Anonymous wrote:"As we finalized awards for the upcoming year, adjustments were made to financial aid offers."

What are you going to do about it? Nothing. It's not like parents are going to yank their kids out of college because of a brainless part-time job sitting at the library.

No but work study is often to give the student a job to earn pocket money to pay for expenses (food, clothes, etc). It typically isn’t for paying off a debt. I did work study and I got a paycheck every two weeks.

FA I thought was a contractual agreement. Where does it say in the contract that the terms can change? I would call and complain. Time management is a skill that needs to be learned, also self advocacy and how to earn money. I really don’t like this bait and switch at all.

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Anonymous wrote:DC is a freshman. First generation. No change in grades or behavior. The previous letters do all have * disclaimer language that things can change this is estimate . . .

Haven’t called yet. We have no leverage and I feel like they’re going to be like that post above. “No . . . again, no . . .”

So you've known about this for at least two weeks and haven't bothered to make a single phone calls to understand what happened?

No, we only noticed yesterday because DC received an emailed about work study process. Went back and checked award history and a change occurred about 2 weeks ago.

A change like that would typically trigger an email notification. Are you certain your son didn't receive such an email, perhaps one he overlooked?

A significant change like that should be followed up by a letter sent directly to the student. I can't imagine a school sending an "Oh, btw.." email about something so important right at the start of school when there is already so much to adapt to.

I would think that if the kid needs to get an on campus job OR not accept his scholarship money that should be spelled out in no uncertain terms before the start of the first semester. Something doesn't sound right.

Are you blaming the family for maybe ignoring 1 of dozens of generic automated emails sent over the summer and not the bait & switch so common in higher education? Even if they noticed it two weeks ago, what were they supposed to do? Not move their child in? Let him or her sit on their ass while aid adjustments were pending? Call the other colleges they turned down back in May?

Stop with the hysterics. Unless OP has called but not updated, OP has no clue what happened. It could be a fixable error. It could be that the $3,500 scholarship was conditioned on something that OP's child didn't complete/achieve/etc. It could be a whole host of things, and we don't have the information at this point to assess the situation.

But yes, I would give some culpability to a person who simply ignored an email from the financial aid department about their award. That's just irresponsible.

If the $3500 was conditional upon a certain GPA or whatever and the final transcript from their HS shows a dramatic drop in GPA and those conditions were not met, I'm not sure how this would be a shocker to the student or the parent. Usually the student is the one who has their final transcript sent to the school.

It could be that they didn't read the fine print on the offer. It could be that the kid knew his GPA dropped and was hoping no one would notice. Or the fault could lie completely with the school.

We. Don't. Know.

But to me, the fact that OP is even questioning whether she should call to inquire about an unprompted change in the financial aid award with no notice that close to the start of the school year suggests that maybe they have a better clue about what happened than she's letting on here.

The terms required for the merit scholarship are fairly straight forward - you need a certain GPA and ACT/SAT test score. If the kid met those requirements and was disqualified for some minor detail in the fine print that's something different.

It really depends on why the terms were changed. Certainly a kid that was offered a scholarship based on a 3.5 average shouldn't be getting scholarship money if they actually earned a 2.7 HS GPA. Why should they get money when everyone else with that GPA is not getting merit money?

The student is lucky that they are being offered a campus work study opportunity. The school could just tell them tough luck - you us $3500, figure it out.

"As we finalized awards for the upcoming year, adjustments were made to financial aid offers."

What are you going to do about it? Nothing. It's not like parents are going to yank their kids out of college because of a brainless part-time job sitting at the library.

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Anonymous wrote:DC is a freshman. First generation. No change in grades or behavior. The previous letters do all have * disclaimer language that things can change this is estimate . . .

Haven’t called yet. We have no leverage and I feel like they’re going to be like that post above. “No . . . again, no . . .”

So you've known about this for at least two weeks and haven't bothered to make a single phone calls to understand what happened?

No, we only noticed yesterday because DC received an emailed about work study process. Went back and checked award history and a change occurred about 2 weeks ago.

A change like that would typically trigger an email notification. Are you certain your son didn't receive such an email, perhaps one he overlooked?

A significant change like that should be followed up by a letter sent directly to the student. I can't imagine a school sending an "Oh, btw.." email about something so important right at the start of school when there is already so much to adapt to.

I would think that if the kid needs to get an on campus job OR not accept his scholarship money that should be spelled out in no uncertain terms before the start of the first semester. Something doesn't sound right.

Are you blaming the family for maybe ignoring 1 of dozens of generic automated emails sent over the summer and not the bait & switch so common in higher education? Even if they noticed it two weeks ago, what were they supposed to do? Not move their child in? Let him or her sit on their ass while aid adjustments were pending? Call the other colleges they turned down back in May?

Stop with the hysterics. Unless OP has called but not updated, OP has no clue what happened. It could be a fixable error. It could be that the $3,500 scholarship was conditioned on something that OP's child didn't complete/achieve/etc. It could be a whole host of things, and we don't have the information at this point to assess the situation.

But yes, I would give some culpability to a person who simply ignored an email from the financial aid department about their award. That's just irresponsible.

If the $3500 was conditional upon a certain GPA or whatever and the final transcript from their HS shows a dramatic drop in GPA and those conditions were not met, I'm not sure how this would be a shocker to the student or the parent. Usually the student is the one who has their final transcript sent to the school.

It could be that they didn't read the fine print on the offer. It could be that the kid knew his GPA dropped and was hoping no one would notice. Or the fault could lie completely with the school.

We. Don't. Know.

But to me, the fact that OP is even questioning whether she should call to inquire about an unprompted change in the financial aid award with no notice that close to the start of the school year suggests that maybe they have a better clue about what happened than she's letting on here.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:DC is a freshman. First generation. No change in grades or behavior. The previous letters do all have * disclaimer language that things can change this is estimate . . .

Haven’t called yet. We have no leverage and I feel like they’re going to be like that post above. “No . . . again, no . . .”

So you've known about this for at least two weeks and haven't bothered to make a single phone calls to understand what happened?

No, we only noticed yesterday because DC received an emailed about work study process. Went back and checked award history and a change occurred about 2 weeks ago.

A change like that would typically trigger an email notification. Are you certain your son didn't receive such an email, perhaps one he overlooked?

A significant change like that should be followed up by a letter sent directly to the student. I can't imagine a school sending an "Oh, btw.." email about something so important right at the start of school when there is already so much to adapt to.

I would think that if the kid needs to get an on campus job OR not accept his scholarship money that should be spelled out in no uncertain terms before the start of the first semester. Something doesn't sound right.

Are you blaming the family for maybe ignoring 1 of dozens of generic automated emails sent over the summer and not the bait & switch so common in higher education? Even if they noticed it two weeks ago, what were they supposed to do? Not move their child in? Let him or her sit on their ass while aid adjustments were pending? Call the other colleges they turned down back in May?

Stop with the hysterics. Unless OP has called but not updated, OP has no clue what happened. It could be a fixable error. It could be that the $3,500 scholarship was conditioned on something that OP's child didn't complete/achieve/etc. It could be a whole host of things, and we don't have the information at this point to assess the situation.

But yes, I would give some culpability to a person who simply ignored an email from the financial aid department about their award. That's just irresponsible.

If the $3500 was conditional upon a certain GPA or whatever and the final transcript from their HS shows a dramatic drop in GPA and those conditions were not met, I'm not sure how this would be a shocker to the student or the parent. Usually the student is the one who has their final transcript sent to the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Call. See what they say. They know they changed things at the last minute. It is a negotiation. Let them know you know it is a negotiation.

If DC has something they want to do this fall that is based on the fact they didn't have work study, let them know.

But remember, it really is a negotiation. You can probably scream and get it back to what they offered.

But if you scream, not only will DC be doing work study the next three years but they will drop the next 3 years awards to even things out.

Maybe what you want to work toward is splitting the difference so DC doesn't have to work study this fall but has $1750 in the spring.

It's a negotiation? Really? A negotiation is when both parties give and and take and reach a compromise. What, precisely, is OP going to give?

"We'd like the $3500 to be a grant, not work study."
"No"
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"Again, no."
"If you return the $3500 to a scholarship, we'll . . . say thank you?"
"Sorry, no."
"I can't believe this! If you don't return the $3500 to a scholarship, we'll . . . "
"You'll what?"
"Hold on, I'm thinking."
. . .
"Thank you for your time."

This is exactly what will happen. They don't care. They'll have some justification for clawing back the award or just claim all prior correspondence were best-case estimates. Too bad, so sad. Not to mention the person answering the phone likely did work-study themselves and has tons of student loans; in other words, they're not going to feel any compassionate for some freshie with no loans shirking a work-study gig.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is a freshman. First generation. No change in grades or behavior. The previous letters do all have * disclaimer language that things can change this is estimate . . .

Haven’t called yet. We have no leverage and I feel like they’re going to be like that post above. “No . . . again, no . . .”

So you've known about this for at least two weeks and haven't bothered to make a single phone calls to understand what happened?

No, we only noticed yesterday because DC received an emailed about work study process. Went back and checked award history and a change occurred about 2 weeks ago.

A change like that would typically trigger an email notification. Are you certain your son didn't receive such an email, perhaps one he overlooked?

A significant change like that should be followed up by a letter sent directly to the student. I can't imagine a school sending an "Oh, btw.." email about something so important right at the start of school when there is already so much to adapt to.

I would think that if the kid needs to get an on campus job OR not accept his scholarship money that should be spelled out in no uncertain terms before the start of the first semester. Something doesn't sound right.

Are you blaming the family for maybe ignoring 1 of dozens of generic automated emails sent over the summer and not the bait & switch so common in higher education? Even if they noticed it two weeks ago, what were they supposed to do? Not move their child in? Let him or her sit on their ass while aid adjustments were pending? Call the other colleges they turned down back in May?

I would expect that a major change in terms like that would generate more than a few random emails over the summer which usually go to the student, not the parent, anyway.

I would expect that letters would have also been sent spelling out these conditions along with the work study options available on campus. I would also expect that something in the tuition statement would mention this work requirement.

And, yes, you can better bet that I would call and clarify what in the heck was going on if a notice like that came in the mail. Depending on the terms, it might be enough for me to withdraw my student and have him apply elsewhere for the spring.

I would be upset if my student started class in the fall and had this bomb dropped on his lap a couple of weeks into class. Especially if the notification was discovered after the drop date.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is a freshman. First generation. No change in grades or behavior. The previous letters do all have * disclaimer language that things can change this is estimate . . .

Haven’t called yet. We have no leverage and I feel like they’re going to be like that post above. “No . . . again, no . . .”

So you've known about this for at least two weeks and haven't bothered to make a single phone calls to understand what happened?

No, we only noticed yesterday because DC received an emailed about work study process. Went back and checked award history and a change occurred about 2 weeks ago.

A change like that would typically trigger an email notification. Are you certain your son didn't receive such an email, perhaps one he overlooked?

A significant change like that should be followed up by a letter sent directly to the student. I can't imagine a school sending an "Oh, btw.." email about something so important right at the start of school when there is already so much to adapt to.

I would think that if the kid needs to get an on campus job OR not accept his scholarship money that should be spelled out in no uncertain terms before the start of the first semester. Something doesn't sound right.

Are you blaming the family for maybe ignoring 1 of dozens of generic automated emails sent over the summer and not the bait & switch so common in higher education? Even if they noticed it two weeks ago, what were they supposed to do? Not move their child in? Let him or her sit on their ass while aid adjustments were pending? Call the other colleges they turned down back in May?

Stop with the hysterics. Unless OP has called but not updated, OP has no clue what happened. It could be a fixable error. It could be that the $3,500 scholarship was conditioned on something that OP's child didn't complete/achieve/etc. It could be a whole host of things, and we don't have the information at this point to assess the situation.

But yes, I would give some culpability to a person who simply ignored an email from the financial aid department about their award. That's just irresponsible.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is a freshman. First generation. No change in grades or behavior. The previous letters do all have * disclaimer language that things can change this is estimate . . .

Haven’t called yet. We have no leverage and I feel like they’re going to be like that post above. “No . . . again, no . . .”

So you've known about this for at least two weeks and haven't bothered to make a single phone calls to understand what happened?

No, we only noticed yesterday because DC received an emailed about work study process. Went back and checked award history and a change occurred about 2 weeks ago.

A change like that would typically trigger an email notification. Are you certain your son didn't receive such an email, perhaps one he overlooked?

A significant change like that should be followed up by a letter sent directly to the student. I can't imagine a school sending an "Oh, btw.." email about something so important right at the start of school when there is already so much to adapt to.

I would think that if the kid needs to get an on campus job OR not accept his scholarship money that should be spelled out in no uncertain terms before the start of the first semester. Something doesn't sound right.

Are you blaming the family for maybe ignoring 1 of dozens of generic automated emails sent over the summer and not the bait & switch so common in higher education? Even if they noticed it two weeks ago, what were they supposed to do? Not move their child in? Let him or her sit on their ass while aid adjustments were pending? Call the other colleges they turned down back in May?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know kids need skin in the game but first-gen kids overall have atrocious grades and I believe sub 10% graduation rates. Paying them to go to a study hall and meet with tutors would be far more effective than a job requirement.

Really? It's not enough to provide free help, study groups and mentors. You think that students should actually be PAID to go to free tutoring?

I just can't express how strongly I disagree with that.

And I can't express JUST how dire first gen / minority completion rates are. You clearly have no idea. I'm talking like 85-95% fail out. Across the board. Good public flagships to privates to cc's

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is a freshman. First generation. No change in grades or behavior. The previous letters do all have * disclaimer language that things can change this is estimate . . .

Haven’t called yet. We have no leverage and I feel like they’re going to be like that post above. “No . . . again, no . . .”

So you've known about this for at least two weeks and haven't bothered to make a single phone calls to understand what happened?

No, we only noticed yesterday because DC received an emailed about work study process. Went back and checked award history and a change occurred about 2 weeks ago.

A change like that would typically trigger an email notification. Are you certain your son didn't receive such an email, perhaps one he overlooked?

A significant change like that should be followed up by a letter sent directly to the student. I can't imagine a school sending an "Oh, btw.." email about something so important right at the start of school when there is already so much to adapt to.

I would think that if the kid needs to get an on campus job OR not accept his scholarship money that should be spelled out in no uncertain terms before the start of the first semester. Something doesn't sound right.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is a freshman. First generation. No change in grades or behavior. The previous letters do all have * disclaimer language that things can change this is estimate . . .

Haven’t called yet. We have no leverage and I feel like they’re going to be like that post above. “No . . . again, no . . .”

So you've known about this for at least two weeks and haven't bothered to make a single phone calls to understand what happened?

No, we only noticed yesterday because DC received an emailed about work study process. Went back and checked award history and a change occurred about 2 weeks ago.

A change like that would typically trigger an email notification. Are you certain your son didn't receive such an email, perhaps one he overlooked?

Anonymous wrote:There are lots of good resume-boosting campus jobs. I wouldn’t be so quick to complain.

But people who want to be paid to go to free tutoring will complain...

Can we presume your student received his financial aid statement in April? Now you are noticing that the numbers are different. Call and ask why?

Not to harp on you, but tuition bills usually go out in July. Please let us know what happens.

There are lots of good resume-boosting campus jobs. I wouldn’t be so quick to complain.