Financial Grants For Adult Single Mothers Going To College?
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Well, and I begin to feel like a broken record here, call your financial aid office and ask about the state grants. It is possible that you have one and don't realize it, or have not applied for it properly. Many states have an absolute application deadline and if you miss it you're out of luck for the year.
I also suspect that you have not fully understood what has been said to you about the uses of your financial aid funds. You are offered a financial aid package that consists of the grants and self-help funds the college offers to you based on their cost of attendance, which is tuition, fees, allowances for books, living and personal expenses, and transportation. Your expected family contribution is subtracted from the cost of attendance or budget and the difference is financial aid need. Your college can offer you financial aid up to this need, but may not (and is not required to) offer you 100% of need depending on their policy of awarding aid. When your financial aid money is released (disbursed) it is first used to pay charges assessed directly by the college and any book charges you were allowed to post against your aid. Whatever is left is refunded to you to help cover the cost of living expenses and transportation. Also financial aid awards are not necessarily the same from year to year, depending on changes in your income. And you can request additional funds in the form of student loans, which are repaid, if you need them. But, please, don't borrow just because you can, too many students get into trouble doing just that.
Your financial aid office may not have realized that you did not understand what was offered to you and what it is expected to cover. I doubt that they didn't want to bother with helping you or looking into state grants for you, it is what we do. However, it is also up to you to make sure that you meet deadlines and understand what your aid represents. Make an appointment to speak to an aid counselor there. They don't bite. Take the time to read the financial aid information on your college's website. I am absolutely certain there is a page full of it there. Pull out the other papers that came with your award letter and read them. This whole process starts with you and you have to step up and take responsibility for learning as much about it as you can and acting on filing your applications in a timely and responsible manner.
You can't ask for phone numbers on this thing.
Call your local government agencies and ask about grants for single moms. Another alternative is trying to find employment at the college. Some colleges will allow employees to attend for free or as low as 20% tuition. Good luck! Don't quit!
There are so many private organizations that help peopel go to college it would be impossible for the financial aid office to know about them all, perhaps you should ask the people who told you about the program where you should go to. It could also be that they remember getting extra funds from the FAFSA before tuition went up. State grants are usually funded through the FAFSA as well so you should be in the running for those already, you can try for private scholarships at www.fastweb.com and www.scholarships.com and also try local unemployement offices and welfare offices.
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