I'm currently in my 4th term at Kaplan and have been having loan issues since I started. I didn't want to take out loans to get my bachelors degree, but at this time this was the only way that I could pay for it. So I decided to suck it up and take out the loans to finance my education. I made sure that I created an Excel spreadsheet showing what my tuition and fees were each term and the amount of loans that the school received from CitiBank.
My first term, which was February my total charges were $3,983. I paid a total of $1,245 and I was also awarded a $400/term scholarship. So when my loans were higher than my charges I called the school and found out that I needed to send a letter to the Business Office in Florida telling them how much to refund. Well, months later nothing had been returned so I called the school again. Found out that I also need to e-mail my Fiancial Aid Officer. Finally almost 3 months later part of my requested amount was sent back. Then it took another 2 months for him to send back my total amount of $1,786.99.
Each term Kaplan receives money from CitiBank that is higher than my charges. My second term, Kaplan received $541.99 in additional funds, my third term they received $542.02 in additional funds.
My third term, July is where my headache has begun. I sent my letter to the Business Office and e-mailed my Financial Aid officer to return $542.02 back to CitiBank in additional funds they received. On 10/2/09, I received a phone call from Student Accounts that I had a balance with the school. I knew this could not be possible as I receive Student Loans and I do my calculations down to the penny on how much they need to send bcak to CitiBank. Come to find out that no one read when I submitted and instead of sending back $542.02, my Acedamic Advisor sent back $1,271 which left me with balance of $728.98.
First it took them months to return my additional funds to the bank, and now they send back amounts that I did not give permission. On 10/2/09, I spent over 3 hours on the phone on hold, being transferred between department to department. Finally I was told to send a fax to my Financial Aid advisor giving Kaplan permission to recover the $728.98. A month later and I'm still dealing with this situation. I'm getting phone calls Mon-Fri once or twice a day saying that I owe them money. I have to keep explaining the situation that Kaplan messed up, not me. I've also asked what happens to these additional funds had I not brought it to their attention each term. I was told they are automatically sent back to the bank. Not so!!! If that was the case I would not be going through this right now and they would only send back the additional amounts.
Today I check my account to see if the issue has finally been taken care and now my advisor has decided to send back another $1,747.39, which now leaves me with other a $900 balance. I did not give him permission to do this.
I seem to be spending all of my time on the phone trying to get this issue resolved and at the same time I'm getting phone calls every day requesting payment. I've told them to stop calling me as this is not my fault and they need to go after their own school for the money.
I'm wondering if they keep sending back money to the CitiBank that I haven't given permission for because I'm one of the few students who knows they are receiving additional funds each term and request they send the money back so I'm being penalized. I'm curious on how many students are paying back their loans for their education on money they didn't really need and Kaplan stole?
If anyone has someone I can contact in the US Department of Education please let me know. I want to bring this issue to their attention.
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