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That's great news! Most financial aid offices are well-prepared for these situations, especially since the maintenance affects students nationwide. Glad you got the extension you needed!
BE CAREFUL!!! My roommate finished her program 6 weeks early and the school reported it as a WITHDRAWAL instead of a completion!! She had to fight with them for MONTHS to get it fixed and almost had her transcript held!!! Make sure you get WRITTEN confirmation about how early completion works BEFORE you finish!!
When I was doing my online certification last year I was on track to finish like 8 weeks early but then my financial aid advisor told me that if I submitted my final project before the official end date they'd have to recalculate my aid. So I just waited and submitted everything on the official last day even though I was done early. Might be an option if you're worried about having to pay anything back.
This is actually a smart approach if your school treats early completion as a withdrawal. However, not all schools allow you to sit on completed work - some programs automatically mark you as complete when all requirements are fulfilled. Always check with your specific program's policies.
OMG I just realized I dont think anyone mentioned the HBCU schlarships!!! Norfolk State is an HBCU so theres special scholarships just for those schools. Check out the UNCF (United Negro College Fund) website and the Thurgood Marshall scholarship. My nephew got almost full tuition from combining a few of those!
This is incredibly helpful! I had no idea there were specific scholarships just for HBCUs. I'll check out both the UNCF and Thurgood Marshall scholarship right away. Thank you so much for sharing this information!
With an SAI of 4320 as you mentioned in a comment, you should absolutely qualify for some need-based aid. Here's what I'd do immediately: 1. File a FAFSA correction to fix the parent/contributor issue 2. Contact Norfolk State's financial aid office directly (email AND phone) 3. Ask specifically about the Access Grant and VGAP as someone mentioned 4. Look into HBCU-specific scholarships through UNCF 5. Request an aid appeal based on special circumstances if you've had any recent financial changes Don't let the initial SAI discourage you. Many families successfully navigate this with some persistence.
Thank you for these concrete steps! I've already started on the FAFSA correction this morning. We did have a job change last year that reduced our income - would that count as a special circumstance for an appeal? I'll be calling Norfolk State today.
As a financial aid advisor, I can clarify a few things: 1) You cannot delete a FAFSA yourself once it's been created 2) Having duplicate FAFSAs won't affect your SAI calculation, but it can cause processing delays 3) The best approach is two-pronged: - Contact Federal Student Aid to have one application marked as void - Reach out to your school's financial aid office to alert them to the situation This is a common issue this year with the new FAFSA implementation. The system should recognize duplicate applications by your FSA ID, but with all the technical issues they've been having, it's best to be proactive. Make sure to have your FSA ID, confirmation numbers from both applications, and the date you submitted each one when you call. This information will help them resolve the issue more quickly.
Thank you for this detailed explanation! I'll gather all that information before calling. One more question - will this affect my aid package timing? My school has a May 1 priority deadline for continuing students.
As long as you submitted at least one complete FAFSA before your school's priority deadline, you should be fine. However, I'd recommend getting this resolved within the next week if possible. When you contact your school's financial aid office, specifically mention the May 1 priority deadline concern, and they can make notes in your file to ensure you're still considered for all aid programs. The most important thing is making sure they know which application has your correct and final information.
Yuki Yamamoto
Once you find out what the issue is, please come back and update us! It might help others who run into the same problem. The new FAFSA has so many quirks that we're all learning about in real-time.
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Ethan Brown
•I definitely will! I've already learned so much from everyone's responses here. I'm calling them first thing tomorrow morning.
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Zoe Dimitriou
my daughters school did this and turns out they just needed her to fill out an additional form for their specific financial aid program. had nothing to do with fafsa being wrong
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Ethan Brown
•That would be the best case scenario! Fingers crossed it's something that simple. Thanks for sharing your experience.
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