I am currently attending the University known as Axia College. When I first started my first block of classes, the process went smooth. I felt that it was to good to be true that I was in a college that I enjoyed attending.
I was approved for a $2600 pell grant that was to be split up into two dispursements of $1300 per every 2 blocks of classes. I also was approved for a loan of about $6700 that was also split up into two dispursments per every 2 blocks of classes.
Here is where the whole thing gets confusing. I did notice this in the beginning but I thought of it as just a process.in a traditional college, the pell grant is applied to the tuition first and then the loan. With Axia College, they applied the student loan first and told me that the pell grant was an incentive for me.
During the first block, I did received the first dispursement as promised by the University. I passed the classes with four A's. I received a letter of guarentee in the mail that this money would definately be rewarded to me as long as I stay above the 2.0 GPA. I did this with a 4.0 GPA.
This is where the con comes into play. When I first started, the Enrollment Counselor told me that 1 out of every 3 students are chosen randomly to send in their tax information. During my 5th block of classes, my financial aid advisor told me the same thing.
I was told that I could not receive my 2nd dispursment of Pell because I had to send in my taxes again. The thing is, I have the letter from the government, in writing, guarenteeing me this pell money. What is also ackward, is that the loan money was sent to the school with no problem and it was just sitting in the account because I told them to put a hold on my classes until everything was settled.
They put a hold on my account for a period of 29 days to attempt to fix the problem with pell. Keep in mind that they have already received that loan portion of my financial aide.
When I finally sent everything in again dealing with my taxes, the fiancial aide advisor told me that I was only approved for $450. I was in awe. Where did the rest of my money go. They made up many excuses about my paperwork being lost. The finacial aide advisor misplaced or mishandled my paperwork at least 4 times and said that he had to resubmit the forms.
On top of all that, he continued to have me fax him different paperwork. This process was going on while I was on my 29 day wait. The paperwork still was not finished when it was time for my next block of classes.
I was then told by my academic advisor that I had to enroll in my next block of classes or my loan would be sent back to the bank. This would not happen if my pell grant is first applied and I receive the remaining balance from my loans. Their process is completely backwards from the traditional college.
After all of this took place, I was manipulated by my academic advisor to continue with the classes because I did not want to lose my financial aid. I later learned, which he failed to tell me, that I could reapply for finacial aid and receive the funds again.
When I asked him why did he not tell me, he told me that it was because it would be a long process and extra fees would apply. I was outraged. So now, he did place me in those classes that started on Janurary 23.
The problem with this is that I constantly told my academic advisor that I was not ready to start these classes due to problems that I was dealing with and I was also moving to another location. I told him that I would not be able to post. He continued to disregard my statements and continued to tell me that I must remain in the class or I would lose my financial aide.
I was able to start my classes during week 3 of my initial enrollment. This meant that I was two weeks behind in two classes and my academic advisor knew this from day one. All I asked of him is that he help me pass the classes due to the fact that he enrolled me in the classes when I was not ready to take them.
He told me that policy states that he could not talk with my instructors to let them know about the problems that was taking place. He said that there was nothing he could do about it. We proceeded with several shouting matches which later involved mediators and conference calls with me, my enrollment counselor, my financial aide advisor, and my academic advisor.
We all had several conference calls about how I was going to complete the courses with a passing grade due to the miscommunication methods of my academic advisor. He then proceeded to give me a proposal.
By this time I have hit week 5 in my classes and I was doing all of my work to catch up with the rest of the class. The academic advisors proposal was for me to email my teachers and ask them what I needed to do to move further with the class to get a passing grade. He told me to let them know everything that happened and to let him know what was going on. I did.
Well, one of my teachers did agree to let me make up the work and one of my teachers did not. I told my academic advisor this and he said that the teacher that allowed me to make up the work should not have because it is against policy and he was going to report the incident.
Well, the teacher that decided to give me the credit ended up not posting for the next week or so of class. I then found out that we had a new instructor for that class. Coincidence?
My academic advisor told me that due to policy an instructor is not supposed to contact an academic advisor. Well, my instructor that did not accept any of my credit was the one that contacted my academic advisor about what was going one. He later emailed me back stating the information on policy that my academic advisor just told me. Coincidence?
My instructor also broke policy by emailing me the answer to my question 6 days later after he talked with my finanial aide advisor, which is also against policy. The instructor has to contact the student with 24 hours of the question being asked, which was not done.
All of this evidence in within the posts. The problem is that, with everyone breaking policy rules, the policy must be changed in my favor because rules were broken by the financial aide advisor, the academic counselor, and both of the instructors. All I wanted was a passing grade but I want to make sure that this abuse of authority does not happen to one more student.
I am now in week 6 of my classes and there is still caos. I have no idea which way to turn because everyone is sending me in huge circles. This school has been a total disaster since I first started.
Is there anyone out there that can advise me on this!
Tyrone
Little Rock, Arkansas
U.S.A.
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