...don't think you'll up-end me, don't sigh, don't sip your iced-tea...

[myurbandream]

why is the financial aid department so worthless?

seriously. why?

first of all, we're using this really confusing and frustrating account software called peoplesoft. it's very not useful. i think it's the textbook definition of not useful. all the information you want is "helpfully" separated into tabs... but the reasoning behind putting something in this tab or that tab is totally bizarre, so you still can't actually find the information you're looking for. and then, when it comes to managing tuition, they don't keep nice legible records or an easy-to-understand breakdown of what fees you have to pay, for what purpose, and by what date. it's all jumbled together with no useful dating, so it's really hard to figure out how much money you actually owe the university and for what.

i have four scholarships. (well, three, now, since one of them was only a four-year scholarship.) and it's been kind of par for the course that they don't "post" to my account until, oh, a month or so into the semester. usually at this point i have to walk over to the financial aid office, wait in line for three hours, and then bully calmly explain to the finaid staff that i need my scholarships to post, if they don't mind. and... hey presto! it takes them about five minutes on the computer to put them through. so it's usually month two or three before all my scholarships have gone through the system and covered my tuition and fees.

in the mean time, all charges are due one week before the first day of classes for the semester. that was yesterday.

joy.

i could just pay my tuition/fees out of pocket and then get refunded by the university as my scholarships come through one by one. but i don't really have $4900 lying around to do that every january and august. so what i normally end up doing is signing up for an "installment plan", which breaks my total amount due into four equal parts, to be paid the middle of each month of the semester. usually my scholarships post in time to cover each of those installments.

the annoying thing is that they charge you a $20 fee for being enrolled in this installment plan - $20 that i wouldn't have to spend if they would just process my scholarships before my tuition is due like a useful finaid office would do.

but wait! there's more! normally the university sends out a blanket email or three to remind everyone to pay their tuition/fees or get on the installment plan or some such. typically, when the week-before-the-due-date email comes out, i check the status of my scholarships on my account (this is either masochism or eternal optimism) and then sign up for the installment plan again. this semester, i never got one of those reminder emails. tuition was, come to find out, due yesterday. only one of my scholarships has posted. i should have been "automatically dropped" from my classes for having not paid all tuition/fees in full.

i wasn't dropped. i just logged on to my account and signed up for the installment plan, no problems, and all my classes are still there. i have no idea what is wrong with the finaid office, but...

really, i can't think of any way they could be more inept than this.

Comments

[pronker]

You're charged $20 for doing things this way. That sucks.

[jen-chan13.livejournal.com]

it's so laaaaaaaame. *shakes fist at them*

[wuffielover.livejournal.com]

Yeeeaaaah...well, on the bright side, at least the labyrinthine nature of the system somehow let you keep your classes! Even if it was their fault you were going to lose them in the first place...

[jen-chan13.livejournal.com]

inorite?! i was actually pretty relieved that at least in this case their ineptitude worked in my favor.

for once. *eyeroll*

[catc10.livejournal.com]

And I thought my finaid office was fucked for waiting until two or three days before hand to give you what was basically yours to begin with, and then wait another ten days to get the left overs into your account...
ME