Miami Dade College students-your experiences with a retarded financial aid department? Help!???
Here’s the situation: I have a previous bachelor’s and am trying to change careers by going into vet tech at Miami Dade’s Medical Center-they have the ONLY certified Vet Tech program in South Florida. I can’t get the Pell Grant because of the previous bachelor’s, the department demands that we work only part-time while in school as the curriculum is very tough, but the financial aid department is the most stubborn I have ever seen in my life: they only allow ONE federal loan per semester, and private student loans are only approved for physician’s assistant students! This is absolutely insane: if you are not working full-time, you can’t get a loan with a bank; most private student loans require the school’s approval for disbursement; and parttime work does NOT cover living expenses in S. Florida! They tell you this only after you ask, so to boot I’m late for applying to most decent scholarships. Any suggestions? Could there be any chinks in the system that I am not aware of?
What you are talking about are institutional policies. For some reason the aid office feels that these policies are in the best interest of their students. I’d sit down with the aid director and talk about why they have these policies. Don’t go in upset but be very calm about it….trying to throw your weight around usually doesn’t get you anywhere. If you don’t feel you are getting decent answers, go to the supervisor of the aid director. Or, ask the student ombudsman for assistance.
