Stop in for a cup of coffee

Do any of you use Word 2016? Just helped my wife with a important paper for a job advancement, had to be ariel 12pt font. Well, we used the correct font, and she submitted the paper. It was Dq'd because one page was 11.5 pt font. Does Word automatically change the font in a document?
it's possible that it did - it is also possible that they have their settings F-ed up on the other end..