Financial Aid Office - Santa Monica College - Santa Monica, California

Kevin G.

Literally one of the worst dept institutions I have ever dealt with. This will be my last semester at SMC as a result to this horrible mess. I am a full time student, I need financial aid as working and going to school full-time isn’t an option. These workers care about nothing but themselves. They hung up on me today. But that’s okay, I’m getting a meeting with the VP at the school. We will see who gets the last laugh. I am DEMANDING a change to this dept.

Tristen N.

Absolute garbage service here. Not only did I wait nearly five hours, the person I spoke to on the phone was absolute clueless. What an absolute waste of my time and effort. Some of these people need to be fired ASAP.

Amari B.

A less line is always closed. WATED 5 HOURSSSSSS and never heeard from ANYONE waitined DAYSSSSSS to get back in line. A terrrribblleee system

KAHAN S.

Everyone says different things it's not the same problem.I'm going to use to be.You will be getting missed information.I suggest you don't rely on what they're telling you.Do your own research and stay aware of the miss information

Natasha L.

The school/classes are great thus far, but the financial aid process has been one of the worst experiences I have ever had with any professional institution. I have a B.A. and now wish to obtain an M.S. Because I was not STEM in undergrad, I was told I need a few science pre-reqs and was advised to do them at a CC prior to applying to grad school.

I reached out to SMC F.A. and made it very clear that I wanted to pursue loans since I would be full-time enrolled (which is incompatible with working) and these classes are needed for grad school, which is a loan-eligible degree path. I was told where to go to apply, and I did as asked. During this process, I discovered that in order to get aid for summer, you need to be enrolled in 6 units minimum, but no more than 8 units.

Every class I need as a pre-req is worth either 4 or 5 units, and only one of those classes was available for the summer -- Chem 10, which is worth 5 units. I asked the school for guidance and someone AT THE SCHOOL told me to enroll in a 1 credit P.E. course to reach the 6 units I need to be aid eligible for the summer, so I did.

I spoke with department reps multiple times during this process, making it very clear what my plan was, and at no point was I told that I would be ineligible for loans. When I last called for an update on when I should expect my summer loan to be dispersed, I was told that the money would not be dispersed until the middle of the semester because of "school policy," which I can assure you is not normal protocol for school loans (loans are normally disbursed prior to classes starting).

Yesterday, after my midterm, I got a weird email about my appeal (this is now 2 weeks into the summer semester) so I decided to go to F.A. in person to see what was going on and that's when they informed me that my summer aid was denied because the P.E. class isn't necessary for my degree...no one bothered to tell me this, btw, so I would not have known I was denied had an unrelated email not prompted me to check in. This whole time, I assumed my money was coming in a few weeks.

I explained in the office that it was impossible for me to sign up for a 2nd class that I needed because of the unit limit AND availability of classes and that I had been instructed by them to take the 1 credit P.E. class. Then, I basically spent 3 hours being sent back and forth between financial aid and the counseling department trying to figure out how to be approved for a private loan for the summer semester.

The manager of F.A. is now saying that I need to be enrolled in a degree program available at this school to be eligible for federal loans. This is contrary to what I read online, but I said, fine, I'll sign up for a degree since I need a number of classes, anyway. The issue now is that I am being told I am also strictly limited to the specific classes required for that degree program to get aid, *but* the classes needed for the degree programs available at this school do not line up perfectly with the classes I need to apply for the grad school programs I want which is the whole purpose of being here to begin with...

In the end, I am still not 100% sure if I will be eligible for aid in the fall or not because I need pre-reqs for pre-reqs so I'm limited to 2 "eligible" classes, and they basically told me I am SOL for the summer. What upsets me is that I have talked to like 20 different people over the course of a few months and each person has told me something completely different. I theoretically could've found a better solution (like seeking permission to take a course overload) had I been told prior to 2 weeks into the semester that my plan wouldn't work. I might not even have done summer school at all had I known I couldn't get assistance. I'm now going to inquire directly with the Dept of Ed, which shouldn't be necessary.

The F.A. manager had the nerve to cop attitude with me "because my original ed plan said I planned to transfer to a 4 year uni"...someone should probably tell her that's where you get Master's degrees.

miyaoki

They are so rude and dismissive its insane.

Michael M.

DO NOT BOTHER CALLING. I've dealt with this for years and when I was on line in the office, I tried calling to see if these go anywhere. They mute all incomming phone calls or flat out ignore them. But, seriously? You won't pick up phones during your office hours? It's been the same issues for years with Fin. Aid. New building, same issues. I understand how busy it can be with all the students but it's as if they don't look into their current issues and try to solve them. Obviously they need a receptionist for phone calls. No one returns calls. These are financial, time sensitive issues and it should be treated with more care.

T A.

Terrible attitudes, and to add insult to injury they’re useless and refuse to give you any specific or helpful information! Just “check your account online”...no kidding I’ve been doing that, why do you think I bothered showing up in person?!

Don’t even bother calling, like other reviews say they literally never answer their phones, not once! The staff should be ashamed of themselves. Struggling to do well in college is hard enough, add trying to pay for it plus a salty and miserable attitude on top and I’m hating my life every time I walk out of this office! Good riddance