The Fine Print in Financial Aid

By Christina Donaldson | VOX Alumna

Art by Ariana Kendricks | VOX Staff

So, you’ve applied and been accepted to college. Now it’s time to accept your financial aid offer so you’ll have money for school. My advice: Read the fine print in the financial forms before filling them out. Like any contract, they have stipulations and consequences for not following guidelines like Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP), the grade point average standards you have to meet in order to keep your financial aid. I promise it’s within every financial aid agreement. SAP basically states that if you don’t pass your classes, your money is revoked until you get your grades back on track.

Last semester was my first semester at Georgia Perimeter College, and unfortunately I took too much advantage of the fact that I was in college, where attendance isn’t enforced. I liked how I didn’t have an automated system calling my parents telling them how many classes I’d skipped that day. But, I didn’t know my financial aid would be affected.

My financial aid for that semester didn’t post until the middle of last November. Two weeks later, I got a letter in the mail stating that I was put on academic probation, and I had to pay back $2,000 to my lender for failing my classes. (My teachers dropped me for not showing up.) The lender only gave me about $2000 to begin with, so not only did I have to apply for another loan, I had to beg and plea for my parents to pay the other $2,000 I threw away with my first loan. In the end, my parents had to pay almost $5,000 just so I could stay in school.

Now I’m in my second semester on academic probation. According to my school’s Web site. “Any student whose cumulative grade point average falls below 2.0 will be placed on financial aid probation. If the cumulative GPA is below the minimum, the student is no longer eligible for financial aid.”

I’m retaking Math 98 (high school math). If I were to fail, my whole loan would be revoked and I would be kicked out of school until I paid back the money I already got from my lender.

I’m passing all of my classes, even though I still barely go to them. Luckily, failing is not an option this semester. I have my grades together, and I will make SAP.

All schools have different policies for SAP. Make sure to find out what your school’s standards are.

Christina is currently a student at Georgia Perimeter College who says ramen noodles aren’t only for students away from home.