The Evils of Financial Aid

[zan]

So. Here's the story. I am poor and have about $150 in my bank account. When financial aid time came around, I grabbed the Pell grant and a Perkins loan. The grant's easy enough, but annoying. Disbursement is the week before class for part of the first semester's money and then a month later for the remaining. Normally, this would be only mildly annoying, but since I'm broke, the money I get that isn't paying for classes from the grant won't be enough for books.

At this point, most people would say use the loan money, right? Only problem was that I never got any of the information that I needed to sign for the loan. Not the questionnaire and not the promissory note. Fine, so I go down before bugly42 leaves town. I can fill out the questionnaire (having to get contact information from lheena) and the entrance form, but they don't have the promissory note available and it's not likely to get to me before Monday.

At this point, I'm about ready to kill anything and everything Financial Aid related.

Finally, I check the mail today and there's the promissory note, along with the questionnaire that I've already filled out. I might get my money before classes next week. Cross your fingers for me.

Comments

[trigeekgirl.livejournal.com]

Our financial aid office is equally unhelpful. They have been known to inform someone that their loans have been disbursed when they have not, therefore causing a panic that the check has been lost or the direct deposit info was incorrect and OMG where is that several thousand dollars now?

Student Business Services is worse though. I swear they cackle evilly when they drop someone for nonpayment.

[genaschuyler.livejournal.com]

Seriously. It's not urgent, but I'd kind of like my books before I have homework in any of my classes. Not to mention the graphing calculator I need to buy.

[trigeekgirl.livejournal.com]

I'd offer to mail you my TI-82 since I have no use for it now that I'm done with math classes (for the rest of my life! Woohoo!), but I don't think it works anymore. It might just need new batteries, though.

[gomaironin.livejournal.com]

Good luck sorting all this out. Sounds wonderfully complicated.