28 września 2005
Financial Aid Follies
This semester, I had to file yet another financial aid appeal. Why is that? Because fifteen years ago, I was a poor student. Nice to know that our higher education institutions believe in second chances.
I filed the appeal a couple of weeks ago. Monday afternoon, I got a call from the financial aid office. No details, just a call. I tried to call back, but the person that called me was already gone. I tried to call her twice on Wednesday, but she was in a meeting, then nobody answered the phone. I was at West Campus, so I went to their financial aid office. A woman at that financial aid office called the Downtown Campus, was grilled by whoever answered the phone, and then told they'd call her back. They never did.
She told me that she always has a hard time dealing with the financial aid office at Downtown Campus. If a someone who works for the college has trouble getting a straight answer, what chance does a student have?
Today, I had a class at Downtown Campus, so I stopped by. They are claiming that my PEP, an "education plan" that a Pima College advisor wrote, was improper. They know this because they did a "degree check" on me. This degree check is written in ball point pen on a piece of lined paper, so it's hard for me to regard it as official, but apparently it's enough to stymie the whole thing. They can't do anything until I get this PEP re-written.
I took the PEP to different advisor (I was on a different campus), and he couldn't make heads or tails out of the "degree check." So, I am supposed to take this to the woman that they claimed messed it up, so she can re-write it, even though one of her colleagues can't tell what was wrong with it.
Gawd.
This is the second time I have gone through this. Well, not these exact problems, these are whole new ones. I have to admire their creativity. Yes, I realize that they are giving me money, so I can understand that I should jump through some hoops. This is ridiculous though.
Think of this, the money I will be getting from financial aid will mostly be going to paying for school. In other words, they make money if I can get my financial aid check. Why the heck would they want to be anything but helpful?
Despite the fact that I am always broke, I think I can be considered pretty solidly middle class. I am relatively sophisticated about bureaucracies. My mother went to college and worked on staff for the University for years. All of these things are supposed to indicate that I should have some advantages in these sorts of matters. If I am having this much trouble, what happens to some 18 year old with working class parents who have never been to college?
Do zobaczenia. Hasta la proxima.
I filed the appeal a couple of weeks ago. Monday afternoon, I got a call from the financial aid office. No details, just a call. I tried to call back, but the person that called me was already gone. I tried to call her twice on Wednesday, but she was in a meeting, then nobody answered the phone. I was at West Campus, so I went to their financial aid office. A woman at that financial aid office called the Downtown Campus, was grilled by whoever answered the phone, and then told they'd call her back. They never did.
She told me that she always has a hard time dealing with the financial aid office at Downtown Campus. If a someone who works for the college has trouble getting a straight answer, what chance does a student have?
Today, I had a class at Downtown Campus, so I stopped by. They are claiming that my PEP, an "education plan" that a Pima College advisor wrote, was improper. They know this because they did a "degree check" on me. This degree check is written in ball point pen on a piece of lined paper, so it's hard for me to regard it as official, but apparently it's enough to stymie the whole thing. They can't do anything until I get this PEP re-written.
I took the PEP to different advisor (I was on a different campus), and he couldn't make heads or tails out of the "degree check." So, I am supposed to take this to the woman that they claimed messed it up, so she can re-write it, even though one of her colleagues can't tell what was wrong with it.
Gawd.
This is the second time I have gone through this. Well, not these exact problems, these are whole new ones. I have to admire their creativity. Yes, I realize that they are giving me money, so I can understand that I should jump through some hoops. This is ridiculous though.
Think of this, the money I will be getting from financial aid will mostly be going to paying for school. In other words, they make money if I can get my financial aid check. Why the heck would they want to be anything but helpful?
Despite the fact that I am always broke, I think I can be considered pretty solidly middle class. I am relatively sophisticated about bureaucracies. My mother went to college and worked on staff for the University for years. All of these things are supposed to indicate that I should have some advantages in these sorts of matters. If I am having this much trouble, what happens to some 18 year old with working class parents who have never been to college?
Do zobaczenia. Hasta la proxima.
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"If I am having this much trouble, what happens to some 18 year old with working class parents who have never been to college?"
The 18 year old is supposed to have their parents deal with the university. (Or pay the bill)
I have to admit I had similar problems with the U of A financial aide department. I cringe at the memory of the very tall lady with two inch, long, dark red fingernails who repeatedly found something wrong that I had to go to someone else to fix. It was enough to make me not want to go there. Since coming to PSU I have had a superb time with the finaid dept. It's reassuring that the trauma of financial aid isn't the same everywhere.
The 18 year old is supposed to have their parents deal with the university. (Or pay the bill)
I have to admit I had similar problems with the U of A financial aide department. I cringe at the memory of the very tall lady with two inch, long, dark red fingernails who repeatedly found something wrong that I had to go to someone else to fix. It was enough to make me not want to go there. Since coming to PSU I have had a superb time with the finaid dept. It's reassuring that the trauma of financial aid isn't the same everywhere.
# posted by 
: środa, września 28, 2005 8:53:00 PM
: środa, września 28, 2005 8:53:00 PM
Well you can always try being one of the people who has to verify the student information. And by verify I mean checking to make sure everything they reported on the FAFSA is true so you have to get house hold information (name of all members of the household, ages, relationship to the student and if they are also in college), and a copy of the taxes.
That is what I do at my job and the regulations covering this stuff are insane. You can probably use the regulation book as building material and build a five room house.
And if you get fed money they check 30% of the students applying for financial aid yet all I seem to get are the ones getting Pell Grants.
If you are applying for a Pell Grant that might be what they are checking on. You might want to ask.
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That is what I do at my job and the regulations covering this stuff are insane. You can probably use the regulation book as building material and build a five room house.
And if you get fed money they check 30% of the students applying for financial aid yet all I seem to get are the ones getting Pell Grants.
If you are applying for a Pell Grant that might be what they are checking on. You might want to ask.
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