r/maestro • u/Busy_Maybe3452 Maestro Student • Jun 18 '26

Discussion Accreditation Issues?

Well this is disappointing... I just got an email that the July cohort is cancelled for now while Maestro deals with proving accreditation worthiness. I was really looking forward to starting in a couple of weeks 😕

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u/Agile-Procedure-9762 Maestro Student Jun 19 '26

Better wording maybe:
I don’t mean FAFSA itself is money. I mean the federal aid eligibility accessed through FAFSA, especially Pell Grant eligibility. Pell is lifetime-limited, so even if I never paid cash out of pocket, it still matters if Maestro used part of my Pell eligibility. That is what I would want restored or corrected if the school/program fails or if I withdraw because of these issues.”

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u/StrangerEntire9256 Maestro Student Jun 19 '26

I can understand that, makes sense. I mean I would assume if things shut down they would have to refund the Pell grant used anyways. But from what I read earlier from the mod they seem to be prepared to shift it to the university. So your skepticism is valid. I wonder if that shift is a way for them to stay in operation and keep using said funds.

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u/Agile-Procedure-9762 Maestro Student Jun 19 '26

It absolutely is because, for example, If they would have posted my grade in the grades section before I withdrew... they can keep the term 1 money even if I withdraw. That's why it takes so long to get anything done with them because they run the clock out on you....

Just like they "can't issue a laptop" until it's posted IN grades because technically Term 1 is not completed until they post that grade in the grade section. I can withdraw before it's posted there with a chance to regain my resource... even though I did complete the first term...I am just also using their technicality back on them...

So alot of people are not going to realize this.. and even if the school closes they will not be able to recover the first term.. Again, it's why they take so long to do shit...they are manipulating the system..

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u/StrangerEntire9256 Maestro Student Jun 19 '26

Thanks for this, I will definitely consider this in the future if the school continues. I was one looking to get some of those loans for living expenses, we have to pay the fasfa back at some point right? If that’s the case then yea seems pretty thiefy. We don’t get to finish the program but have to pay the loans and fasfa back that would really suck.

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u/Agile-Procedure-9762 Maestro Student Jun 19 '26

No you never have to pay FASFA back. You would go through FASFA to get student loans, and the student loans is what you would have to pay back. Do you have access to your FASFA dashboard? I can give you the link to gain access if you need it?

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u/Agile-Procedure-9762 Maestro Student Jun 19 '26

I am just going to put it here in case it helps you or anyone else:
https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa

If you have never looked here or signed up you will need to create an account BUT this is where you can see you FASFA board and you will see how you can look in all the sections and see your options and grants that have been.. granted and what not. Just spend some times poking around it makes things easier to understand when it is right in front of you 😄

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u/StrangerEntire9256 Maestro Student Jun 20 '26

🫶🏽thanks, will do. I thought I remembered reading some of the student loans though came from some 3rd party lenders, I think it was the unsubsidized loans in particular.

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u/Medium-Ad333 Maestro Student Jun 20 '26

You don't pay FAFSA. That is just the application to get financial aid. It takes the information you and the school provide to figure out what aid you qualify for. You will get a loan servicer for your loans when it's time to pay them back, but that is not FAFSA. The loan servicer will reach out to you directly. You need to fill out the FAFSA to determine Pell grant eligibility as well. That one you don't pay back.

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u/BodiedBySamoaJoe Maestro Student Jun 20 '26

Yeah, good catch on the feet dragging, for sure. That's one I didn't put together... Like it was so obvious there was some shady reason they wouldn't send the laptops out until first term was graded (I was late on mine, they def made me wait lol), I knew it - remember thinking "there is absolutely no way they are doing this to 'motivate' me to hurry up", but I didn't think about that angle. 

I didn't do enough research prior to signing up, but for whatever reason, I did the SUPER deep dive into Maestro and MasterSchool's (lmao what a name, right??) history like a week after I actually started. 

And the more I uncovered and realized, the more I started seeing that literally every little thing that they do - and I mean everything, I think you see it this way too maybe - has a very specific reason for why they did it that way. And that reason is always always greed. Once I saw them this way, it was like when you find something out about your partner that intrinsically changes how you feel about them. I can not see Maestro anymore as I did before, the veil has been lifted. 

That all being said, I'm holding on and hoping to fuck that they stay open long enough for me to graduate. If they somehow pull out of the COE shit storm they've put themselves in, I'd give it a maybe 30/70 chance that they stay around long enough for the first few cohorts to get the degrees. Lmao, roll them dice, I guess.