By Hunter Wells

The NU Shuffle may get some national attention if former student Ashley Mendivil has her way.

Mendivil, 23, was briefly enrolled in Northeastern as a transfer student in Fall 2005. But a mix-up in which she was unable to receive financial aid promised to her, caused Mendivil to leave the university after one semester

Her experience inspired her to begin research for a book that could, she hopes, expose the NU Shuffle and what she said were other flaws in the university’s operations.

“Once you start to tell your story other people begin to open up,” Mendivil said. “At Northeastern I felt as if I was thrown to the wolves. I didn’t have the money and they didn’t want to talk to me.” Renata Nyul, assistant director of communications and public relations, said Mendivil’s book is an example of how personal experiences are turned into books every day.

However, she said Northeastern tries its best to meet each students’ needs. “There are many people working very hard at Northeastern to provide timely and excellent service,” she said. “To make sure that the students’ needs are met appropriately and their questions and concerns are addressed to their satisfaction.”

Mendivil alleged that not only were her financial needs unmet, but when she spoke to a representative, she recieved no sympathy. Mendivil said the representative told her her tuition balance was approximately $12,000 and that the funds for Mendivil’s loan were no longer available.

She said the person informed her “that journalism graduates from Northeastern don’t get jobs here in Boston and that the Emerson graduates do,” Mendivil said. “I sort of backed away because I felt like she was telling me I wasted my time and money here.”

It has been two years since Mendivil attended Northeastern. Her experience inspired Mendivil to seek students in similar situations looking for possible explanations to explain why she received this treatment.

“When you have a school like Northeastern that is surrounded by bigger schools with bigger names like BU, BC, Harvard and MIT, you need to compete with money,” Mendivil said.

Mendivil said other large universities could have similar problems, but does not believe this excuses Northeastern. So far, she has interviewed six former and current students who have had similar experiences.

“One student was a computer science major and he was told that because of co-op he had to do a five-year program,” Mendivil said. “This information wasn’t true and could of cost him an entire year’s wasted tuition.”

Mendivil said she does not completely blame the school for her experience, but after reaching out for others to tell their situations, she thinks the treatment of Northeastern students is a major problem. Other students interviewed by The News shared experiences that they felt could deserve a slot in the pages of Mendivil’s book.

Kaitlin Erickson, a sophomore psychology and communication studies major, said she had her own negative experience with the NU Shuffle.

When she was unable to get an appointment with an academic advisor last year, she could not get into a fourth class that semester.

“I don’t think [students] are being treated like a dollar sign but I definitely think that we are on our own to make sure we get on the right track,” Erickson said. Chelle Zaretzky, a middler communication studies major, has had issues switching majors.

“After I had enrolled for all of my classes, I was told I had to enroll in two classes in order to be considered for the major. A lot of time could have been saved if i was told all of this before it was too late to do anything.”

Still, Zaretzky does not think exposing Northeastern in a tell-all book is the best solution.

“I feel that the problems need to be dealt with here on campus among staff, faculty and students,” she said. “Organization is a must on a campus that has over 14,000 students.”

Even though Mendivil had a negative experience at Northeastern, she said she does not wish to simply badmouth her former school. Instead, she said she believes it is important for students to be aware of these experiences and to not take them lightly.

“People think that this happens all the time and it’s not a big deal,” she said. “But there are a number of people who don’t know where to go or who to talk to. Some of these things are simple problems but they are important problems.”