I won’t disclose the name of the college as I’m afraid of a defamation lawsuit.
I will be attending college this fall as a freshman undergraduate student. When I applied here I listed myself as a commuter student and I have every intention of commuting to save money, and as far as I know the college doesn’t have a mandatory requirement for first-year residency. My situation at the moment is that I signed up on my college’s “roommate finder” program as a result of it being listed as a requirement on the pre-orientation email that I received. I originally thought that this was just to match myself up with a roommate for the one-day overnight orientation.
However, two weeks later my status changed from commuter to residential student and I have been charged an additional $10,000 for a meal plan and residential housing. I tried explaining to the college’s financial aid office that the roommate finder was listed as a requirement in the emails sent prior to orientation and that I did not expect to have my status changed to residential student as a result. The financial aid office is not allowing me to discharge these expenses.
Go to their superiors, the people that run the orientation program, or someone at the school that can help you can testify to your case. You’re right that it is completely unreasonable and you should find people that can support your cause
This doesn’t seem quite likely. I think you are not handling things right based on a) not understanding the email was regard to on campus only, and why would you look for a roommate through the school if you are going to be off campus, so likely you are not understanding other things b) crazy paranoid statement about being sued for defamation.c) no one is ever made to pay housing when they are not residing in the student housing or have even moved in unless required. I would first put a short letter in writing stating that you checked ‘off campus’ when you applied and your status was changed without your authorization (unless signing up with what you did authorized it. I would also get on the phone to the next person who can resolve it. If you have a parent perhaps they should deal with this.
Are you living with your parents? Check to see what the rule is for living off campus as a freshman. It may be that if you aren’t living with a parent or relative, you ARE required to live on campus. Both of my kids were last year and happily did so. It’s not the financial aid office you should be dealing with, but the housing office or the billing office.
Have you tried talking to housing? It doesn’t sound like the financial aid office has anything to do with this, but you should really be talking to housing (or perhaps the cashier’s office or whoever handles billing at your school). Get them on the phone and talk to them, and if they are not helpful, ask to speak to their managers. Follow up with email recounting your discussion so you have it in writing. It is likely that the charges won’t be reversed until your status gets changed back to a commuter and you are officially not dorming. That sounds like something housing has to do.
Have you tried asking for help from someone who you are willing to give all of the details to–a parent, family member, or trusted adult? They might be better able to help you navigate this situation.
@TomSrofBoston, that kind of answer to a naive 17 or 18 year old without experience in dealing with bureaucracies is completely uncalled for. OP made a mistake–I suspect you have made a few in your life, especially as a teenager.
@dogswillconquer, the financial aid people can’t do anything about changing your charges–it’s not their place to do that. You need to contact the housing office first so they can correct your status as a residential student. And do this immediately, since housing is likely already being assigned and you’ll cause a lot of headaches if you delay. Once that is taken care of, your billing info will change in due course. Explain things clearly, apologize for any confusion you may have caused, ask if they need something in writing from you, and, above all, be calm and polite. You’ll be fine. And don’t worry about defaming the college by simply discussing an error–that’s not what defamation means, and colleges have better things to do than examine College Confidential posts for negative statements in order to bring lawsuits, truly.
The FAFSA and other forms such as the CSS profile ask you to indicate housing preferences…maybe you selected the incorrect option by mistake? Did you submit a housing application by any chance? @dogswillconquer
If you did neither of these things, I don’t see how this is your fault at all. Call both financial aid (yes, this is concerns them as well since they’re the ones sending the bill) and the housing office. If the people you talk to are unwilling to cooperate, take it up to their superiors.
^^Financial aid doesn’t send the bills, the registrar’s office, billing, or some other department does. How do I know this? I have spoken to every last department at my daughter’s school. Admissions does admissions and merit aid, housing does housing and meals and if you want a change that’s who you have to speak to, certain state grants have particular people who work with them and one and only one person can handle that grant. Quite frustrating at times.
I think I would contact the registrar, ask them to explain the bill and have them direct you to the people you need to discuss this with to get things changed. Maybe there are facts I’m not aware of, however, it doesn’t seem that you have filled out a housing contract or chosen a meal plan with the university so maybe it was just a clerical error.
At my D’s school you have to pay a housing deposit, sign a housing contract and choose housing preferences and meal plan by a certain date. Then you get your housing assignment in July. The bill is based on that.
Like others said if you put “commuter” on the application and FAFSA and your school allows this for first year students and you didn’t do any of the above things, then you should not be seeing these charges on the bill.
Call on Monday and be persistent to get this resolved.
@mommaj No apology. Yes we all make mistakes and we learn how to deal with them. This student will likely be complaining in the next four years about the red tape and bureaucracy. If you read the school’s procedures and emails you can avoid these mistakes or at least know how to correct them without fear of the school filing a lawsuit.
“I thought this was just asking for roommate information for orientation, and I was not trying to sign up for on-campus housing. As I indicated on my FAFSA, I will be living at home while attending college. With whom do I need to speak to get the room/board charges removed from my account?”
Keep it simple. Let us know how it goes.
Good luck!
(I can easily see this happening, and unless the student signed a housing contract, I think the college should reasonably quickly get this fixed.)
OP FaFSA doesn’t have anything to do with specific college policies about freshman housing and FAFSA info goes thru financial aid not admissions. You’ll get more help if you list the school - someone here might have first hand knowledge. Otherwise I suggest reading the housing page of school for policies.
FAFSA does ask for each college whether you plan to live on campus, off campus, or with family, @scmom12. Financial aid packages are usually built taking that response into account.
As others have pointed out, the financial aid office has nothing to do with housing. They either reacted to what you put on your FAFSA as your living arrangements, or another office sent a list of students who would be living in the dorms so that the budget could be properly set. It’s possible that completion of the roommate finder form was what prompted the change in the financial aid budget. However it happened, the financial aid office has nothing to do with housing … neither does the registrar’s office.
Contact your school’s housing office. I am surprised that you would be charged for something without signing a housing contract, but the form you signed may have done double-duty. The ONLY way to know is to call housing and find out what is going on.