Help! Financial Aid is nearly maxed out & I only have 24 units to complete my BS!

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Love2Learn, May 27, 2011.

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  1. Love2Learn

    Love2Learn New Member

    I was notified by my FA dept. that my financial aid is nearing its max in student loans. I only have $11,000 left and the cost per course at my school is $1,700. I'm afraid I won't make it to earn my BS because I'll come up short. I'm so close to graduating that I don't want to risk not graduating by this is issue of FA. I don't know if I should stay at the online school in my regional area or if I should transfer to somewhere cheaper like Chadron State College online and knock out my major there with a degree in hand, because they are a lot cheaper.
     
  2. StefanM

    StefanM New Member

    It all depends on transfer credit.

    Try Fort Hays State University--it is only $170 per credit hour.
     
  3. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Be careful, some schools won't just accept all those credits. Ask good questions.
     
  4. atrox79

    atrox79 Member

    What's your major and which classes do you have left? Maybe the community can think of cheap alternative places to take them & you could ask your school if you could transfer them in.
     
  5. Fortunato

    Fortunato Member

    You might want to consider looking up your school's policy on credit-by-exam and seeing which CLEP and DSST exams they accept for credit. Although this late in the game it's likely that you've covered a lot of the lower level stuff, you can probably still find an exam or two (or more) that would be accepted as a free elective or possibly even to fulfill a major requirement. Also, you might be able to take some of your remaining classes at a lower-cost school or via correspondence and transfer them back to your school. You're trying to thread a needle here, so I suggest speaking with your advisor and getting a good solid look at your options.

    Best of luck!
     
  6. eilla05

    eilla05 New Member

    +1. IF you tell us what you need it is possible we could point you someplace to take them and then see if your current college will let you transfer in the remaining 24 credits.
     
  7. potpourri

    potpourri New Member

    I would honestly suggest that you see whether or not you could transfer a good portion to your present school to meet the remaining requirements so that you could save yourself some money.

    Most schools will allow you to transfer in a good portion of credits provided you have met the residency requirements at your present school. You also need to determine if you have already transferred in some courses prior as this could count toward the maximum amount of credits able to be transferred in.

    The only other option that would be a possibility is that you could perhaps transfer your courses to one of the Big Three -- Charter Oak State College, Excelsior College, and Thomas Edison State College. With Charter Oak State College and Excelsior they do have a requirement where you have to take at least one course with them at least with regard to Charter Oak State College that has to be done with them. In the case of Excelsior College you would need to do an Information Literacy course, however, as far as I know if you have taken a similar course somewhere else this could be possibly transferred in.

    The other options that were mentioned were CLEP and that is something you could also check into as well. The only additional option would be to see if you have any lower level courses that could still be transferred in and take some at a community college such as Clovis Community College that is rather cheap when you take 2 courses (6 credits) and this could be an additional option. Oh, and last by not least if you get into a real pinch you may want to consider Athabasca University that has no residency requirements, and you could get a Bachelor of General Studies (90 credits) -- equivalent of 3 years of study and this would be one that comes to mind.

    Please let us know how you make out.
     
  8. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    $11,000.00 is not enough? My entire Bachelor degree was only $11,250.00
     
  9. AUTiger00

    AUTiger00 New Member

    I was thinking the same thing. The gov't will lend you $20.5k a year and a total of well $100k. How have you maxed that out on a bachelors degree?
     
  10. StefanM

    StefanM New Member

    Those are actually the graduate limits.

    For an independent student the loan amounts per year are as follows:

    Freshman-$9500
    Sophomore-$10500
    Junior/Senior-$12500

    The aggregate limit for undergraduate loans is $57500.
     
  11. AUTiger00

    AUTiger00 New Member

    Never knew that. Still, if the OP is approaching $57k in debt and is concerned it won't be enough to finish a bachelors degree he/she probably should consider some less expensive options.

    So a freshman can only borrow $9.5 a year? That seems off.
     
  12. StefanM

    StefanM New Member

    No, it's correct. Importantly--it's only for independent students.

    http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/studentloans.jsp

    Dependent students have even lower limits (5500, 6500, 7500), but parents can get PLUS loans (Parent loans for undergraduate students) on top of this. If the parents qualify, they can receive a loan up to the cost of attendance minus other financial aid.

    http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/parentloans.jsp
     

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