Winston-Salem State University

Review: I am a senior at WSSUI was advised to complete my FAFSA 2015-information in February 2015, as doing so would ensure your FAFSA will be a priority amongst other students that fill out their FAFSA laterUpon filling the FAFSA out, I was selected for Independent VerificationI have had this issue before when I became a mother in the summer of I was told by financial aid counselors that I'm not a Independent although I am the sole provider for my child and I have filed "Independent" on my taxes for the past two yearsShe said since I lived with my parents ( in which I paid rent) that I could not be considered an Independent, and that my child and I were dependents of my parentsThere were no guidelines for these accusations, the counselor was just looking for a way to not help me with my financial aidIn response to this, I moved out of my parents home and am renting an apartment to clear up any issue with financial aid at WSSUI turned in all Independent Verification worksheets and they were accepted within the first week of MarchSince then, I have not received any financial aid package updates although WSSU's financial aid twitter tweeted that nearly 4,students have received financial aid thus far for the upcoming school yearI have gone to the Financial Aid office several times asking for updates on my packageRecently, I had a question for my financial aid counselor about the delay of the awarding of my financial aid packageThe office had reassigned the counselors to new alphabetical orders, in which my counselors were switchedI initially e-mailed my original counselorI noticed the new assignment of the counselors, and nearly waited an hour to meet with my newly assigned counselorShe told me that I was not her student and that I needed to meet with the original financial counselorThe original counselor emailed me back a day later saying that the counselor I spoke to in the office is my counselor and only she can help me.Desired Settlement: I need for my Financial Aid package to be addressed and posted prior to the beginning of the 2015-school year (August 17th)I completed my FAFSA and required documents within the priority deadline, thus I should be receiving all the grants that I am eligible forMy FAFSA and financial aid should be addressed prior to other students who applied after me
Business
Response:
Good afternoon:This is in response to the
complaint from [redacted]For the 2015-Ms[redacted] had to
complete a request for dependency override, which if approved allows for a
student to be considered independent for financial aid purposesThe Dependency
override procedure requires that the student complete verification of financial
and household data items on the Free Application for Financial Aid (FAFSA)
Ms[redacted] submitted documents for dependency override and after
review of the documents she was granted a dependency overrideOn May 28, 2015, Ms
[redacted] sent an email to a financial aid counselorThe counselor
reviewed the financial aid record and awarded the student for the 2015-
award-yearThe financial aid will be modified to include the student's
Provost Scholarship later in the summer, but prior to the beginning of the fall
term (August 17)The counselor responded to the student's questions
about her award for 2015-

Review: The Tuition Surcharge was imposed on my account. I feel like I was wrongly charged. I have sent several emails and left numerous messages about my concern and requesting someone contact me about this situation. However, no one will return my calls.Desired Settlement: I think I was incorrectly charged for the Tuition Surcharge for a total of more than an additional $300.00. I want someone from the Registrar's office to contact me ,preferably [redacted], as this is who I have been advised to speak with but she hasn't bothered to respond to any of my emails nor return any of my calls.

Business

Response:

We sincerely appreciate your patience as we working to

provide responses to numerous students regarding Tuition Surcharge calculations

for spring 2014. I have carefully reviewed your student record and

determined that you were correctly accessed the tuition surcharge for spring

2014, based upon your current registration status. In December 17, 2013

you were awarded the BSN Nursing degree. However in spring 2014 you

self-enrolled in 6 semester hours and as a result was accessed the tuition

surcharge. Further, you are enrolled as a first degree seeking

“Continuing” student and not enrolled as a second-degree or master’s

degree-seeking student. In order to remedy this situation, you must drop from

spring 2014 course enrollment and apply to the university as second degree

seeking or as master’s degree seeking. The tuition surcharge will be

removed as well.