This may not be the right place for this but if i’m being honest i’m grasping at straws at this point. SO, with that being said…
This past Fall semester I was working towards returning back to school in the Spring after a brief hiatus. I applied for FAFSA as required to be informed I needed some information from my mom in order to complete it. Long story short, she was unwilling to provide said information. I contacted my financial aid department about what I needed to do just to be able to apply for loans since obviously my FAFSA was not going to be able to be completed. I was informed that I could fill out a parent refusal form and bring a notarized document stating that my mom would not provide me with the information needed and be able to apply for loans. So I did. I acquired all needed documentation and then filled out a loan request form in which I turned in with all my supporting paperwork. It was then I was told everything was fine, my loans should be approved in 10-14 days, and that if any additional information was needed I would receive an email stating so.
So I waited and checked my account and email daily to see if the loans had been posted or if I had received any emails inquiring about more information. I didn’t. The due date for tuition began to creep up so I started contacting the financial aid office about the status of my loans. I was told they were still processing and when I asked if it was possible for my classes to be put on hold, I was told no. That my best bet would be to apply for a payment plan. Which, if that was an option for me, obviously I wouldn’t have applied for the loans. The deadline for tuition came where I was informed that if my classes weren’t paid for by December 1, 2017 at 4:30 pm they would be dropped. Tuition never came. I just wrote it off as a speed bump and figured I would try again next semester. No hard feelings.
That is until now. I recently checked my student email to find that my professors had been emailing as if I was a part of the class. I go to check my SIS to find that my classes were never dropped and that I have an outstanding balance of $2,000. I was shocked, thinking that this has to be a mistake. I contact the school about the issue and I am now being told that they DID place a do not drop hold on my classes in which I was NEVER informed of, as I stated above, they said they could not do that. I was also told that because of the missing information on my FAFSA I could not apply for loans. Which also is baffling because I was told to take certain measures in able to bypass providing said information and was given a loan request form to fill out and told everything was fine, my loans will be processed soon.
At this point, all the school has been able to tell me is that my only options are 1. To appeal the tuition 2. Pay the school the $2,000 I owe them for the classes I didn’t even know I was still enrolled in or ever attended or 3. provide the information missing on my FAFSA I am physically unable to obtain by February 8
I am at a loss at this point. I feel like I was given false information regarding the standing of my financial aid multiple times and that now I am responsible for a monetary burden I had no idea was even happening. Any advice would be great, thank you!