There are days that I believe the Financial Aid department is on a mission to make my head explode in frustration. Yesterday was one of those days.
I was happy as a clam as I walked out to check the mail. Then nervous when I saw the letter from Pierce College. We are still waiting to hear if we have made it to the second step in the nursing application process, so there was a quick hope that the letter had finally come. Then I saw that the return address was actually from the Pierce College Financial Aid department. Hmm, ok. I opened it and was shocked to see a letter stating that after review they had determined I was no longer eligible for financial aid.
WHAT???
So I grabbed the phone and dialed the number for the Puyallup office. Despite being well within the regular business hours, by call went straight to voice mail. I pondered leaving a message so they could call me back as their message promised. Except, I spent nearly a month calling and leaving message on that system and have yet to receive one call back. Instead I opted to call the sometimes less friendly Ft. Steilacom office.
After waiting on hold I was connected with a nice gentleman and we got down to work to try to figure out why my account had this suspension placed on it. I attempted 12 credits last quarter. I did not pass Sociology. To be fair, this was a somewhat planned failing of Sociology. But to go from having straight 4.0's to not passing one class and being removed from financial aid? That wasn't right.
The long and short of it was that someone had gone into my file and manually placed a suspension on my financial aid. I met none of the requirements for the computer system to automatically suspend my aid, and he could see where someone had gone in and placed the suspension. What he could not say (and may or may not have been able to see) was who had done this. I have my suspicions, based on a bitter battle with one person in financial aid over my husbands financial aid that I have been attempting to straighten out. The timing is nearly perfect and she has the access to do so. But, I'll never know, so I'll just be relieved that I was able to get it quickly straightened out.
I was happy as a clam as I walked out to check the mail. Then nervous when I saw the letter from Pierce College. We are still waiting to hear if we have made it to the second step in the nursing application process, so there was a quick hope that the letter had finally come. Then I saw that the return address was actually from the Pierce College Financial Aid department. Hmm, ok. I opened it and was shocked to see a letter stating that after review they had determined I was no longer eligible for financial aid.
WHAT???
So I grabbed the phone and dialed the number for the Puyallup office. Despite being well within the regular business hours, by call went straight to voice mail. I pondered leaving a message so they could call me back as their message promised. Except, I spent nearly a month calling and leaving message on that system and have yet to receive one call back. Instead I opted to call the sometimes less friendly Ft. Steilacom office.
After waiting on hold I was connected with a nice gentleman and we got down to work to try to figure out why my account had this suspension placed on it. I attempted 12 credits last quarter. I did not pass Sociology. To be fair, this was a somewhat planned failing of Sociology. But to go from having straight 4.0's to not passing one class and being removed from financial aid? That wasn't right.
The long and short of it was that someone had gone into my file and manually placed a suspension on my financial aid. I met none of the requirements for the computer system to automatically suspend my aid, and he could see where someone had gone in and placed the suspension. What he could not say (and may or may not have been able to see) was who had done this. I have my suspicions, based on a bitter battle with one person in financial aid over my husbands financial aid that I have been attempting to straighten out. The timing is nearly perfect and she has the access to do so. But, I'll never know, so I'll just be relieved that I was able to get it quickly straightened out.
