This College always seems to have problems getting students their money in regards to financial aid and student loan money in a timely fashion. This of course creates a financial hardship for students while going to school in regards to books, classes, and certain tests that need to be paid for.
One recent example that me and 12 others are experiencing in my class alone has to do with student loan money that we applied and was approved for. According to other students involved that I have talked to there may be as many as 28 students that are having trouble getting their student loans dispersed to them. This money was dispersed to KHEAA from The Student Loan People on February the 14th and is waiting for dispersal to the student loan recipients. As of this writing the money has yet to be dispersed to the recipients. Below is the reasoning that we were given behind the hold up.
We were told that according to school policy that you must have 6 credit hours before the student loan can be dispersed and that we would not have 6 credit hours until the second 8 weeks of this semester when we took a 1 credit hour class that was scheduled on March 17th. That would be fine and dandy I suppose but the problem is that class they said was scheduled to start on March 17 was actually scheduled to start on March 7th which as of this writing we have already started. This of course would give us 6 credit hours during the first 8 weeks of the semester and our student loan would be eligible for dispersal during the first 8 weeks of the semester.
When this class scheduling issue was brought to the attention of the financial aid office they said that the scheduling must have been a clerical error when put in for the 17th. They could not change the date of the class in their system to the correct date due to fear of being audited. Yes the lady in Financial Aid said this believe it or not. So therefore our student loans could not be dispersed until March 17 and then they would do only a handful at a time.
A phone call to KHEAA explaining the situation and what could be done about it went as follows.
I explained the situation and the gentleman from KHEAA told me that they could have dispersed the loan money regardless because we were at least half time students. He said the college may be trying to wait until the day of the class (March 7th) to try and disperse the money. The 7th came and we took our class yet the financial aid office closed early without dispersing the money or making an attempt to as far as I know.
Another problem is that the gentleman at KHEAA said since the student loan money was dispersed to them on February 14th that the college had until the 13th to disperse the money or it would go back to Georgia to The Student Loan People. The Student Loan People would then have to contact the school and let them know that they have the money. The college would then have to request the money and the process starts all over again.
So in short due to a clerical error that no one wants to change or take responsibility for many students at Maysville Community College will not be getting their student loans to help pay for their schooling.
This is money that actually belongs to us since we have to pay the loans back. I have received papers from The Student Loan People with terms of the loan and the amount of the loan that is a legal binding contract. Yet we can't seem to be able to get our money from the college. Everyone involved is getting the run around from the Financial Aid Dept. We graduate in May and at this rate it would not surprise me if we do not get our student loan money until after graduation.
This is a loan. We as students had to go through the proper channels in order to be approved for these loans and we had to sign agreements to pay them back. So, where is our money?
This is not the first issue that I personally have had getting financial aid or student loans dispersed. I and many others that have went to that college over the past few years have experienced one headache after another regarding financial aid and or student loans. The financial aid office seems to constantly make mistakes and excuses regarding dispersment of money to the students. Many times they seem rude and that they could care less.in other words after many attempts to find out what happens or is going on we are told "Tough deal with it."
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