Lost financial aid due to school's mistake. Is there anything we can do?

My daughter attended a small community college for 2 years, trying to earn an associates degree in wilderness horsemanship.
She received federal financial aid to attend the school.
In her final year, she had worked at a horse camp for her summer practicum. The teacher required frequent updates via email during this time.
As my daughter was a camp counselor, she was unable to email her teacher as often as he required. She worked this all out with him when the summer was over, and thought everything was good. She later learned that this teacher left the school without entering her final grade, so essentially she “failed” the class.
The school was no help at all in resolving this issue, even after sending them the email correspondence with the teacher, and she now owes all of the financial aid received to attend the school. We have contacted the school multiple times to get a resolution, but they just don’t care.
Is there anything my daughter can do at this point? She has no degree, and is currently making monthly payments that put a real dent in her income.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Have you checked contacted the former instructor to enlist his help in getting a grade change?

When did this happen?

I agree that your only option is to find the teacher and have him submit the grades. He can submit grades after the fact, and the college will accept them, so that’s your only option that I can see right now.

She owes all the money she got for two years because of one failed course her last year? Sorry but that doesn’t sound right.

I have been the community college professor who needed to correct a student’s grade several years after the fact. Just like with your daughter, the community college had recorded F grades because of paperwork that was mislaid. I had to re-report all of the grades of the students in that class! So I know that in cases like this, sometimes things can be repaired.

Your daughter needs to contact the instructor, and let that person know that the grade in her records is not the grade she had been expecting.

Wishing her all the best!

The aid for the summer term would have been removed due to the student not passing any credits for the term. I assumed OP is referring to aid for the summer term. But you raise a good point, @thumper1. I am confused about what all aid was removed. Loans should not be removed in this case. Federal regulations do not require that they be returned the way Pell must be. That is because they will be repaid according to the terms of the MPN. But what other aid other than Pell would a student have in summer?

OP, what aid was removed?

@kellyck

Could you please clarify what aid was removed or needed to be paid back, and for what terms?

[quote=" The teacher required frequent updates via email during this time.
As my daughter was a camp counselor, she was unable to email her teacher as often as he required. She worked this all out with him when the summer was over, and thought everything was good. /quote]

It does not appear that your daughter met the teacher’s requirements.

I don’t think anything in the OP’s posts points to that conclusion.

@kelsmom “she was unable to email her teacher as often as he required.”

Yeah, but immediately following that there’s this:

“She worked this all out with him when the summer was over, and thought everything was good.”

The full context helps.

@BelknapPoint -I quoted the “full Context” in post #8. In other words I’m saying that if she did not contact/email her professor in a timely manner or “as much as required” it is essentially saying that she fell short of the requirements. If indeed the professor was so kind as to make an exception and “work it out” that was a gift. As a parent who has raised a few teens, I know that they are not always proactive, they procrastinate and perhaps that is why she did not get a grade causing her to have to lose the financial aid. If indeed the professor was irresponsible and bailed without giving her the agreed upon grade, he was wrong and needs to rectify it but I would be interested in the details of how she “thought they worked it out”. As a parent, that statement would not suffice.

According to the OP, the teacher didn’t “bail without giving her the agreed upon grade,” they bailed without giving any grade. That’s an automatic fail.