will fafsa pay me back, if I paid for school in cash first?

Question

i applied for fafsa and I know I will qualify, but the proccess weas delayed. So what the finacial aid office told me to do was to pay in cash first and when my financial aid kicks in. they'll give it back to me. But a friend of mine who was told the same thing last year, said that they are lying. They just want you to pay them, and that they will find reasons not to pay you back. Is this true?

it's a Community college

Answer 1

FAFSA stands for "free application for federal student aid", which means that it is only an application form, not some body which gives out money. Basically, it is the form that the school uses to determine what forms of aid you are eligible for.

What this means is that FAFSA itself will never give you money. The school may determine that you are eligible for federal financial aid, based on the information on your form.

Now, as to whether you should pay now and get reimbursed later, if you are going to a legitimate school, I don't believe that they are lying to you. However, you don't seem to have been told yet that you have been given aid, and with the delayed process, I would worry that they may not have funds to give you any more. So you need to decide. Are you only going to go to school if you get the financial aid, or would you go anyway? If you would go anyway, then just pay the tuition and hope that you will get aid to reimburse you.

Answer 2

How do you know you will qualify? What kind of financial aid are you sure you will you qualify for? Will you take any fin aid and not just the free money?

My point is this...
You won't know 100% if you qualify until you get an award letter from the school.
What your friend was told at the community college was probably something like this, "If you qualify, you will be reimbursed when the money comes in".. or something similar. People always here the last part of the sentence, but not the first.

If you question her further you will prob discover she didn't qualify for free money and didn't want loans OR she
is defaulted on a student loan, or
withdrew from a class, or
has a low GPA, or
could not produce a transcript, or
could not pass an ability to benefit test.... or
has too many hours or
has a bachelor's degree or
about a million other things the govnmt doesn't allow when they get fin aid from a community college.
Drill her, pay your tuition bill and learn from her mistakes without making them yourself. Oh and apply for fin aid again in Jan/Feb so you are not late this time.

Answer 3

Wow, that does sound very fishy. Is your school accredited (I imagine it would have to be if they are set up to receive federal money)? Is your school a private school, a for-profit? It it the rare school that cares about its prestige and will actually overtly screw a student (they're to busy screwing them under the table in a million ways).

Here's the only scenario I can imagine where the "we'll apply the aid later" scenario makes any sense: if they money they've given you is considered an emergency institutional loan. Schools do that sometimes, give out emergency loans.

I don't know how to advise you, I'd have to know what's on the line for you, what kind of school it is, and just get a better general sense of what's going on, but without details I'd just say be careful of a no-name, for profit school (or any online school). Check and recheck the fine print of any and all documents furnished. And don't take the word of any underling, contact the president of your school, the manager of the business office, and the director of financial aid (go to each one separately). If they are not at a consensus on what will go down after you are awarded aid, be very, very careful.

An earlier respondant brought up a good point, how do you know what you'll be getting? Do you have an EFC yet? What's the hold up?

Find out under what circumstance they will actually cancel your registration, and wait untill then before putting cash in anyone's hand. Make sure that what you were really told was not qualified--make sure it was a "when you get aid" not an "if you get aid."

Also note that even reputable instituions go back on their promises. I was pratically assured a certain debt level, and my debt has far surpassed the initial estimates.

Answer 4

Ask for a deferral. They will probably charge you about $25, but that will hold your classes and allow you to start while you wait for Financial Aid to kick in.

Now you're on your on for textbooks while you wait. I had to pay out of pocket for my textbooks for summer, but once the FAFSA money was in (and after the school holds it in their account for a specified period of time), the school cut me a check.

If you pay out of pocket, then get financial aid and they don't reimburse you for your tuition, you call Sallie Mae or wheover did your loans ASAP. I think that would be fraud for them to keep it after you paid.

Answer 5

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