r/financialaid

For starters I know the answer is probably no but I just want to ask if it makes an impact at all on how much they consider the appeal.

I'm 22 and I'm taking 6 years on my degree (class of 2028) due to transferring from an online program two years in. I was doing this program because I initially could not afford to attend school in-person. When I finally said fuck it let's try it out I signed up for a completely different major.

I will graduate just under the credit limit for a SAP appeal, but I haven't been prompted to write one yet. I just finished my first school year (of 2-3) at my new school but next school year I am getting less financial aid due to my parent's income increasing. I am only getting $7500 in loans for the entire year, despite being no contact with my parents, having an extensive history of mental health issues and emotional abuse, and living with a roommate 30 minutes away from them. I pay for all of my expenses, including my car, therapy, food, rent to my roommate, books, etc. If I had to pay out of pocket, I would lose my car due to all of my income going to tuition. And if i lose my car i also lose my income source which is Instacart. So if I don't get a dependency override, I have to go part time next school year and delay finishing my degree. If I get an appeal I could possibly graduate a semester or two earlier than expected (probably fall 2027).

Fall 2025, I only got a 3.53 GPA due to being hospitalized twice and trying to move back home only for the emotional abuse to continue, making my depression really bad. I was also working a job that gave me very few hours but took a lot of emotional bandwidth and eventually quit after the semester because I was only making $1k a month and my coworkers hated me. Last semester I took 17 credits.

Spring 2026 I took 21 credits (8 classes) and finished with a 3.82 GPA. I was also elected into student government, continuing to do Instacart, got hired on campus for the summer, did an internship, declared a third minor, and actively participated in over a dozen other clubs. I also attended leadership seminars and volunteer events on campus. To make dean's list, my school requires a 3.75+ GPA with at least 12 credit hours, meaning i will make the cut.

I am wondering, will my massive GPA increase following my change in living situation, and the fact that I am heavily involved on campus, help with my dependency appeal? One of my letters is from a professor who is the head of one of my majors (i am a double major, pre-law). The other is from my therapist who diagnosed me with PTSD over a year ago. I am waiting for my roommate to write the final letter (she is blind so I gave her a 2-week deadline).

I know i have options if I don't get this appeal. But as the eldest daughter of an immigrant, whose parents were both non-trad and refuse to help me with college, it's hard for my struggles to be taken seriously. I'm technically not first-gen, my disabilities are strictly from mental disorders so I didn't sign up for accommodations, and the organizations I got into (MOSAIC, TRiO) don't offer scholarships. I'm worried more than anything else that my hard work will go unnoticed and I will potentially have to struggle through this degree until 2029, despite being in school since 2022.

Am i the only one who doesn’t have any movement in my student account center yet?

Hello all ! I am starting grad school and was just alerted I no longer qualify for fafsa because I hit the maximum amount. I have never taken graduate loans. My undergraduate loans are at 58k - so barely over the limit. My question is, if I pay down to 57k (and keep making payments throughout school to manage interest) - would I then qualify for fafsa again in grad school?

I am lucky to qualify for a few grants and am going to the cheapest school in the state - so I am probably only going to need ~ 10k or less for entire program, so there is no chance of me hitting the graduate aggregate limit.

Any help would be appreciated! I contacted my advisor as well but they (understandably) take some time to get back to me, and I’m absolutely panicking in the mean time 🥺

my friend has extreme guilt from using some of their refund money from their student direct plus loan on non educational related expenses 3 years ago (flights to visit a sibling/vacation, spent on dining out, clothes, but was also put toward rent, bills, & other school things) and the guilt and shame is eating them alive. they assumed the refund was for general living expenses & did not read into the the exact limitations of the refund & they already struggle with moral OCD and feel they should confess to financial aid (not sure if this is a compulsion or not - the need to confess?) they struggle with lots of internal self hate too, from other things, and the guilt they carry seems to weigh on them with everything. they are quick to forgive others but not themselves. please no hateful comments, just advice please?!? as a very concerned friend.

Hey everyone, I need some advice about summer tuition and financial aid because I’m kinda confused on how this usually works.

My summer tuition is around $4,000, but financial aid only covered about $500, so I’d have to pay roughly $3,500 out of pocket which feels really expensive. During fall semesters, my financial aid usually covers way more, almost most of the tuition.

I’m thinking about either:

1. Dropping the summer classes and taking them during fall instead since I heard fall aid is usually better
2. Taking equivalent classes at NOVA because it might be much cheaper

I don’t fully understand how summer financial aid works yet, so I was hoping people who’ve been through this could share their experience or advice. Did summer aid also cover way less for you guys? What would you do in this situation?

Thanks!

This is the first time I’ve been granted scholarships so I’m very unfamiliar with them.

Between the Pell grant and loans, I received enough to pay for all of my schooling. I was granted the max amount of Pell so that covers a large chunk. I ended up receiving several scholarships, which have paid for the rest of school without me having to take out any of my loans thankfully.

My questions are..

#1 the scholarships I’ve received will cover all cost and then have extra, will that extra be refunded to me?

#2 I still have scholarship applications out there that haven’t even closed yet, if I receive those, are they refunded to me like other financial aid is?

More than likely, school loans will be taken out to help with cost of living while I cut back on working hours. So I am curious if any scholarships received get reimbursed to students if they aren’t needed any longer? That would also help reduce my student loan usage.

Starting to feel like applying for scholarships is turning into a numbers game where everybody is chasing the exact same ones. I will spend hours filling out applications, writing essays and tracking deadlines just to find out theres probably thousands of other students applying too.

Half the scholarship sites I find either send me in circles or keep showing the same huge national scholarships everyone already knows about. Tbh I cant even tell which ones are worth putting time into anymore?

At this point I am just trying to find smaller scholarships that dont have thousands of people applying to them too. how are people even finding those in 2026 without spending hours searching every night?

Guys why are we still deciding whether for example you should take a 50,000 dollar scholrship from a school that may not be your top choice or go to your dream school that gave you 0$. I dont think alot of you understand that debt is real and 50000 or whatever it is is a lot of money towards education. Idont care how rich you are, this is free money being given and your considering to say no?!?! Absolutely crazy. You will realize when your in debt after your 4 years and it takes years to pay back, or all that personal money spent that could have been used towards buying a nice asset for yourself, you will feel it. This is not to make you feel bad but think about your future lifestyles

EDIT: Alot of you are confusing it with the level of prestige of 2 programs, that is not what i said. Alot of people are comparing 2 programs that are both high quality and you dont want the one with the scholarship because YOU decided that, nothing about the uni's status. You want your dream school and thats your only reason because you think it has a better program in YOUR opinion. I am not talking either full ride to nipissing or Harvard with 0$. Like that is such a terrible scenario, thats not even a question guys. Can yall read what i said??

Quick question: Did anyone get there aid for Summer 2026 yet?

So I turned 20 recently and graduated high school almost four years ago and I still haven’t gone to college I have tried to get a job and applied to so may but never get accepted most of the reasons are they need bachelor degree. My parents can’t pay a single dime and I am wondering is there way my studies could be funded I know about the scholarships but they also need money to apply and my dad can’t afford it ,I am ok with any college even if it’s online as long as I can study and get a degree I am more than grateful just not sure where to get a job that will accept me with no degree and to find a college that is 100 percent funded for me would love some help and advice on what to do

I also don’t live in America or anywhere near that

Hello. The fafsa form is asking me if the student (me) filed the 1040 form for 2024. My question is, if i filed under my mom at that time, do i answer yes or no to the question?

I honestly never thought I’d be making a post like this, but I’m running out of options and figured it’s worth trying.
I’m 19 years old and was accepted into the nursing program at Appalachian State University. Becoming a nurse has been my goal for years, and I’ve worked really hard to get myself to this point. The problem is that I have almost no financial support, and I’m struggling to figure out how to afford college.
I currently work as a nurse aide/CNA and have been supporting myself while living on my own for the past year. I’ve been doing everything I possibly can to make this work financially. I applied for financial aid, searched and applied for scholarships, looked into work-study, researched payment plans, contacted people I know about possibly co-signing loans, and even considered selling my car just to help cover my first year of tuition. The issue is that if I sell my car, I lose my transportation to work. private loans have been extremely difficult because I don’t have a strong credit history or a co-signer. Most of my family members either can’t help financially or are struggling themselves.
I’m not expecting anyone to magically solve everything for me, and honestly posting this is uncomfortable. I’ve just reached a point where I feel like I’ve exhausted every option I can think of on my own. If anyone has advice, scholarship recommendations, resources, ideas, or even knows of organizations that help students in situations like this, I would genuinely appreciate it more than you know.
I’ve worked so hard to get into nursing school, and I’m trying everything I can not to give up on it.

Thank you for reading.

I was checking my credit report and noticed my student loans are showing up there. I knew they were debt obviously, but I didn’t really think about how much they could affect my credit. I’m still in school, so I haven’t missed any payments or anything, but my credit history is pretty thin and I’m trying to build it the right way. I’m also worried about how this could look later if I apply for an apartment, car loan, or private loan.

Hey,
I am kind of new to the financial aid system here in the US. I had already applied for my 2026-2027 FAFSA, added Ivy Tech as my school, and I got an email saying I am eligible. This was everything I knew about the process. Can someone please explain the next steps once I am at the financial Aid section in my Ivy? And will the ASN fall program be included in the FAFSA for the 2026-2027 year? (Also I started my prereqs in Nov 2025, but I have not completed the 2025-2026 FAFSA form, will I be able to get a partial refund if I fill that form?)
I would highly recommend the help
Thank you

My parents recently found a box with some money in our house we did not know existed. It has been there since before we submitted FAFSA.

I am also being offered a modest scholarship from my college. I would like to tell them about the discovery of the money so they can see if I truly deserve the scholarship in light of the new info. However, I'm a little scared that they'll think we hid the money intentionally and are trying to come clean now without incriminating ourselves. I have also asked a few questions regarding doubts about my eligibility, and they said that I'm fine regarding those, but it might seem weird to ask them about this in the context of the previous ones.

Thanks for any help!

I’m so frustrated with my school. I haven’t received my aid package for summer and school starts next week. How are we supposed to know if we have enough in aid or if we have to get money r try to get money from elsewhere. I’m so frustrated with this. Texas southern university. We have to do better. Got a letter from accounting said they will drop my classes Friday if not paid. Anyone else experiencing this?

Hi everyone, I’m currently a nursing student and have apparently gone over my credits for my degree. I was told to do a SAP appeal for fall. I have not fail or retaken a class so I am unsure what to submit or documents to present. Any advice will be helpful. Thank you!!