Some students say they received surprising bill from university

SAN DIEGO — Some students at San Diego State University said they are unexpectedly receiving notices about having to owe thousands of dollars before school starts.

The notice says they are no longer eligible for the amount of financial aid they were anticipating or had received in previous semesters, according to some SDSU students who spoke to FOX 5. The school says that due dates for tuition fees is August 15, which is one week before classes begin Aug. 22.

Students said they received the notices within the last week, and it is not leaving them enough time.

“You get anxiety from it, like oh my gosh, I’m really not about to go to school because they literally just sent this bill, it gives me anxiety,” one SDSU student said, who did not want to be identified. “I was surprised, I thought it was good, I would be good for the next school year.”

Students said if they do not pay by the deadline, they could lose their admission status to the university and said the notices did not give enough time.

“If you don’t pay by August 15, which is really unfortunate because they will be sending these emails very late talking about we owe them money, but it’s already July, you have to give us a little bit of time to gather the money to pay this off,” the anonymous student said.

Rylan Baslilo is a rising Junior at SDSU and said he is not personally impacted, but has heard about this from students on social media.

“I just don’t get it, why can’t they get the same loan or grant they got last year and give them the same amount or more if they need it. COVID also this last couple of years have been hitting,” Baslilo said.

In an email, San Diego State University stated that “some students have received notice, as is typical at this time, that they are ineligible for financial aid.”

“There are a number of reasons students may become ineligible each year or reasons why their eligibility may change, including failing to maintain satisfactory academic progress (SAP),” SDSU said.

Details on eligibility can be found on the SDSU Office of Financial Aid site. If a student has received notice that they are no longer eligible for financial aid, they are encouraged to submit an appeal.