Im a student at Rio Salado Community School in Tempe AZ. I started school on the 18th of June and was awarded a Federal Loans to attend. I was informed that I wouldn't receive any money until after the first 30 days of school because I was a first time borrower. Well that was a little hard to take since you apply for help to go to school because you need the help to go to school. I ended up waiting for that and finally received it in 45 days. Now one class has ended and the other will be over in 2 wks and still I am waiting to recieve the remainder of my money for attending school.
For 4 wks, I spoke with Rio Salado's Finanacial Aid Dept., to make sure there were no problems or issues with the process and that I had done everythings that I needed to do on my part. I was told that everything was fine and that there was no problem that I was due that money on the 6th of Aug (which could be 6-10th). Well, on the 6th there was nothing so I went to the School and asked what the problems was and was told there wasn't a problem, just give it a few days to be processed.
Went back on the 7th, 8th and 9th and still nothing. I finally asked to speak with a Supervisor in the Financial Aids office would who then informed me that my Advisor had overlapped my courses and that that would be the problem with my monies being released. I was told to move the classes and I did that in 15 minutes returned with the proof that the changes had been made. I was told that my money would be released that was the 9th, however it was electronically transferred to Citi Bank on the 10th of Aug.
OK so that was a Friday so weekends don't count at least for us. On Monday I called and everyday after that, I'd checked with Citibank as to when that monies might be released and all they kept saying was we need 5-7 business days to recieve the monies from your school. I would always say to Citibank why does it take you all so long to process it when it was sent over electronically? Are you all keeping that money in some kind of acct for the interest off of that Federal Aid money? Always no answer to the question.
Today is my 7th day waiting, plus two weekends and still Citibank is claiming that they don't have the money from the school, yet. A Supervisor was unable to tell me what the problems was... Just kept saying check with you school. I told him that I have been checking and they showed me were they sent it to you on the 10th of Aug. This is a mess that a Student shouldn't have to deal with... We have Finals and papers due (And those have to be on time... Why can't our monies be release in a resonable time frame as well).
Wow... So I just called the school again this morning and was told by a student worker that something happened to the electronic wire transfer and that everyones monies that had been sent on the 9-11th of Aug... Something happened. What nobody knows... When I asked about the problem and whose fault it was, Rio or Citibank I was told he didn't know... I was then transferred to a Supervisor in the Cashier's office on Campus but no answer. This is too much for a student to have to go through... School is hard enough... But doing it without money that have been earmarkedto hlep you attend school, is outrageous.
Something needs to be done about the distribution process between the School and Citibank. Who awarded Citibank the right to distribute Federal Loan and Aid monies to Students? Do they know about the hold ups and problems within the system process. Is Citibank holding these Federal Funds for interest and if so who made that deal with them. 3-5 day processing would be exceptable, but 5-7 days plus free weekends for Citi to aquirer interest off that money... What is really going on here and should I just give up on my dream of becoming a teacher?
It's a bad setup, instead of you all helping Students to reach their goals you are making it harder then ever to go to School. I wanted to speak with Joe Ducey at Channel 3 News... Maybe he'd like to investigate this story here in AZ. How many Arizona Colleges are playing games with Student Federal Monies? The Community needs to know what is going on and for that matter so does the Federal Government. I think that the Student should be able to choose the bank that they which to handle their Student Monies... I don't even Bank with Citi and I never will. Signed Jacked UP in AZ ; (
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