I've had a lot on my plate recently and now it's the final day for me to be able to pay the first portion of my tuition otherwise I won't be allowed to attend college. My loans haven't been finalized yet so the only way I would be able to pay and attend is if I pay out of pocket. The problem is, the bit of money I've saved up has to go towards a car (one of the many things on my plate) so I was wondering, if I pay money out of pocket could I deduct however much I pay from the loans I would be receiving and pocket that?
Yes you can pocket them. How the tuition loan works though ? Did they directly wire the money to the college bank account or did they release the money into yours on the contract ?
You'd best asked your financial advisor. However, I know some colleges do give student refund for when the financial aid money surpasses the cost/bill. That money can go directly to you for however you want to use it (tho they expect it to be for books).
Highly depends on where you want to go to college. Generally I'd say yes, but there might be some states in which it is illegal to do so.
Yeah, since it can be considered aid towards your schooling or college related expense and not a normal loan. They could have it so the aid money is automatically used to pay the bill and so refund or excess would not matter. Like if you have aid for no tuition cost meaning free tuition, it'd might only cover tuition and any remainder is unusable. Talk to your advisor though as an internet forum isn't that place to ask for detailed, individual, and accurate financial advise. I/We're not professionals.
The only loans I've finalized are my federal loans, but they never got wired to my college because I had to complete something at fafsa.gov that I wasn't aware of (I'm really bogged down with a BUNCH of stuff right now, I don't have a car, my roommate up and decided to join the military so my living situation is a bit of a pickle, financial situation is obviously horrid, and I'm even still working on getting my license.) The federal grant covered much of the first semester and with the loans I'd be in pretty good shape, but now my only choice is to start a payment plan, take about 1k out of pocket as the first payment on the payment plan, finalize the federal student loans, hopefully be able to deduct my 1k from there, and then I can go back to worrying about everything else as well as setting up a perkins loan threw my school (which is being extremely non-cooperative). I can't get a cosigner so perkins loans are my best bet to cover the rest.
Usually yes, but I would ask your financial advisor before doing it. They may put you on a list that will allow you to attend while your loans are pending, or they may allow the loans to be used as reimbursement for your out of pocket expenses.
Call or go to your college's financial aid office/bursars office and tell them your situation. They will almost certainly give you an extension on tuition payment if you can prove you have a loan on the way.
That depends on how your loan is handled. Does it go through your hands and it's your responsibility to ensure that the college is paid, or do they handle payment themselves and send the money straight to the college? For the first, yes, you can pocket it or use it to pay for your tuition fees. If you have to pay in advance using your own money, as long as the money coming in is enough to pay the tuition fees for that semester, there's nothing wrong with using the rest for your own necessities. For the latter though, well, there's nothing you can do about it. You just have to work part time to replace the money you've spent. However, if the loan is supposed to cover for your first semester as well, you can ask for a refund or reduction from the loan office.
I have a full time job, the money I have is the result of me saving what little is left after rent, utilities, phone, Internet, etc
@Aichan @slightofhand @Zomula @CosmicInferno @Hacalyhd @reagents 11 I paid out of pocket, With any luck I'll be able to refund that tomorrow, otherwise I wont be able to get a car and paying the tuition will be insult to injury I would have called them but I have anxiety about phone calls and their financial department doesn't respond to my recent emails. What pisses me off is that they offer a full ride to people who demonstrate sufficient financial need, and with an estimated family contribution of $0 I've more than met that requirement, but under further scrutiny they only offer it to people who enroll directly out of high school, while I–the truly poor person–had to take a year off to save up for a car on top of other bills and therefore I am ineligible. You'd think the person with no car and working a full-time job to pay their rent would be in greater need of financial assistance than the person being shuttled off to college straight out of high school by their family with a car to boot, but obviously that isn't how they see it.
Hi check your state rules, currently I have leftover going to me directly and I am using it for transportation and other expenses related to school such as food, and etc. Double check your state or country rules first though mine is also partially private loan.
Once you are signed up for a loan, the money is used however you like. It can be paying for tuition or your car. However, you have to eventually pay it back. For example, if you borrow 2000, but it doesn’t come in time for the tuition payment, you decided to pay 500 for tuition out of your own pocket. Later on, the loan will give you 2000. However you do not need to use a part of it (500) to pay for the tuition. You can use the 2000 on whatever you want. But eventually you have to pay 2000 back. So no, if you think you can pocket some then it doesnt work that way. You can decide however the amount your want to take a loan of, could be 1500 instead of 2000
If email, phone call, and voicemail don’t work, you should try to find someone else that can contact them for you like your acedemic advisor. You can also visit their offices and leave a letter. And try to set an appointment.
^ This. Make vigilance of your expense and save as much as you can. If you can lower your lifestyle you should even just a little bit. Try find another income if you could.
Since you're getting a lot of info I'll help you consolidate it. First you want to make sure your school refunds the extra money to your banking account, as some schools may use an internal account system. If you pay your $1000 now and get your loan of $2000 later, assuming you only have $1000 left on your balance you should get $1000 back. This may not work if you have more than $1000 left, as it may pay the rest of the balance rather than refund you the rest. Also check if that loan is meant to last more than one semester, as you may have to continue to save or take out an unsubsidized loan if you don't have enough for next semester. Assuming all of this is in place (it seems more complicated to check than it is, it's probably somewhere in your school's portal) then yes, you will be refunded $1000 after your loans come in. Just know that at the end of it, it's the full $2000 you have to pay, not just the $1000 that went to your school fees. Hope that helped, and good luck! P.S. I realize you're on a time crunch now and may not be able to reach your financial advisor, but in the future you may want to plan meetings early on if you think you may not be able to pay school fees. Visit all your advisors regularly, even if nothing serious is going on. Never hurts to get a second opinion.