Some students at Florida A&M's College of Law in Orlando said the school is holding up thousands of dollars in financial aid money that's rightfully theirs. It's the latest complaint as the university tries to recover from financial turmoil in recent years.Some of the students want to know why it's taking so long to get their financial aid. Thursday, they said there are a number of students still waiting to get money for this semester, which was supposed to come in January, and they said they're not getting answers from administrators.
First-year law students Alex Tirado and Christopher Ramirez said they got an unwanted lesson in waiting.
"August comes around, no financial aid. September comes around, no financial aid. October comes around, no financial aid," Tirado said.
He didn't get his $8,000 for the first semester at Florida A&M's College of Law until the year was almost over, even though Tirado said his bank confirmed the money was sent out to the university on time.
"After the school gets that money, from either the federal government or private banks, their job is to disperse it. The thing here is, they're not dispersing it," Tirado said.
Officials at the College of Law in Orlando referred all questions to the university in Tallahassee. Administrators there were unavailable for comment.
The problem is the same one some FAMU students faced in years past, when the university came under fire from the state for major financial mismanagement. Even now, Tirado said six or seven students are still waiting on money they expected to get months ago.
"There were eviction notices sent out. A couple of classmates got their cars repossessed. Some students felt like they wanted to drop out, because they couldn't afford it financially," Tirado said.
Students also worry it could hurt the 5-year-old law school that has yet to get full accreditation from the American Bar Association.
"There's good teachers and good curriculum, but things like this, it's gonna impede on getting accredited by the Bar," Tirado said.
Eyewitness checked with financial aid officials at the University of Central Florida. They said not every school is exactly the same, but if a student has everything in order, money from loans and grants is usually dispersed at the beginning of each semester.
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This ongoing problem has to stop. The last thing FAMU needs is an aggressive investigation into what is happening with Federal and State aid. The goverment is tightening its purse strings as the states look for money in their budgets...
ReplyDeleteStudent loan kickbacks eyed in probe
Lenders allegedly paid kickbacks to universities and employees to lure students their way, New York's attorney general says.
March 15 2007: 6:14 PM EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that companies specializing in student loans paid kickbacks to universities and their employees for steering business to them.
Lenders paid for trips for university officials, provided computer systems, and put school representatives on their boards to curry favor, Cuomo said at a press conference.
Investigations are continuing, and lawsuits against lenders and schools remain an option, he said. His office has not yet announced any legal action.
Last month Cuomo, who succeeded Eliot Spitzer as attorney general Jan. 1, said his office had expanded a probe of whether lenders use payments and perks to encourage colleges to steer student borrowers their way.
Spitzer began a preliminary inquiry in November, requesting information from student lenders Nelnet Inc. (up $0.21 to $24.52, Charts) , Education Finance Partners, Educap and Sallie Mae, the nation's largest provider of student loans.
Cuomo expanded the probe by sending letters to more than 60 U.S. educational institutions, requesting records that detail how they develop their lists of preferred lenders. The attorney general also sent requests to two more lenders: The College Board and CIT Group.
Concerned that the guidance offered to students is tainted by conflicts of interests, Cuomo asked schools to disclose if there are financial relationships with lenders and if any favors were offered to individual financial aid officers.
The probes are the latest in a series of regulatory and legislative difficulties for student lenders. The House of Representatives in January voted to halve interest rates on many student loans to 3.4 percent over five years.
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) meanwhile has pursued support for a bill that would reward colleges for steering students to direct government loans instead of government-guaranteed loans provided by private sector companies like Sallie Mae.
The New York probe wants to determine whether lenders are making payments and doing favors, such as funding all-expense-paid trips for college officials, to be included on preferred lists schools give students shopping for loans.
This along with the upper post is the beginning of the effort to transfer the law school to UCF. The logic will be FAMU can't handle the issues, UCF is close to FAMU College of Law so just transfer the law school to UCF. White students who are attending the school already been lobbying for this. Ammons, please help!
ReplyDeleteThe law school needs a functioning financial aid office. There is no one in place that can actually HELP us when we have a problem. We are told, "I need to call Tallahassee. Let me see what Tallahassee can do or say."
ReplyDeleteI am in my third year, about to graduate, and my first two years I never heard of the problems that students are complaining about now. I got my money on time and never had any problems getting questions answered.
As long as there are incompetent people in place, there will continue to be issues!
To anon @ 3:55 p.m., the problems existed since the inaugural class in 2002. Most of the students at that time handled the problems internally with the understanding that these were only glitches (as they were told), coordinating between main campus and Orlando, etc., and to avoid a public display of the incompetence. The problems were never fixed, so now it is on public display, and Yes the state and the feds are watching (AND the ABA).
ReplyDeleteTo anon @ 4:07
ReplyDeleteI don't know what issues occurred with people getting their financial aid before I got here in 2004, but I do know that this is the first year that I had any issues. This is the first year that no one was available to answer my questions. This was the first year I was told I had to wait for Tallahassee. I am not saying they didn't exist, I am just saying that I didn't encounter them. I am so glad this is THE last semester that I will have to!!!
the part that im still confused about is why do we have offices all the way here in tallahassee controlling the aid disbursements at FAMU college of law in orlando, why dont they have their own FULL financial aid system, instead of just having one person (mrs. incompetent) work the aid department, this is ridiculous, if we don't get full acredidation from the American Bar Association(which i highly doubt with all these consistent problems) then our beloved law school certianly will be handed over to UCF, not obtaining FULL acredidation will be the best argument that they will throw at us. Its a shame when i know that i probably won't go to my universitys college of law because of all the drama associated with it.
ReplyDeleteIt was a setup from jump. We dindn't want that school there anyway. And they help the possibility of a medical school in the air, just to bribe us. FSU had NO imfrastructure for a medical school and its mission is fabricated and flimsy. A medical college whoch focuses on minority medicine covers everything from female related research to "rural" medicine. This is a sham and WE ned to get moving on a public convention of Rattlers to address and solve these problems once and for all.
ReplyDeleteStudents need to educate themselves concerning their financial aid and the maximum ammounts they are allowed to receive per year. We can't always place the blame on others when alot of times the problem is our own faults. FAMU does not withhold, hold or keep any money received from financial aid.
ReplyDeleteEarlier classes of very responsible students, who made it a priority to get all the information regarding financial and turn in required paperwork on time, still experienced problems (delayed payment, non-payment, etc.). Yes, there will always be students who are not mindful of their responsibility in processing financial aid, but the majority are very proactive with doing their part.
ReplyDeleteRN,
ReplyDeleteWhat impact has Castell's leadership had on the law school?