Student Perkins Loans were canceled for my WHOLE university?? Why, how, and who to call / what to do?
November 9, 2010 by admin
Filed under Student loans
I’m attending school this fall a Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA. I’m a graduating senior w/ only 24 units left (about 6-8 classes). I have no help from anyone except myself & govt aid. My parents’ house is in foreclosure & I have bad credit (from medical bills) and am unable to get a private Student loan & have no one to co-sign. I just checked my award and it was ~$4,000 short. . . just enough so that I wouldn’t be able to pay rent. I called my Fin Aid office and was told twice that the reason it’s short is because my Perkins loan was taken away (~$4,000), I asked why and was told that ALL Perkins loans at Cal Poly Univ. were canceled mid-summer for any student who had not already accepted the loan (there is no deadline for accepting fin aid awards). I asked why, she said it had to do with the state of California budget. I asked how I could possibly get this money back, she said there is no way & that she can put me on a “wait list” for “help. ” So as of right now I am short too much money to leave for school at all. I don’t want to get stuck in california w/o being able to pay rent. So basically, after being in school for 6-7 years (!) I’m going to have to drop all of the classes that I’m scheduled for this fall (school starts sept 22nd), not get my degree, even though I only have 24 units left?! What the heck do I do? I’ve talked to ACS (servicer), BofA (lender), Wells Fargo (lender), my Fin Aid office, and my gaurantor (EdFund) and everyone is clueless and giving me the run around.
and I already have all the grants I can get (3: cal, pell & seog)
Go to work. I worked full time, rotating shifts, pulling a full course load and supporting a family. Those three and a half years went by pretty quick.
I really feel bad for you! =(
A temporary answer may be to scale back your number of credits so that you can try and work during the day and take a few night classes. Also try to apply for Work Study, if you haven’t already. Some colleges also do deferred tution payment, where you “pay,” either through cash or loans, the first half of your bill so that your classes don’t get cancelled, and then pay the rest half way through the semester. It will at least buy you time to figure something out, like applying for scholarships or more need-based aid.
Best of luck!