ComplaintsforPensacola State College

• Initial Complaint

  06/27/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I signed up for adult education classes and paid $30.00 to cover the dates of 05/15/2023 and end 08/09/2023. On 06/21/2023 our class was informed that there will no longer be classes because the board of trustees decided to cut the classes. Instead of just waiting one month to let us enrolled in the classes finish. I believe we are all entitled to a refund for the classes. I have contacted many people with no response. Also they never even took the time to send an email to the enrolled students letting us know classes were canceled.

  Business response

  07/28/2023

  Pensacola State College respectfully disputes the information provided by the Complainant.  Complainant alleges she paid $30 for adult education courses that were scheduled to run from 5/15/2023 to 8/9/2023, and that the courses were prematurely ended in June, thereby depriving her of a portion of her tuition.  While it is correct that the entire Summer semester runs from 5/15/2023 to 8/9/2023, the adult education courses do not extend for the entire semester.  The adult education courses in which Complainant enrolled for $30 were only for 10 contact hours each.  In comparison, a college course extending the entire semester has 45 contact hours.  The adult education courses that began in May were scheduled to end on 6/27/2023.  The College officially ended its adult education program effective on 6/30/2023, which was after the completion date for both courses.  For that reason, Pensacola State College must deny a request for a refund because the courses were taught until they were completed as scheduled.

  Customer response

  07/28/2023

  
  Complaint: 20242850
  
  I am rejecting this response because: Please check the dates on this email sent to me April 20th.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Crystal *****

• Initial Complaint

  04/22/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I'm a student at Pensacola State College which is paid for by VA. This term the staff at pensacola State College didn't to the right thing and I was overpaid from VA. Ms. Coxwell didn't not sent the correct information to VA. I contacted VA on the 04/21/22 after recieving a letter of overpayment. VA was not aware of my major change which took place on the 01/08/22 which took me from taken 4 classes to taken 3 and besides of that VA were paying for an Major that I wasn't even in. So, I contacte VA office at the school which was a waste of time, Talked to Liz ****** which was another waste of time, and by the time I contact Tom about the problem they had all got together and put their mistake off on me. I know for a fact that I didn't do this and beside of that why didn't someone contact VA about my Major Change which never happen, because if VA had been contact they would have known that I had change Major and dropped one class. All I want is for the staff at this school to corret their wrong.

  Business response

  06/09/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2022/05/19) */ Pensacola State College denies any fault in the matter asserted by Complainant. Complainant is a student at PSC and pursuant to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g), PSC cannot share the confidential education records in its possession which show that it is not responsible for any overpayments received from the VA by Complainant. However, Complainant's written statement to the BBB does not constitute an education record, so we may discuss her comments made to the BBB. Her statement sheds ample light on events. She states that "I was overpaid from VA," and the reason overpayments were made is because the VA did not know that a change in her course schedule "took me from taken sic 4 classes to taken sic 3." In other words, she received VA payments for taking 4 classes, but due to a schedule change she initiated she was only taking 3 classes and that entitled her to receive a lesser amount of money. The Complainant blames the College for the error, but every student receiving VA benefits signs a document agreeing that it is the student's responsibility to report schedule changes to the VA office. The Complainant's written statement acknowledges that she received more money from the VA than she was entitled to receive because she reduced the number of classes she was taking, and rather than her having to pay back funds she was not entitled to receive she is expecting PSC to pay those funds back for her. She received the money, and she acknowledges that she was not entitled to keep it, and PSC respectfully declines to pay it back to the VA using PSC funds on her behalf. She needs to return the money she received. Consumer Response /* (3000, 10, 2022/05/19) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Pensacola State College is at fault, because when I ask the staff at the ADA office to change my schedule the next day due to a medical reason know one informed me that I had to go back to the VA office to let them know that I had change schedule. What need to happen the staff at Pensacola State need to communicate with the VA office since they are all hired by pensacola state. The VA office staff is hired by the college so it shouldn't be know reason why this happen. I;m not accepting the response from the college and I probably never will. Business Response /* (4000, 12, 2022/05/23) */ The Complainant states that "know sic one informed me that I had to go back to the VA office to let them know that I had change schedule" but as stated in our first response every student receiving VA benefits signs a document agreeing that it is the student's responsibility to report schedule changes to the VA office. This is necessary to ensure that disbursements are made for the appropriate amount based on course load. Because of student privacy laws PSC cannot provide the document we have in our possession signed by Complainant acknowledging the requirement to report schedule changes unless she provides a written release to allow disclosure of confidential student records. The Complainant received more money from the VA than she should have received, and her position that she doesn't owe it back to the VA because a College error caused her to receive too much money is simply not an appropriate position even if it were true. If your bank puts too much money in your account by mistake, you don't get to keep it by arguing that the bank made an error so it must let you keep the money. Pensacola State College will not respond to further correspondence in this matter unless the Complainant provides a written release to allow PSC to provide all relevant confidential records in its possession to the BBB. PSC further submits that it would be inappropriate for BBB to make any negative finding against PSC when there are documents in PSC's possession which demonstrate Complainant's fault but which PSC is not allowed by law to release without written authorization from Complainant. Consumer Response /* (4200, 14, 2022/05/24) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I'm not asking Pensacola State College to pay back VA back, but what I'm asking is that if you are going to hire a staff that are supposed to know how VA works and supposed to be the number one college for VA then you should have and experience VA staff not just someone you know are your family members, and on other note I don't need the college to pay back VA because I have already paid them back for a mistake the college made, so all I want is for others people who are using VA to be aware of the staff that are working there.This was a lesson learned that you can't trust the Staff at the VA office or better yet the whole Pensacola State College Staff. Beware because the staff at Pensacola State College is known for hiding secrets.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩