<p>Ok, so I'm attending a CC for the sole reason of saving money. I received a scholarship about 2 months after school began last semester from my CC that would cover 15 credit hours/semester as long as I receive a 3.25 GPA/do 15 hours of volunteer work a semester and I'm also receiving a pell grant, so I come out with a good amount of money left over that'll be helping me pay my tuition next year when I transfer to a 4-year university.</p>
<p>Anyways, before winter break I turned in my proof of volunteer hours to the school official who's in charge of scholarships. She confirmed that I was fine and all set for the next semester (spring 13', current semester). I picked up my fafsa refund check today only to see that it's missing about 85% of the amount that I was actually owed.</p>
<p>I went to speak with the financial aid office and they told me that I didn't receive the scholarship this semester and that I'd have to speak to the official in charge of scholarships about this problem. Basically, my fafsa money, instead of my scholarship, was used to pay my for my classes. I now have to wait till Monday to speak with the lady in charge because she's never there, she never responds to emails/phone calls/voicemails, and is completely useless. </p>
<p>The worst case scenario would be her denying her confirming my scholarship renewal and losing my scholarship because of her. What should I do if this is the case? Take this up to the school president? If she recognizes her mistake and confirms that my scholarship was in fact renewed, how exactly will I get my fafsa money back? Will the school themselves refund me my money or will I just be screwed?</p>
<p>Honestly, 90% of the staff working at my school are useless. They never return calls, emails, voicemails, lose important documents all the time (it’s annoying and frustrating), and are basically never there. It’s impossible to come in contact with them. I guess that’s one of the main reasons why my CC carries more stigma than others in the area.</p>
<p>Do you have anything in writing, on paper, proof that you did receive this scholarship and that it was renewed? These days, I am finding more and more young people thinking that a word with someone is fine and that it’s on that person, even if there is absolutely no proof if it comes down to a problem. The answer is, yes, it is possible if she denies talking to you and says she doesn’t know what you are talking about, and if she did not do as she should have done, you are not likely to get your scholarship. Going to the school president or anyone isn’t going to do any good if it’s your word against hers and there is no proof in writing anywhere. In fact, if she made a mistake and forgot and you were not on top of this, it could also be the end of the matter. It’s YOUR responsibility, and this is the way it works for most things in life. </p>
<p>Without knowing the written policies of your school, how this is covered, what sort of scholarship this is, it’s impossible to say what your situation is. You need to sit down with the person in charge and find out what indeed happened and then you need to find out who the to-go person is at the school for any problems if indeed the ball was dropped.</p>
<p>Sorry for the ordeal but you should first calm down and step back a bit. Who is this “she” that you are talking about? Why does this “she” agreed and confirmed that everything is ok but the financial aid office says that you did not get any scholarship. I can’t imagine “she” in this case is not part of the same financial aid office. Who else would you be dealing with besides financial aid office about scholarship? I think if there was a mistake, there should be no problem getting your money. Financial aid office should be able to correct and disburse money without any problem, so don’t worry about that. But if they believe there was no mistake and you have no proof like cpt said above, then there is really not much you can do to change that.</p>
<p>Umm, your school didn’t “steal” your money.</p>
<p>Either you didn’t receive the scholarship renewal, or they goofed.</p>
<p>Stop trying to e-mail, call, etc. the lady. Go to the financial aid office at 8 a.m. Monday when it opens and wait until you can talk to someone and/or the scholarship official. Do it like a grown up, not “omg they stole my money.” Maybe they made a mistake. Mistakes happen plenty of times. Take your FAFSA copy, any correspondence you’ve had with them, your transcript, your community service hours, old invoices, anything that might be useful when talking to them. Wait there all day until they can speak to you and explain what happened.</p>
<p>I am guessing that the staff at your CC are overworked. In that case, things can get overlooked, or the staff may be behind in processing scholarships. It is clear that you don’t know what is going on, and you are frustrated … but it is a mistake to fill in the blanks with negatives</p>
<p>Double-check all of the rules of the scholarship. Make sure you are in compliance with every rule. If you are, then it is quite possible a mistake was made or you got overlooked or the scholarship office is behind or you have to wait until a certain point in the semester to get a refund for the scholarship or … something else that is probably less sinister than you are visualizing.</p>
<p>I suggest that when you talk (or go in person) to the financial aid people, you have an attitude of, “can you help me figure out why the computer has made this mistake?”</p>
<p>It could be an error for any number of reasons, but chances are that the person you spoke with did NOT make the mistake, so get them on your side, rather than being angry and risking putting someone on the defensive.</p>
<p>I would still keep documenting everything by email, even if you deal with people in person. If you still have a problem, find the email address of supervisors and copy them on the email thread. Sometimes office drones will only do their job if they know their boss is watching.</p>
<p>Somemom has very good advice about how to approach them.</p>
<p>I am also wondering if you exceeded COA. Federal rules do not allow financial aid to exceed Cost of Attendance. Usually, Cost of Attendance includes tuition, fees and room and board but I have been told that our community college does not generally award ‘free’ money to cover room and board for dependent students. It will let students take out a loan for that amount, but it is trying to stretch its limited scholarship money to help out the greatest number of students.</p>