Florida A&M University students are still having trouble with refunds and inaccurate holds. Not only will this keep students from registering for classes in the spring, but it could potentially keep students from graduating this fall semester.
The iRattler portal allows for students to view holds, financial records and charges to their account through account services. Lately, students have been experiencing loans being disbursed and then retracted, which results in inaccurate holds. Additionally, students are still awaiting refunds from the beginning of this semester.
President Larry Robinson says funding has been supplied for financial support.
“We don’t want any of our students to be adversely impacted by any issues,” Robinson said. “It has been our efforts to provide support to students through our Cares Act funding. We’ve been offering emergency advances to those impacted students.”
Associate Provost Lewis Johnson says financial issues are a top priority so that graduates make their transition without worrying about financial holds.
“We really push to get our graduation rates up as high as we can, so we attack any outliers as quickly as possible so that we can get issues resolved and make sure students have a speedy exit,” Lewis said.
Associate Provost Genyne Boston says financial issues that are reported to student accounts are responded to promptly.
“It’s first important to determine the accuracy of the holds,” she said. “In many instances, those holds are legitimate holds and some instances they’re not… once we have determined that they are corrections needed, that particular unit, student accounts, addresses that immediately.”
FAMU spent over $16 million to pay off students’ outstanding account balances during the 2020-2021 school year. President Larry Robinson expressed to the School of Business & Industry, College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences and Institute of Public Health, and School of Environment graduates that this is an indication of the university’s commitment to student success.
“Clearing student account balances from the previous school year was a way of practicing our motto of “Excellence with Caring” by supporting students and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic,” FAMU Vice President for Student Affairs William E. Hudson, Jr. said.
Robinson says the administration is working towards upgrades in assisting students with financial and technical issues.
“I just hope that every student out there understands that we were in an effort to upgrade our technology to this new student financial planning module that will allow them to submit and review the information early so they can make any kind of decision that they need to make,” Robinson said.