[Rehab] We are funding and need based financial aid

Tue Oct 1 18:38:57 UTC 2019

Making up a budget that the student and the VR counselor agree to in advance
and put in the file is an excellent way to simplify things.
Dick Davis

-----Original Message-----
From: Rehab [mailto:rehab-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Edward Bell via
Rehab
Sent: Tuesday, October 1, 2019 1:20 PM
To: 'Rehabilitation Counselor Mailing List' <rehab at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Edward Bell <ebell at pdrib.com>
Subject: Re: [Rehab] We are funding and need based financial aid

Justin,

It depends on what funding the university was offering the student.

If it  is a Pale or other federal financial aid source, then that money
needs to be used first. It is common that VR agencies even require that the
student apply for Pale or other federal aid packages, but they cannot ask
the student to take out a loan.

If the University was providing the student with a scholarship, then it
depends on if the university-based scholarship is merit based or
supplemental. If it is merit-based, VR can still say that those funds need
to be applied first, and they only pay what is left over.
I see this at the university all of the time. If we expect VR to cover
tuition and we are covering living expenses, VR often forgets this fact and
debits whatever is in the student's account from what they plan to pay, even
if the funds are earmarked for other purposes.

So, in a nutshell, VR is correct to say that the student must expend all
other comparable resources first, including Pale grants, merit scholarships,
and the like.'
This is why the relationship between the VR counselor and student is so very
important. If the student can adequately explain that the funds they have
are to pay for X,Y,Z, but that VR is needed to cover tuition/fees, then most
reasonable VR counselors can come to an agreement on who will pay for what.
If VR is being incalcitrant, then the only other option is for the student
to get the funds another way, or get them after VR has paid the tuition
bill.

HTH,
Aloha

Edward C. Bell, Ph.D., CRC, NOMC, Director,
Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness
Louisiana Tech University
600 Mayfield Ave / 210 Woodard Hall
PO Box 3158
Ruston LA 71272
Office: 318.257.4554                      Fax: 318.257.2259
ebell at latech.edu  www.pdrib.com
*************
"I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of  Einstein's
brain than in the near certainty that people of equal  talent have lived and
died in cotton fields and sweatshops."
 -- Stephen Jay Gould

-----Original Message-----
From: Rehab <rehab-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Justin Salisbury via
Rehab
Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2019 11:45 AM
To: rehab at nfbnet.org
Cc: Justin Salisbury <PRESIDENT at alumni.ecu.edu>
Subject: [Rehab] We are funding and need based financial aid

Dear colleagues,

A consumer and college student has come to me with a question, and I am
seeking your help in finding an answer.

Before people wrongly accuse me of this again, I am going to be extremely
clear that this is not somebody from Hawaii. It is not a consumer of the
agency where I work. Like any other involved member of the national
Federation of the blind, I communicate with people across the country on a
regular basis.

This student is hearing from the University financial aid office that the
funding from vocational rehabilitation is other need-based aid and that they
are retracting the money that they would have given. It appears that both
the University and the vocational rehabilitation agency are treating each
other‘s need-based aid as comparable benefits and saying that they will not
pay because the other must pay. Thus, the student is falling in the middle.
Since both entities believe that their funding must come as a last resort,
how do we figure out which one takes priority and which one must pay?

Mahalo,

Justin

Sent from my iPhone

Justin Mark Hideaki Salisbury

Mobile: 808.797.8606
Email: 808salisbury at gmail.com<mailto:808salisbury at gmail.com>
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Justin_Salisbury
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-salisbury

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