Don’t Be Funny with My Money, Southern

It’s the month of November, and my refund check still seems to be floating in the eternal abyss or in another galaxy. It seems to be everywhere except my bank account, and the Nancy Drew in me is trying to figure out why that is the case.
Since our refund checks seem to be treated like a bill that needs to get passed on Capitol Hill, let’s take a trip around campus and follow how you should receive your money. There are three main ways you can receive a refund. The first is an excess of financial aid, the second is an excess of scholarships that the school awards, and the last is an excess of scholarships from a third party. The majority of students receive these awards WELL BEFORE the semester starts, or at least they should. This would imply that the school receives the funds with enough time to deposit them to students promptly.
Once the scholarship is applied to your banner account, it then needs to be processed for you to receive your refund—which is meant to take only three to five business days. It is then sent to your Bank Mobile account, taking 1-2 business days for your bank account to receive funds.
The problem is that, just like that bill sitting on Capitol Hill, the funds sit… and they sit! Our administration seems to lose all competent knowledge of giving us our money back. However, if you don’t pay your semester fees on time, you will without-a-doubt be dropped from your classes. The administration could care less if you have bills to pay or if you’re a student without a meal plan that needs that refund to ration throughout the semester. Shame on you if you are a diligent student that follows up on the process when you make it to the registrar’s office; they have not one single answer for you! You are instructed to just keep checking your account daily to see when funds will be transferred. It’s like the Lambchop song that never ends. The simple fact that our financial staff can’t work expeditiously for their students is beyond me! What’s even worse is that they do not seem to care at all.
It’s sad to say that the HBCU we are so proud to attend fits the stereotype of not handling funds properly as where our white counterpart institutions give students their refunds at the start of the semester. It is egregious at this point, and it needs to change. Southern needs to run us our money hastily, or else it’s going to cause an uproar of hundreds of disgruntled students.