Are there any situations were attempted hours can be removed from your financial aid history? I enrolled in classes back in 2001 and my advisor enrolled me in 8 classes. I also had a full time job and 4 children at home all under the age of 12. At the time I was young and did not understand the first thing about the ins and outs of college, like admissions financial aid and so on. After about 2 weeks I knew this wasn't going to work it was way to much. I sure couldn't quite my job or my kids so I had no choice but to go to my advisor and withdraw from my classes. I knew I had to properly withdraw that much I did know but I didn't have the first clue on how to do it or where to start which is why I sought the advice and guidance of my advisor. I was under the impression from my advisor at that time that I was properly withdrawn but when I enrolled in 2010 I found that I had not been properly withdrawn and I now have 22 attempted hours that are haunting me 12 years later. I have exceeded my allowable hours which is 90 toward a degree, I have 101. Another factor playing into the excessive hours is that the curriculum for my program was updated in the fall 2012 semester. I was allowed to stay with the curricullum from 2010 until I found that my program major was medical insurance coding instead of medical transcription so I had to request a degree change and audit because my advanced transcription class was not approved for financial aid because it isn't a required course for the coding major. When they changed the major it changed me to the new curriculum so now I have completed classes that weren't required and need classes when I have exceeded the allowable attempted hours. This has been a horrible experience and I finally got the financial aid office to approve me for 10 credit hours this semester but I am paying for the other 3 I need this semester out of pocket just because my classes start Monday and I don't have the time to continue begging and pleading with them. However, I wanted to continue on for my bachelors. I know financial aid won't pay for a masters but I can still get it for a bachelors but am I going to run into the same issues because of those 22 attempted hours from the spring 2001 semester? Can attempted hours be removed? It sure wasn't my fault that my advisor didn't do her job. I returned all my books to the bookstore and never received any financial aid in 2001. Any advice or input?

Hours can't be removed, per se, but you can appeal your financial aid office. I would talk with a financial aid admin at your school, and request an appeal where you explain your entire situation.

If you haven't maxed out your financial aid, you can start over at a new school- the new school will check your prior classes (IF you choose to provide them that transcript information- you don't have to, but possibly some previous classes will transfer to your new school and to your new degree plan) and they will tell you what will and what won't transfer forward (meaning at the new school you won't have exceeded the maximum allowed credits for your degree plan). Then you will be able to get back on a new track. From what it appears you have posted, you have reached a dead-end at your current school as far as credits, attempted credits, etc., but you have not maxed out your financial aid. I'm in a similar situation, classes were not available to complete my degree plan- so I'm moving to a new school that has a specific class track 'block' to meet the degree goal, and you don't have to scramble to hit or miss your chances of getting into the required classes. It's been a real nightmare. In the end, to answer your question: If you go on to a new school, your issue of attempting to remove previously attempted hours will become a non issue, since you either passed a class and the class hours will transfer to the new school, or you failed the class or in some other case the completed or attempted class hours won't transfer to the new school.

The information I gave above is incorrect, and was based on what I was told by an advisor. What I have found is that the 150% rule applies to ALL prior credits attempted, whether they apply to your program of study or not. Meaning- you cannot simply start over at a new school with a clean slate, and in fact- prior credits must be disclosed. I stand corrected. I also found, alarmingly- that if your school determines that you cannot complete your chosen program within the 150% time frame, then they can cancel your financial aid BEFORE the fact!