Thursday, July 14, 2011

Oh dear.

Sorry readers - it's not better yet. I finally (finally!!!) heard back from my financial counselor, only to find out that he'd lead me completely astray. Of course, he managed to tell me this without bearing any responsibility for my current situation himself. It's amazing how some people can do that. Really. And I'm not being bitter as I say this - it's truly remarkable.

So, this man advised me to take out a BYU short-term loan to cover my expenses while we took care of paperwork for a Grad PLUS loan. Indeed. Eventually I got an email from Financial Aid, which said, among other things, that it would take 2-3 weeks for my aid to be packaged (that's verbatim). Now, how do you understand that? What does that mean to you, given that these were the same people who were in charge of reviewing my Grad PLUS loan application? Well, Counselor-Man emailed me yesterday to tell me that I'd misunderstood the email, and that no more aid was forthcoming.

Okay.... But what did that mean, then? What was the appeal all about? What about the application for the Grad PLUS loan? What about the tiny fact that I followed your advice exactly through this situation, and am now about to be kicked out of school? Umm, Hello?

So, my current situation is this: I have an outstanding BYU short-term loan out, in the amount of $1400 (which is what I've been living off of all summer, btw). I am 1 credit hour shy of maintaining my continuing student status, which I have until July 31 to add and pay for. But I can't add it until the STL (short-term loan) is payed back, even with the assistance of the Grad Studies department. If I can't get this taken care of in the next 2 weeks, I lose my continuing student status and am dropped from my program. If that happens, but I still want to finish my degree, I need to come up with, not only the $ for the STL, but also a $600 re-application fee. Whoa buddy. AND I have one more year to finish my degree, so it's not like I can leave and come back when I have the funds to deal with all of this craziness. Geez.

I don't know yet how this is going to work out or IF it's going to work out. No idea. If it doesn't, it will seem like such a waste of four years. If this man had paid better attention to my case back in May, I would have had time to pursue other options, like research grants. Now it's entirely too late for that. Friends and Strangers, I'm out of ideas. I'm just putting it out there, because I don't know what else to do with it. Counselor-Man has not responded to my questions.

So here's my plan for today: I'm going to bake luxurious banana bread for a church activity (guys, it is so good, you don't need any butter), and I'm going to dig out my Invisibility Cloak, because tonight I am going to a double feature. HP 7 pt.1 and 9pm and pt.2 at midnight. I'm going to smuggle in chocolate, marshmallows, and Red Vines and I'm going to get insanely sick and love every minute of it. I'm going to see it with Xan and we found a showing with reserved seating. :)

2 comments:

  1. My plan for tonight is EXTREMELY similar to yours! Watch HP, eat all the foods I shouldn't, pay for it later....WOO HOOO!!!!!

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  2. Hi Andee,

    I'm outing myself as a lurker on your blog. I hope that doesn't creep you out. I'm so sorry to hear about all of your troubles with grad school. I've also had a lot of problems (although not the level you have) and it just makes me want to scream. You give the school thousands and thousands of dollars and you just want them to help you. Anyways, sending positive vibes your way.

    Lisa Stephenson

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