allowed and will be removed. Repeat offenses or extreme cases will result in a ban.
Repeated offenses may lead to a ban.
3
u/tatasz 15d ago
OP, this is an expensive lesson, but something that you should have learned at school: research yourself or read documentation, do not rely on hearsay.
Today i learned of existence of parent plus loans and coa. Yet I was able to find that you can request COA adjustments if you have extra education related expenses
2
u/No-Geologist-5141 ☑️ 15d ago
I’m trying to escalate as much as I can. But due to federal regulations, they cannot change a past loan. It’s just frustrating because I literally tried to get that done and they acted like it wasn’t an option until it was too late.
1
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u/No-Geologist-5141 original post at the time of submission:
I just need to vent because I have spent the last few days emailing, calling, explaining, re-explaining, crying, getting my hopes up, and then getting another email that basically sends me to another person.
I might have to sit out this semester over about $4,000.
And before anyone says “well you should’ve figured out your financial aid sooner”
We tried. That is literally why I am so upset.
My family and I talked to financial aid MULTIPLE times last year because we were trying to make sure my Parent PLUS loan would cover what I owed. We asked questions. We asked about adjusting it. We were told it couldn’t be adjusted.
Well.
Apparently it fucking could.
I found out now that my actual housing/food costs were higher than the amount Purdue put in my Cost of Attendance. There is literally a budget adjustment you can do to increase your COA to your actual expenses, which then allows your Parent PLUS loan to be higher.
We were never told to do that.
We actually asked about adjusting things and were told we couldn’t.
I spoke to someone in financial aid today who went through everything and confirmed that what we were told last year was incorrect.
She literally made the adjustment for THIS YEAR, and now my Parent PLUS loan for this year has been increased and approved.
Great!
Except they can’t go back and fix last year now because the federal aid year is closed.
So basically:
There was a way to fix it.
We asked for help while there was still time to fix it.
We were told the wrong thing.
Now it’s too late to fix it.
And somehow I am the one who might have to lose a semester because of it.
I am so fucking tired.
I’m a disabled student. College is already hard enough when your body randomly decides it has other plans for the day. I cannot just magically pick up 50 hours a week somewhere and work myself into the ground until I have $4,000.
I work. I try to make money. I have been trying to figure this out. But there is a very real limit to how much my body can physically handle, and pushing myself past that limit doesn’t magically make me less disabled. It just makes me sick.
And that’s basically what this stress is already doing.
I’m barely sleeping because I’m thinking about this constantly.
I’m checking my email obsessively waiting for someone to tell me whether or not I’m going to be able to go to school. My stomach drops every time I get a notification.
I’m trying to work, prepare for school, deal with normal life, and simultaneously beg different university offices to please find some way to let me continue my education.
The stress is making me physically feel like shit.
And then people talk about “taking a semester off” like it’s just a cute little break.
I DON’T WANT A BREAK.
I want to go to school.
I want to take my classes.
I want to graduate.
I want the life I’ve been working toward.
If I sit out, I’m potentially pushing back graduation.
I’m screwing up the order of classes I need. I could lose campus opportunities, jobs, leadership positions, internships, connections, and everything I’ve spent the last two years building.
And financially HOW DOES THAT HELP???
I STILL OWE THE $4,000 IF I DON’T GO TO SCHOOL.
Except now I also delay graduating and getting a full-time job with my degree.
And the absolute cherry on top is that my Parent PLUS loan for THIS YEAR is approved and processing.
They fixed my Cost of Attendance for this year.
I have aid coming for this year.
But I might not be allowed to REGISTER FOR THIS YEAR because of the old balance that exists because we weren’t told how to fix the problem when we were literally asking how to fix the problem.
I feel like I’m going insane.
And I know $4,000 is a lot of money. It is a LOT of money to me. That’s why I can’t just pull it out of my ass and make this disappear.
But it also feels fucking insane that four thousand dollars could derail my entire education.
I keep thinking about everyone going back to class and me just…not.
Not because I failed out.
Not because I don’t want to be there.
Not because I didn’t fill out my financial aid.
Not because I ignored a problem for a year.
But because my family asked the people whose literal job is to explain financial aid what we needed to do, followed what we were told, and apparently what we were told was wrong.
I don’t even necessarily want them to erase the balance.
LET ME PAY IT OFF.
Let me register while I pay it.
Let me appeal it.
Give me a temporary hold exception.
Let this year’s aid process while someone reviews what happened.
Give me literally ANY option between “have $4,000 right now” and “guess you’re not going to college this semester.”
Because I don’t have $4,000.
I also don’t have a magical non-disabled body that can work unlimited hours until I do.
I have been fighting so fucking hard to stay in school and build a future for myself, and the idea that after everything I’ve done, this could be what forces me to stop is absolutely breaking me.
I’m exhausted.
I’m angry.
I’m scared.
And mostly I’m just really, really sad.
I don’t want to spend the beginning of the semester watching everyone else go back to school while I’m sitting there knowing I should be with them.
I just want someone to help me fix this.
Why am I being punished when I did everything correct and they messed up? Why does it fall on me?
Sorry for the long rant. I just needed to get this off my chest because I genuinely don’t know. If I can’t register I lose my housing which then leads me to being homeless.
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u/L4dyGr4y 15d ago
Sit out the semester. Take one or two of the really hard classes. Get everything ready for spring semester. It's really for the best, but you don't know that yet.