Susan's Pet Monster: August 2008

I'm paranoid about registration and financial aid stuff at school; I just don't trust them to get everything done right. It's because of this, I call them about once every week or so to make sure I've done everything I need to do and that my stuff is being worked on. I have been told every time "You've done everything, we're just processing the files and it will be done before school starts, you do not need to worry". The last time I called was Friday August 8th and again was told, everything is done, not to worry.

Flash forward to today August 12, tuition is due in two days on August 14th. I logged in just to review my schedule and to get ready to email my teachers and lo and behold my financial aid file still has not been processed!

I called and called the financial aid office only to be put on hold for 20 minutes and then hung up on each time (3 times and about an hour and a half of calling). So, I finally gave up and drove to the school.

The financial aid office was crazy packed, which is understandable seeing as how the semester is about to start. After waiting in line for about half an hour I get to the front only to hear "Well, you've done everything, why hasn't it been processed." I then wait while the lady goes to find out what's wrong and when she comes back she informs me that they somehow "Forgot" to process my financial aid file and that it will have to be resubmitted. In the mean time I will have to pay for school out of pocket and be reimbursed when my financial aid is approved.

Needless to say I threw a fit, this was their screw up, not mine I shouldn't have to pay. Not only that, but I can't afford to pay. "We can make a payment arrangement with you and you can make payments of around $100 weekly until it gets resolved". Again, I threw a fit. This resulted in me being told I can wait to see my adviser.

An hour later I'm called back to see my financial aid adviser, who tells me that my original adviser "Left us" (meaning he either quit or got fired) while he just happened to be working on my file. When he left he neglected to inform anyone that he had pulled my file and was not done with it, so it just sort of got brushed aside and forgotten about. Fast forward to now, his replacement is horrified and doesn't know what to tell me. I really can't blame her it's not her fault, but still. She tells me that she has resubmitted my fafsa which will take a week to three weeks to process and I can make payments out of pocket until then and be reimbursed when my financial aid is approved.

After arguing that I shouldn't have to, and can't afford to pay out of pocket, she conceded and said she'd see what could be done. She then came back and said that the "emergency loan" fund was empty, and that I probably couldn't get one but I can apply for one to pay my tuition. She then says that I will have to pay $30 cash (which I don't have) now out of pocket to apply. SO.... I threw another fit.

She went and spoke to the dean of finance who waived the $30 fee and said that they'd find some way to get me an emergency loan. After filling out the application we find that my adviser's big sister was friends with Susan when they were younger. Small world...

Now I'm told to go wait in the crowded waiting room again (I have social anxiety disorder) and that it will take a while for them to find the money.

About 2 hours later there were 6 of us waiting in the waiting room to hear about our emergency loan applications. The front desk women suddenly grabbed their purses, turned off the lights and left for home, without saying a word to any of us!

After 30 minutes of sitting in the dark I got up and hopped the counter (the doors were locked) and wandered around in the office area until I found someone. I scared the bejesus out of her and she said they were still trying to allocate funds for me and were shocked to find that the front desk ladies turned the lights out on us.

I was upset about waiting but there was a girl there with a baby that kept sneezing and laughing and that was hilarious!

A while later (a total of about 3 hours and change) they start calling people up to tell them what's going on, a guy in front of me got his emergency loan and left looking confused, two girls both got told they were denied because they couldn't allocate the funds. They cried and argued and ended up leaving in tears. I figured I would be leaving in tears shortly too. I got called up and told that they were able to find money to give me an emergency loan, classes are paid for, all is well. Damn!

I feel really bad for those two girls as I feel like they were denied so that I could get mine, but I know it's really the schools fault. All in all I wasted about 6 hours total online, then on the phone, then in person, trying to deal with this today. ugh!