I’ve had more than one run-in with Financial Aid, as have many of my classmates, acquaintances, and friends. We’re all tired of how things are run over there, and since the blatant errors and complete ignorance of this department affects every student attending classes at this university, there’s no better time than the present to discuss the issue. For some reason, I’ve had to go see them about problems with my financial aid during every single semester I’ve been a student here - that's two straight years of having to wait to see an advisor who doesn’t really care about whether or not I get to stay in the classes that I'd registered for. I realize that as a student here at UNM, waiting there is something that’s to be expected maybe once or twice in my college career…but not during every single semester!
An example of why I’m fed up with how things in the Financial Aid department are currently running is something that happened to me in their offices last semester. Right before the deadline to be dropped from classes for lack of payment or financial aid, I suddenly got an e-mail from the Bursar’s office that said that I owed UNM $2500, the exact cost of my tuition plus my textbooks. Upon making an appointment with and then seeing my advisor, I was basically told to plan to make payments, because there wasn’t anything she could really do to help me.
At this point, I was livid with her, so I left the office and called a friend of mine that had the same problem. My friend had gone through the same thing that I was dealing with back then, so she gave me the phone number and e-mail address to the manager of the Financial Aid department. I e-mailed the manager, and she arranged to have me come in to see her immediately. It turns out that there was something that could be done about my problem, so she fixed the problem. The problem turned out to be a clerical error in my financial aid file – it said that I didn’t want unsubsidized funds. The problem was solved, but only after I had to go through a very maddening ordeal with an advisor that I thought actually cared about helping her students.
From many of my friends, I’ve heard horrible stories of being dropped from classes because of clerical errors over at financial aid, having an advisor say that there isn’t anything they can do about any problems and that they should think about a payment plan, and of people being blown off by financial aid staff when they call the office to get basic information about their status or to make an appointment with an advisor. As a matter of fact, at one time when I was over in the office making an appointment with my own advisor, I noticed one of the work-study students at the front desk was chatting away on her cell phone and filing her nails. She could have very well been helping out with the extremely long line that her co-worker was dealing with, but she was basically in her own world and didn’t even bother to look up at me when I passed her by. The Financial Aid department here claims to be here for students, but if this is the way they’re actually here for us, then I’m not sure that I really want their help.
From my own personal experiences and what I’ve heard from my friends, the Financial Aid department here at UNM is doing a very bad job when it comes to caring for its students, and until we as students make a stand and say something to the Dean of Financial Aid and the President of the University about how things are being done over there, things will stay on the same downward spiral…otherwise known as business as usual.
3 comments:
I feel your pain. Every semester, without fail, the financial aid office makes an "administrative error" on my file which results in me paying a fee of some sort. Last semester it was $20, this semester they threatened me with a $33 service charge because they failed to process my loan on time. Just think of how much extra revenue they must bring in with these "small" charges on 30,000 students! What a brilliant business plan.
julianne, thanks for the great comment. Yeah, I bet they're just raking it in while they just sit there...they got me with a $10 fee for technology this time.
I'm wondering if maybe the Financial Aid offices in most universities aren't jacked up like UNM's clearly is? That'd be an interesting project for someone to undertake.
I transferred from CNM and they always tried to educate the student and staff to avoid errors. I worked in Financial Aid there and while errors are unavoidable, we would actually contact students before the term started to try and fix what we could. I came here and it seems like I get better service when I turn documents into the bin versus talking to someone. I have witnessed the nail filing, emailing, and talking on the phone. It must be a great position to have to do so little.
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