I have a question for folks who might know something about the LEGAL aspects of Financial Aid that is dispensed via the Federal Government, specifically in Washington State:
Are there specific laws about how long the Financial Aid office may TAKE to process an application, and disburse a check, or process applications for Student Loans through the federal government?
If so, where can I find them? (Surfing the websites has not helped me so far, I am not finding that information!)
My specific situation behind the cut:
I applied for Federal Financial Aid and Student Loans in March of 2008. I verified this, but was asked for more paperwork (the same forms, which they claim they lost their copies of) in May of 2008. (So May of 2008 may be the legal ‘time’ it is now counted by.)
My college has been “processing” these forms for MONTHS- In fact, the Semester BEGAN in June of 2008. They allowed all the students who expected Financial Aid (or who had also applied for the Student Loans and would be able to fall back on those at least) to register for this Semester, and have the payment ‘Deferred’ untill the Financial Aid office was finished ‘processing’ the “unusual number” of forms and persons applying.
The Semester ENDED last week.
They are still “processing” Financial Aid- they REFUSE to process Student Loans untill the Financial Aid is finished processing.
They sent out letters last week, (I got one) Demanding payment in full of the tuition, within five days, or they would take ‘further action’. They also blocked all unpaid students from registering for the next Semester- many of us are nearly done with our degrees, so MUST get in to the FEW classes we have left to finish, or we will not qualify for Financial Aid that semester. By dropping or refusing registration to those classes, they put us in serious jeopardy of having the classes fill up and us being unable to get them. Even tho we HAVE “priority registration” to prevent this from happening, letting us get in before new students.
Now, I am in a Bind- In order to finish my degree, I need those classes. But I cannot get into them untill they finish processing the financial aid… PLUS I need to PAY for the former session and the upcoming session, which could as easily be handled the same way- I have a lot of bills well past due, and debt for the books and supplies I needed, that need paying off. The idea that they might make a habit of this each semester, is really not a happy one.
This is not going to ruin my life, as it happens. At worst, it will throw me back to where I was before I got back to college- which would suck, but not kill me.
It IS, however, really unethical IMHO- They seem to be playing games, while keeping this money tied up in thier own system, while they do a suspiciously LARGE amount of new building and refurbishments around this College… people with really nice paychecks are not hurting over this, and the Financial Aid Staff is pretty casual about it- They’re all ‘nothing we can do, we have to process everyone…’
Is there some LAW that requires them to do this in a reasonable amount of time? I think August is pretty reasonable, seeing as they’re demanding payment- even tho the terms of the deferrment was untill you were either approved or denied in Financial Aid… not untill the semester ended and they still hadn’t finished processing…
Also, don’t they have to process Student Loans WHEN you fill the paperwork out? How do I know they’re not getting fat off money that /technically/ got approved when I applied, but they’re not givng it to me?
Ah questions, questions…
Not looking for sympathy or ranting in return- I’m just curious… Is there anything we can LEGALLY do? I am not, by FAR, the only student to whom this is happening. None of us seem in any danger of NOT getting the financial aid, according to the Financial Aid Office/Staff, just that it is taking ‘extra long’ to process the NEW applicants… WTF, ya know?
Anyone know?
