Denied Loans One Semester Away from Graduation Due to University Error

[balamire]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CT

I am a Master's student, one semester away from finishing my course. My university issued federal direct loans to fund my education for the last year and a half. Upon beginning this semester, the university denied my loans because they realized that Department of Education policy does not in fact allow loans to be issued for this course of study. This is despite the fact that my coursemates graduated with these same loans, and the fact that I had received these loans for the last 3 semesters.

This leaves me 3 semesters into my thesis, with no funds to finish my degree. All due to of misimplementation of university financial aid policy. I want my tuition and living expenses back, on top of grievances, if I cannot graduate with my degree. Is this feasible to peruse in court?

Thank you for any advice you can give.

B

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CT

I am a Master's student, one semester away from finishing my course. My university issued federal direct loans to fund my education for the last year and a half. Upon beginning this semester, the university denied my loans because they realized that Department of Education policy does not in fact allow loans to be issued for this course of study. This is despite the fact that my coursemates graduated with these same loans, and the fact that I had received these loans for the last 3 semesters.

This leaves me 3 semesters into my thesis, with no funds to finish my degree. All due to of misimplementation of university financial aid policy. I want my tuition and living expenses back, on top of grievances, if I cannot graduate with my degree. Is this feasible to peruse in court?

Thank you for any advice you can give.

B

Borrow the money somewhere else...

 

[Humusluvr]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CT

I am a Master's student, one semester away from finishing my course. My university issued federal direct loans to fund my education for the last year and a half. Upon beginning this semester, the university denied my loans because they realized that Department of Education policy does not in fact allow loans to be issued for this course of study. This is despite the fact that my coursemates graduated with these same loans, and the fact that I had received these loans for the last 3 semesters.

This leaves me 3 semesters into my thesis, with no funds to finish my degree. All due to of misimplementation of university financial aid policy. I want my tuition and living expenses back, on top of grievances, if I cannot graduate with my degree. Is this feasible to peruse in court?

Thank you for any advice you can give.

B

Not feasible to pursue in court - here's why.

Tuition is for the classes you have taken. Since you took the classes, you got what you paid for. Whether you paid in cash or in loans, the University wants paid for what you received.

You would have had living expenses had you been in school or just living. So you won't get those back.

The best suggestion would be to beg from your family, take a personal loan, or find a program you do qualify for - and get your thesis done. You've gotten this far, just get it done. I have taken 18 required courses for a PhD - and if there was one course left, I would move heaven and earth to get it finished.

What degree is this?

 

[HerNameIsNicole]

Not at all suggesting that the OP pursue this in court, but I'm not sure that all of the reasons you gave are the best reasons not to...

Tuition is for the classes you have taken. Since you took the classes, you got what you paid for. Whether you paid in cash or in loans, the University wants paid for what you received.

If it was understood that the classes would amount to a degree which is no longer attainable, then the OP did not and cannot get what he paid for...at least not in a timely fashion.

You would have had living expenses had you been in school or just living. So you won't get those back.

Not necessarily, but likely the case. The OP may have chosen a different program of study that allowed him to live at home and choose a close by college. But yeah, doubtful.

The best suggestion would be to beg from your family, take a personal loan, or find a program you do qualify for - and get your thesis done. You've gotten this far, just get it done. I have taken 18 required courses for a PhD - and if there was one course left, I would move heaven and earth to get it finished.

And THIS is why this shouldn't be pursued in court, OP. There are still many avenues you can explore to finish your education. In court, you will be expected to show that you attempted to mitigate your damages by finding funding elsewhere. If you don't explore other options and then demand money from the school...well how do you think that looks? I'd say you'd have more of an argument (and plenty of time on your hands to complain) if you apply every place you can think of for financial aid and you are denied. And if you aren't denied...well then I guess you have yourself a degree.

 

[Humusluvr]

If it was understood that the classes would amount to a degree which is no longer attainable, then the OP did not and cannot get what he paid for...at least not in a timely fashion.
.

This is one of the most common misconceptions about education. You are NOT paying for the degree, you are paying for class by class by class. You then take those classes, which are commonly part of a program description, and you apply for a degree from the college. If you have met every criterion, you will be granted the degree. This is why you aren't asked to pay $120,000 up front for the degree, then take all the classes. You pay class by class, because sometimes people don't finish, sometimes people drop out, change their degree, whatever. You could take those classes to another University and use them to apply for a degree - those CLASSES are yours, not the DEGREE.

 

[HerNameIsNicole]

This is one of the most common misconceptions about education. You are NOT paying for the degree, you are paying for class by class by class. You then take those classes, which are commonly part of a program description, and you apply for a degree from the college. If you have met every criterion, you will be granted the degree. This is why you aren't asked to pay $120,000 up front for the degree, then take all the classes. You pay class by class, because sometimes people don't finish, sometimes people drop out, change their degree, whatever. You could take those classes to another University and use them to apply for a degree - those CLASSES are yours, not the DEGREE.

Well let me see if you still feel the same way with this analogy (I don't think it's TOO much of a stretch):

What you'd really like to do for a living is build a specific car. That's your dream. You are told that you must spend years investing in the various parts to this car (college classes), which will eventually come together to form a whole car (your completed program of education). Once you've built the whole car, you will receive a plaque (degree) from the parts company (the college) which declares that you are certified to build that type of car. You have almost all of the parts, when you are suddenly told that the company made a mistake and never should have sent you any parts to begin with, but there are some other cars that you're welcome to try building instead. Meanwhile, you now have years worth of parts, some of which may help to build a different car, but many of which are likely useless now.

Does the organization owe you money for the spare parts, or can they tell you that your money was being invested in the individual parts and not the whole car or the plaque? And if they CAN tell you that you were investing in the individual parts, then what it to stop the company from doing this to thousands of people every year to get them to buy more parts than they need?

To the OP:

Thinking about this has made me realize something. Is it possible that the classes you are missing are also required classes in a program of study that IS still funded? If so, you could simply apply for the loan saying that you are completing that different program of study, and once you complete the classes, apply for the degree that you originally intended on. ...Assuming that's legal...

 

[stealth2]

If so, you could simply apply for the loan saying that you are completing that different program of study, and once you complete the classes, apply for the degree that you originally intended on. ...Assuming that's legal...

Not quite so simple, dear. OP would have to be *admitted* to that other program of study. S/he doesn't get to just decide to pursue it.

 

[HerNameIsNicole]

Not quite so simple, dear. OP would have to be *admitted* to that other program of study. S/he doesn't get to just decide to pursue it.

Yeah, I admittedly don't know much about all of that.

What would make being admitted into a different program difficult?

 

[stealth2]

Few professors would accept a student that far along in a program into a new course of study.

 

[Humusluvr]

Yeah, I admittedly don't know much about all of that.

What would make being admitted into a different program difficult?

If you read the original post - she is trying to finish her thesis. Theses are EXTREMELY specific, and wouldn't count towards a different degree. She has to finish the one she started.

I'm working on a Phd currently, and if I decide to switch programs, even if it is still in education, I would ahve a lot of catch up to do to move to a diff program. Writing a whole new dissertation or thesis, in a new field of study, would take years. I have read hundreds of articles and books to prepare me, and the OP probably has too.

The car analogy is a bit slanted. Most schools require you to take 2/3 of your courses, and the last courses at their school. You can't have 2/3 Chevy parts, and 1/3 Toyota, and still have a certified Chevy. I couldn't take 90% of my courses at Local U Community College, then transfer to Harvard for one class, and consider my PhD from Harvard.

 

[HerNameIsNicole]

If you read the original post - she is trying to finish her thesis. Theses are EXTREMELY specific, and wouldn't count towards a different degree. She has to finish the one she started.

I'm working on a Phd currently, and if I decide to switch programs, even if it is still in education, I would ahve a lot of catch up to do to move to a diff program. Writing a whole new dissertation or thesis, in a new field of study, would take years. I have read hundreds of articles and books to prepare me, and the OP probably has too.

The car analogy is a bit slanted. Most schools require you to take 2/3 of your courses, and the last courses at their school. You can't have 2/3 Chevy parts, and 1/3 Toyota, and still have a certified Chevy. I couldn't take 90% of my courses at Local U Community College, then transfer to Harvard for one class, and consider my PhD from Harvard.

good points. wow, well that really sucks. seeing as the OP ditched this thread, i hope that means they found a solution to the problem, rather than they were lazy and hoping for an excuse to sue their college.