Student Financial Aid: Can you receive the Federal Pell Grant for a second Bachelor's degree if you did your first Bachelor's degree outside of the country and you weren't a U.S. resident at that time?
If a student has received the equivalent of a U.S. Bachelor's degree or more advanced degree, the student is ineligible for a Federal Pell Grant, regardless of whether the degree was earned in the U.S. or a foreign country. The main issue is whether the foreign degree is the equivalent of a U.S. Bachelor's degree. For example, colleges in some countries award a Bachelor's degree after three years of study instead of four. In most cases these students will be ineligible for the Federal Pell Grant. Here's an excerpt from the FSA Handbook (page 1-73), a source of subregulatory guidance to college and university financial aid staff: "A student with a baccalaureate degree is ineligible even if the degree is from an unaccredited school or is not recognized by your school. Similarly, a student with a baccalaureate or professional degree from a foreign school usually isn't eligible for a Pell Grant. But because a foreign degree often won't translate neatly into the American classification, the school must judge whether it equates to a U.S. bachelor's degree. If the student provides written documentation that the foreign degree is not equivalent to a bachelor's degree awarded in the United States, you may determine that he does not have a bachelor's degree. Documents supporting such a conclusion may include information about the type of school the student attended and total years of education leading to the degree."
Why do people go back to school for a second bachelor's degree?
To begin a new career. The popular myth that a bachelor’s degree in one field (ie BA in any Liberal Arts or Humanities) will qualify you for a Master’s degree in EVERY OTHER FIELD no matter how radically different it may be (ie nursing, computer science, or electrical engineering) is exactly that: a myth. The fact is that while you can get a Master’s in a different field than your Bachelor’s (like English to Business Management), it often not the case in a science, health, mathematics and engineering. You will need to either a) start with a second bachelor’s or b) take prerequisites classes, pass the GRE or GMAT and hope your GPA is high enough so a University will accept you into their program. Route b) will often take 4 years to complete (adjusting for Pre-Reqs, tests, applications and Masters), while route a) will perhaps take less time if your second college accepts all the credits from your previous degree (mine’s did, but some will not accept all of them) and less money. It usually sucks, but hey: if you struck out with the first degree and you want to get into a field that is in HIGH DEMAND and PAYS A DECENT SALARY then it needs to be done.
How many years will FAFSA supply financial aid for college tuition?
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is used to apply for financial aid from the federal government, state governments and most colleges and universities. The federal aid is subject to a 150% timeframe restriction, which limits it to no more than 150% of the normal timeframe to obtain a degree, such as 3 years for a 2-year degree and 6 years for a 4-year degree. However, there are ways around this restriction, such as switching degree programs (e.g., from an Associate's degree program to a Bachelor's degree program).
How can I apply for financial aid for multiple classes at Coursera?
I completed about 10+ courses on the signature track on 2 specializations. As I felt they were a bit pricey to pay for 2 entire specializations (for 1000USD), what I did was I ask for financial aids for the courses that I deem less valuable to me. For example, I want to do an entire spec, but my course valuation is that I can only pay for 3 out of 5, or only 3 out of 5 are worth the price. So I applied for financial aid for the remaining 2.Before April 2016: I could apply for multiple Coursera courses financial aid at the same time. Update April 2016: Coursera has modified their financial aid scheme. The current financial aid scheme only allows one active class with financial aid. Meaning, the learners must complete the current financially-aided course before applying for new courses. :) Looks like they want learners to be more serious about financial aid and complete financially-aided courses dutifully. Now, that means you can still apply for multiple courses' financial aid, however, you must do so sequentially, and only after you've finished the previous course.
How will getting married affect financial aid?
First of all, marital status cannot be changed on a FAFSA once it is filed. So, if she is currently receiving aid under the 07-08 FAFSA and you get married now, it will not effect her current aid. The new FAFSA for the 08-09 school year becomes available January 1, 2008. The question on the FAFSA regarding marital status asks "as of today, what is your marital status?" So whether it will effect her aid for the 08-09 school year all depends on when you become married. For example, if you marry during the month of December 2007 and she files her FAFSA in January 2008, then she will have to mark "married" on her FAFSA and include both her and spouse's income. The household size would also include your 2 children and any other children or dependents living in the household for whom you and/or your wife are providing more than 50% financial support for. On the other hand, if she files her FAFSA on January 3, 2008 (for example) and you do not get married until Januar 4, 2008 or later, she would file "single" on her FAFSA and it would remain that way for the entire academic year because, as I stated, marital status cannot be updated once a FAFSA is filed and it is based on your marital status as of the date you file. So, with all of that said, if your concern is that you would rather your income stay off the FAFSA then simply get married after the date she files her renewal FAFSA. It is nearly impossible to say what amount of aid she might qualify for with your income considered and what the difference in aid might be (especially because you do not indicate what she is currently eligible for), but a household of 4 (I assume) with $55K is not TOO much income, but I doubt that she would qualify for the maximum amount of grant. There really is no way to estimate without just filing.
I don't understand financial aid, FAFSA vs. Student Loans
ok, so 1. i applied for FAFSA for the 2008-2009 school year and it said the deadline for that school year is July 30, 2009. How can that be? that's long after the school year is over. 2. What is the difference between FAFSA and a student loan from a bank? can you do both? 3. Someone said that because I applied this late, i probably wont get much money. But the deadline isn't until July of next year and this is about the time I applied last year and I got money.
If you got rejected from your dream school(s), what would you do?
When I was 9 years old, my older brother got rejected from MIT. I vowed that I would dowhatever it took to get in there, so that I could turn it down and go somewhere else instead (because I wanted to be a lawyer).For 8 years, I did everything I could to get into MIT. I joined the right clubs, I got the right grades, got a 2350 on my SAT, andtook all the AP classes my school offered (plus a few more). I didn't seriously consider the school until I visited it before my junior year of high school, and I realized that it actually could be the place where I got the degree I wanted (Linguistics, because of Noam Chomsky, an MIT professor emeritus).When I was 17, I got rejected from MIT. I had been deferred out of Early Action, and a few days later I learned that my best friend’s boyfriend (who had completely different clubs than mine, but lower GPA, SAT, and AP scores) had gotten in for Computer Science. I felt very disappointed, even cried a little (though especially because I didn't know he applied and nobody told me he got in for 3 days after it happened) but ultimately waited to hear back from my other reach school, Brown. I hadn't been extremely invested in it, though I did love the campus and academics, so it didn't really sting when I got rejected again.That left my two safety options - RPI and UConn. I, after visiting each campus and a few emails with RPI’s financial aid, settled on RPI, because for slightly higher tuition could allow me to pursue a dual major and graduate a year early. I will graduate with about 15,000 in loans, unless I stay for a 4th year to get a master’s degree.Ultimately, I think that getting rejected from my dream schools was the best thing that could have happened. I was so focused on their shiny new campuses, interesting students, and the prestige of beating the odds for admission that I never really considered whether those schools were the best path towards what I actually wanted to do, and who I actually wanted to become. RPI was really the best choice for me from the start, and only through some harsh rejections was I able to see that.Dream schools are wonderful, and the people who get into their dream schools are incredibly lucky. But don't forget that the best place for you to grow and develop might not be the place you expect from the brochures.
Does Financial Aid vary by university?
Hi, I used to attend a local community college, with Financial Aid helping pay for my classes and supplies. I remember receiving well over $5000 from the financial aid provided there, which was more than enough to pay for all of my classes and books that year, and then some. I do not attend that college anymore though, and now plan to take online courses with an actual university for a bachelors degree. My question is; Upon registering for financial aid at different colleges, do you receive different amounts based upon tuition rates? I figured that since I received enough aid at the community college to pay for everything, it would work the same at the new college since the cost is higher. Of course I'm not expecting it all to be paid, just enough to knock the price down so that each term is affordable for me and my parent. Also, I did owe money to the previous college's financial aid for having to drop out, but I payed it back in full. This won't have any effect on how much I'm given through applying financial aid, will it? I dropped out due to bill issues and the need to start working full time.
Does a degree define success?
I am really stressing right now. I am 20 credits shy of graduating with my bachelors degree and I am currently on probation. I have to pass all of my classes with a c or better. If I don’t, I will not be eligible for financial aid. I have been through a lot that has caused me to plummet in school. I went from being an A student to C and D student. My school is aware that this was due to an abusive relationship and sometimes he would lock me in a room for days. During that time I would have no access to my phone or laptop. He is now in prison and I have no had contact with him. During this time they allowed me back in school. I have successfully completed 2 semesters averaging about a B in all classes. This semester, I have 2 A’s, 1 B, and I’m one class I have a really low D. I am positive that I won’t pass that class with only 3 weeks left in the semester. Which means, I won’t have financial aid to pay for college anymore. I am only 22 so I know I can’t get a loan and no, I don’t have family that can help. How do I make a life for myself with no degree? Also, I do have an associates degree but I know that won’t be enough