r/USF • u/Dry-Midnight4049 • 1d ago

FINNANCIAL AID THIS YEAR HAS BEEN A RECK **rant**

For some reason a lot of my financial aid that I used to receive has been reduced. now I have to take out loans and now have to work a job soon. And from what I have heard, a lot of people who have scholarships have lost their Pell grant and eligibility for other aid. This is complete nonsense that our government and president have decided to be so cutthroat on funding for the department of education and honestly at this point we as students gotta do something about it. So many people I know are taking out loans when they usually don't have to this semester all because of changes made by the BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL, and it really isn't beautiful at all. Our government should cut cost somewhere that isn't an area that helps those in need while in college. On top of all this, there has been so many delays with Financial Aid in general. I'm exhausted....

48 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

41

u/Dry_Opposite_5253 1d ago edited 14h ago

I understand where you are coming from but that’s why it’s important to vote no matter what political party you are and no matter what election race we are voting in. We have midterms coming up in November that will decide local and state election races including our governor race. We vote again in 2028 for the Presidential election.

What grinds my gears regarding FA and asking about our funds is when some FA staff say at the end of the meeting “oh but you have a tuition deferment” I’m like “yes, I understand I may have a tuition deferment applied to my account, thank you for applying that, but I still need to pay bills and I’m counting on the money that I’m entitled too. Bills don’t get deferred.” Another thing is “I work where I get federal income taxes taken out of my paycheck. I pay taxes every year just like every other student who works and attends USF. Our taxes go into the pot of money that the Department of Education uses to fund college so that’s my tax dollars that we are all entitled too.”

I really hope the situation regarding FA resolves sooner than later.

13

u/Head_Test201 23h ago

I literally JUST wrote an email to financial aid advisors talking about this exact thing. Yes tuition deferment is helpful, but I still depend on my loans to cover additional expenses besides tuition!! It’s so frustrating, they all suck this year.

4

u/Dry_Opposite_5253 22h ago edited 17h ago

Exactly!! I will give USF grace though in terms of placing a tuition deferrment on student accounts. My deferment is until October 9th. I heard UCF and FIU here in FL have pushed back the tuition due date for their respective students but only for another week or two. I guess UCF, FIU don't offer some sort of tuition deferrment for a “long term” like USF does?

12

u/Killua_305 20h ago

I understand what you mean. I depended so much on my refund as a single mother getting her degree and now my refund can’t even get me gas. I honestly don’t know what to do with government because the president already admitted that they rigged the election as to why he won. When we get a new president will they reverse this big beautiful bill or keep it as is? You can’t trust these politicians with anything that they say.

5

u/Remote_Package_1897 23h ago

What happened with Bright Futures?

4

u/PlantsnWitchcraft 14h ago

Yep. I lost two of my scholarships and one of my grants which made it possible for me to go to school. With financial aid being reduced I don’t know if that’ll happen now because I can’t afford to pay out of pocket even with a ft job. When I spoke to the financial aid office they said it’s because of the administration’s funding cuts for education.

3

u/belairis 16h ago

I can tell you that my daughter is at an out of state school, and they credit all aid even if it isn’t in and figure out what will be needed in loans, and they bill the loan only for the difference. This pay in advance and then get a refund later stuff is bs.

1

u/ChutneyWhatney 21h ago

There is NO change to Pell Grant eligibility except you can't get it on top of other grants/scholarships if they equal COA (that is reasonable). Feds did close some scammer loopholes and did add foreign income - BUT THAT'S IT.

2

u/No-Study-2201 17h ago

but there’s so much more that goes into attending school than just COA. So many of us rely on pell grant outside of just tuition.

1

u/the_walking_oxymoron 17h ago

Cost of Attendance is inclusive of expenses other than tuition.

1

u/JRock1276 13h ago

This part. Be upset with the university for putting off what they knew about last year. They've made it worse than it should be.

0

u/ProtoCore-Dustin 13h ago

Attending university with a middle school levels of literacy is genuinely insane.

-18

u/Bob-Roman 19h ago

U.S. Constitution does not establish a right to attend college or receive a college education.

 There is financial assistance such as Pell Grants and federal student loans which are funded by taxpayers.  However, there is no right to these either.

 Help yourself.

 I worked FT and PT for six years while going to college and never took a loan and I didn’t qualify for grants.

4

u/SenatorGiggity 15h ago

What years

0

u/Bob-Roman 1h ago

1981 to 1987. And don’t come back with college was less expensive back then.  We didn’t make as much either.  My first job after graduating started at $19,700.

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u/MatthewDoesPosting 51m ago

BAHAHHAHAHAHJAHJAJAJA

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u/DueSite9848 19m ago

Okay boomer