Speakin of crap...

[Darky]

I enrolled at my local community college to try and further my education. Before the cracks about community college start, the University of AZ doesn't have an auto mechanics program which is what I'm going for. And I'm poor. I applied for financial aid, was told 2 weeks ago it was approved and I was just waiting for it to be awarded. Two days ago I get a letter in the mail informing me that they regret to inform me (is that too many informs, or maybe that last inform was...I better stop) that my registration has been dropped due to lack of payment. I say what the s*** is this? and I call em up. I'm told by the main financial aid office that I was denied because I was paid too much by the Marine Corps last year. Keep in mind base pay for an E-3 over 3 yrs is $1641 a month. That works out to $19692/year. I made slightly less than that because we were given a raise to that level partway through the year. Also keep in mind, I am no longer in the service making that pay check. I am now a civilian, working part time at Best Buy, 30 hrs/week, $8/hr. Anyways, I'm told I can do a re-assessment of my income and re-apply for aid. I can then get a letter from each of my teachers stating they want me to be able to re-enroll. Only one of them keeps office hours on Thursdays. The other two are nowhere to be found. I e-mail those two. The one who was in his office said he would leave a sheet of paper, signed, for me to write the letter on. He forgot to. Now, this is a good guy, I've known him for a good 7 years or so now. He was my teacher in high school. He likely forgot. But its all just as well because the other two never e-mailed me back. All that would've been left would be to pay half my tuition tomorrow and know the rest would be due Oct 21st. That's ok, cuz I have a loan pending through the college for $2200. I just need to be enrolled for it to come through. I was just in the Tucson Citizen a couple weeks ago, front page story on 5 students going back to college. I was the main photo on the front page. Well, now I'm not going to college anymore and the journalist is going to be following up every couple weeks. This is just great, I'm in the paper for going to school after leaving the military and now I'm not even going to school. Anyways.......just thought I'd vent a little before goin to bed.

 

[Grizzley]

Actually, if the reporter writes it up correctly, it could work in your favor. I'd think about getting in touch with them and letting them know what's going on. Don't think the college would want headlines, in the local newspaper, that could be made from what's happening to you. Might find the Dean of Admissions doing your paperwork for you. Public is very Pro-service person right now. Use it to your advantage.

 

[BSD]

As a prof. at a university, I might dd soem helpful comments. First, and most importantly, go to financial aid and ask for a copy of your "FAFSA" as well as any applicable "award letters." (the later can be amisleading title because it can often tell you that you do not get anything) The long and short of it is that the FAFSA declares how much student aid you are capable of receiving. IF it says "0" then the only hope is a resubmission but this is an unusual move that I have never seen suceed. You might see if you reported something wrong on it has wrong information. Second, make sure you are still not showing up on your parents income tax; the FAFSA should tell you this. Lastly, contacting faculty at a CC is difficult. The overwhelming majority are adjunct with limited availability and motivation. To get a hold of them, go through the Academic Dean's office, they can facilitate contact. In fact, if it is a CC of any size, most now have online office hours - chat room like setting - that they are supposed to have. Good luck
BSD

 

[woody]

BSD and Grizzley have good advice there... Also be sure you and the VA rep at the school get together... The catch 22 there is that you must be attending & passing in school before the GI Bill $$$ kicks in.

I wouldn't wait for the reporter to follow up... get all the facts on paper and feed him/her the info. The publicity might turn up resources within the community available to you. (like "vocational rehab" through the Dept of Social Services or unemployment office)

If you have ANY trace bit of non-caucasian ancestry - even if it's a little bit speculative - now would be the time to play that up big-time. Folks shouldn't get any better/worse deals in life soley based on ancestry, but the facts are that they do. If you can play that hand, don't feel the least bit bad. (LOL @ my buddy, one of the most tattooed white-boy scooter-trash redneck you'll meet... his dad emigrated from Portugal just after WWII, joined the Army & served 35yrs/retired as a Green Beret Sgt Maj- anyway my buddy Steve checks off 'hispanic' on job applications and damn if it doesn't open some doors that are locked to a typical caucasian.)

I don't know much about your personal life & possesions, so it's hard to say what you might could do... Don't sell any heirloom stuff, but if you can part with some non-sentimental junk, that's an option. I remember (somewhat unwillingly) selling my rigid-frame HD, and used most of those funds for tuition & books. (The remainder I bought a pair of old Willys flattys...LOL look what that genius move got me into)

Worst case scenario is to get a loan from somewhere... relatives, Beneficial etc... The student loans are the best bet, but if you are serious about this schooling... keep all your options open.

 

[Fergie]

Black,

My wife and I went through this same crap the last two years at NAU. We ended up going to the head of the Board of Regents legal department, and that lady had our problem fixed for us in no time.

When you deal with the FA people, only deal with the director. We had underling tell us we were telling lies, straight to our face, because "no one can live on that amount of money in Flagstaff." No shit, that is why we need financial aid.

As long as your EFC is 0 or a low number, you should be getting aid. If they tell you there is no more, theya re full of it as there is always thousands of unawarded monies that never get used. They do have the money, they just don't like giving it away.

And the part about thr profs is BS too. You don't need their approval. Become a thorn in the side of the FA director, and he/she will make sure you get re-enrolle din your classes post-haste.

Fergie

 

[RichP]

If you have ANY trace bit of non-caucasian ancestry - even if it's a little bit speculative - now would be the time to play that up big-time. Folks shouldn't get any better/worse deals in life soley based on ancestry, but the facts are that they do. If you can play that hand, don't feel the least bit bad. (LOL @ my buddy, one of the most tattooed white-boy scooter-trash redneck you'll meet... his dad emigrated from Portugal just after WWII, joined the Army & served 35yrs/retired as a Green Beret Sgt Maj- anyway my buddy Steve checks off 'hispanic' on job applications and damn if it doesn't open some doors that are locked to a typical caucasian.)

Big second on that one, one of my father in laws captains remarried, he was spanish, his new wife and stepdaughter were pure nordic. She was an honors student and applied for either harvard or yale several times and was turned down till she adopted her stepfathers name of Rodrequize [SP?], checked 'spanish' and was accepted in a week. I'm considering starting to check 'black ' under race as my fathers side of the family is black irish...

 

[uvaldetxj]

wow....i always thought marking caucasian would help my chances. as a poor mexican american growing up in south texas, you kinda get the feeling that anglos have the upper hand. i guess i'll start marking hispanic/latino again...lol

 

[Darky]

Woody, I'm actually half black, half white, so there's quite a bit of trace ancestry, plus I think my dad's grandma was full Cherokee (just noticed the pun here, I drive a Cherokee and may have Cherokee ancestry...) or something like that. I've got my Cherokee paid for, and that's bout it. We have a computer, some furnitrue, but most of its got some sentiment to my wife as lots was her parents' formerly and the bookcase was made by her dad.

Rich, I never knew there was such a thing as black Irish until I had a little research done on my name. I have my dad's last name of Nevins, which turns out to be Irish. He's black as night. Apparently my mom unwittingly played right into when she named me because both my first and middle names are Irish.

The newspaper lady is following up on Monday with me, so I think I may also mention my lack of hours at work. The original agreement was 35-40 hrs and I've been decreasing every week til now I'm at 15 hours. With a wife and baby.