Anybody kjnow who I should contact re: financial aid matters? Somebody other than my school?

Question

I applied for financial aid and loans to finance my education. I was awarded funds and the school has screwed up the posting. I have received one disbursement in the last year and it was less than $500. Who can I speak with to get the matter resolved? The folks at the financial aid office at the school are IDIOTS!!

Answer 1

The only office that's going to have all of your financial information in one place is the financial aid office, so you will need to go there one last time to get some more information. Before you go, bring all your financial aid-related correspondence with you (including your most recent award letter, any loan applications that you submitted, and a copy of your bill from the Business/Bursar/Accounts office). Ask them for a printout of any and all financial aid that was (a) credited to your student account and (b) refunded to you. If the amounts credited to your student account were less than the amounts you were expecting (or less than the amounts on your award letter), simply ask them why. If the person you're talking to is a secretary or counselor and they don't know the details, move up the ranks until you get an answer (ask for an Assistant Director, then an Associate Director, and finally a Director/VP/Dean).

(You'll get your best results if you don't call anyone an idiot or get mad during the conversation. In order to get the most information, you need to have an open dialogue -- which doesn't usually happen when one or both parties are on the defensive.)

Now, where you go next depends on what you think the problem is. There are any number of reasons that your disbursement was less than expected and it might have nothing to do with negligence on the school's part. Consider the following scenarios:

-- Your lender never disbursed the loan to the school in the first place (either because your application was incomplete or because they inadvertently canceled your application). If you think this might be the case, then your school is not at fault and certainly not an idiot. Call your lender and find out the exact date that your loan was disbursed. Then go back to your school and tell them "Sallie Mae [or whoever] send you my money on 1/1/07 [or whenever] and I don't think I received it. Did you get this money? If so, when was it posted to my student account? Can I see a copy of the statement that proves that it was posted."

-- You signed an award letter that offered you $5,500 in Stafford Loan funding and all but $500 of it was returned to the lender became ineligible. Bring your school a copy of the original award letter and say, "I thought I was getting $5,500 but I only see $500. Is this a mistake? Did my package change? If so, can I get a copy of the letter that told me that it changed?" If they say that they gave you the full $5,550, again, ask for a printout that shows when that $5,500 was credited to your account. If they say that you are ineligible for the money, make sure you find out why.

You can go to http://www.nslds.ed.gov and login with your federal (FAFSA) PIN number to view your loan history. This site will show you any and all disbursements that were made on any Stafford, Perkins, or PLUS loans (and Pell grants, too). It will also show you if a loan was canceled and when. It will provide contact information for the loans' lender, servicer, guarantor -- so you can use these numbers to find more information about the disbursements.

There is such a thing as an Ombudsman who can help mediate disputes between lenders/schools and students. You are welcome to call them, but I would only do so *after* you have gathered all the documents I mentioned above; they WILL need specifics. Here's the info: http://ombudsman.ed.gov/