Life Is Good

It has been a while since I have posted anything, so I just wanted to provide an update. I am working full-time (two part-time jobs) and am enjoying it. I feel like I’m still on vacation. When I worked full time before going back to grad school, it did not feel like a vacation to me, but now full-time does. That is an indication of the intensity and difficulty of the graduate program that I am in. However, things are going to start speeding up for me. I have not started studying yet for the remaining three finals, but I have to start very soon. I have started preparing a presentation for a seminar that I have to give on September 17 and I am working on a lab notebook that is due next week. Yup, it’s going to start getting busy again and the pressure of deadlines will help me to start studying again.

Life feels good because in addition to being on "vacation", the financial aid office came through for me after I had given up on them. I got the phone number and email of my financial aid advisor and before giving up, I had called him a few times and sent a couple of emails. He always responded. Even though I was mad, I was very nice to him. So one day I got a big surprise! He emailed me and told me that he was going to combine the amount that I should have gotten for Summer 1 with the increased amount that I had petitioned to get for Summer 2. I quickly emailed my thanks and thoughts of gratitude to him. Soon afterward, I received the full amount of my student loan for the summer. Life is indeed good!

I Passed!!!

I passed my First Competency Final!!!!. What a relief! I was a bit worried because it was so hard and there was an interference during the exam that affected my ability to concentrate. I also wasn't in the best of shape physically because I was getting so stressed out that I was having trouble eating and sleeping.

With one big final out of the way, I can now start to study for the three finals that I will take during the fall semester. In the next few days, I will put up a countdown timer for the next final.

To relieve my stress, I've decided that I'm not going to pursue anything more with the financial aid office. There is one more multi-step thing I could do to get more student loan from them, but I'm not going to do it. I've had enough. I'll make do with whatever I can get from them as it now stands.

Studying in Progress

I decided that I am going to continue moving forward and take the First Competency Final next Tuesday. I finished the paper today that is due on Friday. So that's one thing done. Now I am back to studying for the final. I'm taking time off from work to study even though I can't afford it. The financial pressures have felt like a 60 ton weight on my shoulders. I have chosen to throw the weight off and deal with it after the final.

Financial Aid Woes

As you know, ever since the loss of my assistantship, I have been battling with the Student Financial Aid Office to provide me with a viable financial aid package. Today, I lost the battle.

What this means for me, I do not completely know at the moment. I do not know whether I will be able to complete this program. I am fairly certain that I will not be taking the First Competency Final next week. I will keep you posted.

Financial Aid Saga and a Final

It has been a few days since I have posted anything, so I want to give you a quick update on things. The financial aid situation is not over. I don't know what the financial aid office did with their budget for my student loan, but by the time I paid my rent with the late fee, and a couple of small bills, my loan money was gone. I received much less than what I have received in previous summer semesters. So, I had to petition to get the university to increase the budget for my financial aid. They increased it by about $500 for Summer 1. Now I will have to somehow get them to disburse that to me. After looking at my student account, it is obvious that the financial aid office will not do anything until I contact them. I will probably have to go there in person. However I don't have the time, so I will call them and hope that is enough.

My Big Comprehensive Final is one week away and I am very nervous about it. I have been juggling 3 internships and I have a paper due this Friday for one of them. I have done very little studying for this final. However, I am taking a few days off from my internships and the paper is almost completed, so I have hope that I will be able to put in more study time after the paper is done.

Is the Financial Aid Saga Over?

I went to the Financial Aid Office on Thursday and told them that I needed my student loan and that I could not wait any longer for it. I reminded them that Semester 1 was almost over and that if someone in their office had not screwed up I would have received my loan money 2.5 weeks ago. I told them that I was going to have to pay a late fee for my rent and that I was not happy about having to pay for their mistake. I told them that I had to the money and that I would stay right there until I got it. I can hardly believe I said these things, but it worked. I got the money right then and there! It is in the bank...what's left of it anyway...after having paid the rent.

I have spent a lot of time over the last few months dealing with financial issues related to being able to continue my education. I have lost a lot of study time over the last semester and now I haven't studied in two days. I hope that tomorrow will be better.

Ongoing Saga About My Financial Aid

I should have known that something else would come up that would delay getting my financial aid. At this university our summer semester is split into two parts: Summer 1 and Summer 2. So student loans are disbursed two times during the summer. We are more than halfway through Summer 1 and I still have not received my student loan. I called the Financial Aid Office to find out why. After the FA Officer looked at my record, he basically said "oops". Someone had entered my scholarship in under the wrong code, which put a hold on the disbursement of my student loan. He said they would fix it that night and I should get my loan soon. The next morning when I look at my student account, I saw that my scholarship had been deleted from my financial aid offer. It was gone, it was not there. Unfortunately, because I am juggling 3 internships, I did not have time to call that day. The next day, when I looked at my account, I saw that the scholarship had been put back in but for a decreased amount. I picked up the phone and called my FA Officer. A message came on that said "due to the high volume of calls that we are receiving, I am not taking any calls from students. Please leave your message and I will call back in a few days."

I have stretched out my spring semester student loan as far as it will go. It is gone. I have no more stipend and it will be at least 2.5 weeks before I get a paycheck. My rent is now late and I will have to pay a late fee because someone in the FA Office screwed up. I like the program that I am in, but this university sucks.

Appeal Accepted!

The financial aid office approved my appeal! So much has happened with financing in the last few months and I feel like I've been on a roller coaster ride. However unless something else happens, I should now have all the financing I need to complete my program. Woohoo!!!

Another Obstacle in the Road

I received an email today from the financial aid office telling me that because I have too many credits (more than 120) that I am not eligible for more financial aid. This is the too many credits issue that I have written about a couple of times previously on this blog. About a month ago, the fa office told me that I might not need to file an appeal and that they would let me know if I needed to. So why have they waited until a Saturday..the Saturday before the start of the summer semester? Thank goodness I had a partial statement of appeal already prepared. They require supporting documentation, but they don't tell us what documentation they require. They leave it up to the student filing the appeal to figure it out and hope they get it right. So I am going to turn in everything I can think of that proves that I have to take 20 more credits to meet the requirements of my program so that I can receive my doctorate. This is so stressful. And I thought that the financing of the rest of my education was all settled. I am so close to being finished. What will I do if my appeal is not accepted and my already approved student loan becomes what...un-approved? This is so crazy.

Good News!

I was approved for the U.S. Department of Education Graduate Plus Loan! A requirement for the Grad Plus Loan is a good credit record. I have traveled a hard road to get to where I am right now and as a result my credit is not exactly stellar. And yet I got the loan!!! I was very concerned about what my options might be if I did not get it. Any option that I could think of involved working full-time and taking my remaining internship credits over a longer period of time. As of yet, I do not have an assistantship offer, but I have had a few job offers. Now, I don't need to accept them. I don't even need an assistantship. I could theoretically just keep my one new 10 hour a week job, take all the credits I need during my remaining two semesters and then I can graduate in December 2009. I feel like a 16 ton block of concrete has rolled off my back.

Life is great when something good finally happens.