Stories We Tell

The office now has a location within the student center to better access students and address concerns and questions.

By: Jasmine Moore

The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships at N.C. A&T has become one of the most frustrating offices for students because of the lack of communication about billing payments, scholarships, and upcoming deadlines. As a result, the office is working to inform students everything they need to know can be located on the website and working with other departments to spread important information.

During the COVID pandemic, most N.C. A&T students received many scholarships from emergency funding, the Aggie Pride Grant, the Aggie Pride Merit Scholarship, and scholarships to cover tuition and fees. The funding stopped at the end of the last academic year in June 2023, forcing students to return to the original plan of loans and scholarships to afford their college education.

This academic year has challenged students to get ahead of their payments, but most students are struggling to get their awards letter corrected. Students’ circumstances created issues of several or all of their classes being dropped right before the semester began, holding them back by another semester for their expected graduation year.

Navia Washington, a junior kinesiology student, doesn’t depend on financial aid money, foots the bill for her education. She says that financial aid sees the fault as on the student instead of the outside funding organizations.

“The communication could be better,” Washington said. “I wish they would be more understanding and patient especially when the fault isn’t on the student and more so the organization they are dealing with.”

When students try to resolve these issues from financial aid and billing statements, generally, they are required to travel to Greensboro to communicate with financial aid in person or wait days for someone from financial aid to call them back because of the high call volumes and requests. To be more accessible to students, financial aid moved their office inside N.C. A&T’s student center to effectively make appointments to talk to students. Their main location remains in the Dowdy Administrative Building.

The Office of Financial Aid started an approach to collaborate with different departments to spread the importance of finding resources through the website when resolving issues. The reasons for directing students to the N.C. A&T financial aid website provides more guidance for general information on completing student forms, estimating when students can get their refunds, special circumstance appeal forms, and net price calculators.

Students have also noted that often they feel financial aid doesn’t take them as seriously when conversing compared to when parents are involved, and the solutions to their problems become more effective. 

Norma Smith, assistant scholarship coordinator, wants to reassure students that students are financial aid’s number one supporter. However, a parent can better put the students’ questions in words.

“We have the same level for each person that calls in here. It may have something to do with the way the question is asked,” Smith said. “Some students know what they want to say but not necessarily know how to ask the question, whereas parents who have been adulting for a period of time are used to handling bills and handling situations, so their questions come off a little clearer.”

Although these plans may benefit students, the requirements differ for others because every student has different circumstances. To fix these issues, the office provides students with monthly emails or any form of communication to understand the status of their financial aid eligibility, or sends out reminder emails for those students who are possibly in the red zone for financial aid payments.

Howard University’s financial aid department provides its students with in-person appointments, zoom calls, and an Instagram account with daily updates on payments and possible scholarships. With their website, financial aid also offers sections on 2024-25 FAFSA changes, deadlines for any payments or requirements for financial aid, and featured scholarship sections for students needing the money.

Olivia Blevins, a senior journalism student at Howard University, has experience with financial aid that can be similar to those issues of N.C. A&T students. She believes most of the communication from Howard’s financial aid department can be very vague and doesn’t allow excess resources for students needing extra funding.

“I think they maybe can be more vigilant and persistent about notifying students of their balances and other fees before registration or then end of the semester just so there isn’t a lot of chaos and last minute decisions being made about finances,” Blevins said. “They do not value it [communication] as they should. I understand “personal responsibility” however their messages are very vague and they can do better.”

A plethora of information can be found on the Financial Aid page on A&T’s official website. Continuing Aggies can find more scholarship opportunities through the Aggie Scholarship Application Portal. Should you need to stop by for in-person assistance, more information is below.

North Carolina A&T’s Office of Financial Aid is located at:

Dowdy Administrative Building, Suite 100
1601 East Market Street
Greensboro, NC 27411

Their hours of operation are:

• In-Person Visits: Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
• By Phone: Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
• By Email: Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

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Jasmine Moore is a North Carolina A&T junior multimedia journalism student from Raleigh, North Carolina.