[Lateralus]

Okay; So I had enrolled for the Spring '06 Semester, which started back in Jan, at the local community college. My enrollment was around mid-December so I had missed the window to receive financial aid before the classes started, so I had to pay out of pocket for all the initial expenses including books and course costs.

Fast forward a few months to March/April and I finally received my Pell Grant reimbursement check. Which, as I had been told before hand, exceeded my actual costs. Upon receiving the grant I was told that there weren't really any strings attached other than the fact that should I decide to dick around with it, I probably wouldn't qualify for student aid down the line, or at least not full aid.

At the time I received the aid, I had already decided that community college wasn't for me, thought a tech school would be a better bet for me personally. And given how I knew it's next to impossible to get real aid through a tech school, I threw the thought of not qualifying for future aid out the window figuring it wouldn't be applicable to me anyways.

So, shortly after receiving my reimbursement grant I stopped attending.

Fast forward several months more to last week and I received a nice little surprise in the mail from my community college; A bill in the amount of 565.44 for the excess payment and then some apparently.

The notice states that the full amount must be paid within 30 days. If not paid within 45 it will be handed over to the Department of Education for collection.

Now, my question is; How legit is the due date? In all honestly, do they expect somebody who qualified for full financial aid to have $600 on-hand?

I've consulted with various 'homies' and they all seem to agree that so long as I make payments regularly, regardless of the amount, they can't do anything except send me more letters. Which I'm fine with since I have no problem paying back the excess aid, they just aren't getting it from me all at once.

There's also an additional thought in my head regarding the word 'grant' and what I had been told about the lack of strings initially. Isn't a grant a grant? Is there a such thing as a conditional grant? Is my school just yanking my chain to get cash with no real standing for actually forcing me to pay up?

Thoughts appreciated...

[ghporter]

Stopping attendance was not a good thing. You basically failed in your classes because you didn't formally withdraw. That can be a condition to receiving financial aid through the school-aid of ANY kind.

Go talk to the financial aid folks at the community college. In my experience (I've attended, lets see...at least four different community colleges over the years (maybe five-it's kind of murky what one school's status was), they've always been very supportive of students, even students that make mistakes. Explain the situation and that you didn't know there would be any problems with your "informal" withdrawal and maybe they can work something out with you.

Good luck-it's not always simple to get a handle on your educational path, and not all schools make it straightforward.

[olePigeon]

You need to Drop (if within the time limit), Withdraw, or (if it's a required course) take an Incomplete and you can finish the class at a later date.

If you just stop showing up, you'll fail the class.

Grants are conditional, at least if you get a Pell or SMART Grant through FAFSA. You are awarded an amount based on your GPA and how many credits you're taking. If you drop classes, fail, or whatever, they will request the adjusted amount back.

Remember, those are grants from the Government. That's why Student Loans are iffy. You can't file bankruptcy and stop collections, they will garnish your wages from any job you take.

You should talk to a counselor ASAP.

As long as you don't take more than 1 semester off and continue to go to school at least part time (6 credits), you can pay off the loan in increments. Some loans have interest during school, some don't accrue interest until after school. It depends on your loan.

[mduell]

lePigeon: I thought the Pell grant was simply $COST_TO_ATTEND - $ABILITY_TO_PAY (calculated using some formula), and had no dependence on GPA (as long as it's nonzero).