College Financial Advice

[Sideonecincy]

My friend is trying to start attending college again, but is having a really hard time to be approved for any sort of loans, due to his past grades.

He attended University of Cincinnati for two years. During the first year he did fine with grades, but then the second year came along and he stopped showing up for classes and wanted to tour with his band. He got about a 0.5 GPA for two quarters, then stopped going. This was two years ago and he is now interested in going back.

He applied for FAFSA but was turned down due to his extremely low GPA. I assumed if he filled out FAFSA, he would be offered subsidized or unsubsidized loans regardless of GPA. I figured he would obviously not be offered any sorta of scholarships or grants. Does anyone have any advice on what he should do? Are there certain criteria to apply for academic forgiveness? I never really had much problems receiving grants or loans, so I don't really know what to tell him.

 

[SFStateStudent]

The other course of action would be to attend a community college and repeat the necessary courses and establish a student plan to get back on track. Most institutions in the "student loan business" can only rely on GPA v. good credit, and that's b/c most student loans are "secured loans" based upon your attendance with 6 units/halftime or 12 units/full-time, GPA and your ability to keep your promise to earn a degree within a certain number of years, and keep your GPA above 2.0. If your friend could have immediately repeated the courses, that would have benefited him/her immensely since those poor grades could have been removed and replaced with better grades within one year of receipt of the poor grades. It's an uphill battle, but one that I would strongly recommend that he/she take to continue their pursuit of a baccalaureate degree. Remember, once you've established a 0.5 GPA, you can't just wish away that GPA, you can only make it better, b/c it stays with you throughout your college/university years. FAFSA never forgets; and most community colleges have a Board of Governor's Grant (California) or something similar to that which requires a 2.0 for one semester, then you are eligible for that grant. Work with FAFSA and attempt to do what they ask to get back "in good standing" and make payments on previous student loans at about $60-$100 a month for six months, and you'll be closer to being "in good standing!" Good luck, and feel free to PM...

 

[Morningsuccess]

Thank you for sharing useful information.It depends on you, but if you're not desperately trying to save up for the MBA program, I don't think it could hurt. Have you done any GMAT prep yet? Maybe you can use that as a gauge for how rusty your study skill.