potential civil action?

i'll try to be brief. i entered a graduate program late last year at walden university with the help of federal financial aid. i have since been told that i was awarded more financial aid for the past winter and spring terms because i had claimed the wrong graduation date. my file was audited by walden's financial aid department and they made a determination to lower my financial aid for the summer term, send the remainder of my financial aid back to the lending institution and cancel the remainder of my student loans for the upcoming school year. i was not aware, nor ever notified, of this audit or the decisions that the financial aid department had made.

i wasn't notified of walden's decisions until the start of the current school term. when contacting them as soon as the bursar's office had notified me, i also discovered that, after returning the remainder of my student loan for the summer term, walden had decided to pretty much "float" my refund for the summer term but that i now owed them for this sum. in the mean time, because they had canceled my loans, I needed to reapply for financial aid and i am now awaiting for a refund which, as of this writing, may or may not appear in my bank account withing 10 days.

when deciding to return to school, i based all subsequent decisions on the amount of money i would receiving through financial aid. i also included in my projections other money i would receive later in the year. thus, i made the decision to leave my work in february, live on the money i would be receiving and eventually look for a part-time job later in the year. when learning that my financial aid had been reduced before the summer term began, i started the process of looking for full-time employment to adjust for the decreased amounts (both in the summer and following terms). it wasn't until two weeks ago that i was able to find employment that may, or may not be, full-time.

sorry, i goofed on the keyboard.

i stress the fact that walden's financial aid office failed to notify me of their decisions because it would have allowed me the opportunity to make an informed decision as to whether or not i would have remained in school for the summer term and not accrued the debt to walden. secondly, because i wasn't informed that my student loans had been canceled, i conducted myself under the pretext that everything would improve when the fall term began. i could have also put in a much more concerted effort to find full-time employment without the "distraction" of my studies, which i was obligated to do because i had unwittingly taken money directly from walden.

the resulting wreckage as a result of walden's actions is that my mortgage is in default, i'm two months behind on vehicle payments, my credit cards and other secured debt is going into default and my condo association is threatening collections because i haven't been able to pay them for quite some time. there were times when i had no food and began pawning items in order to eat and put gas in my truck. in the middle of this i learned that my mother suffered a stroke and passed away shortly after. had i not been saddled with the wreckage that walden had created, i may have had a way of visiting her before her passing.

this ordeal has had a far reaching impact on my life, emotions and psychological well-being. but, i'm not clear as to whether there is a way of seeking legal remedy not only from the standpoint of myself, but also to prevent something like this from occurring again. thanks for any insight you can provide.

You could try to hold them accountable and perhaps sue in small claims for any damages or extra costs.

You will really have to stress that reliance issue!