Now, don't get me wrong. I'm willing to take responsibility for the amount of time I've spent in college and the number of credits I've ended up with. But the lengths I've had to go to even to appeal my financial aid eligibility border on the ludicrous.
On Saturday of last week, I received a letter saying that I'm no longer eligible for financial aid due to the number of attempted credits I currently have. Enclosed were two forms for appeal, one for a two-semester plan and one for "more than two semesters". The second of these has a strict four-semester cap. Unfortunately, it's not that simple for me.
As I'd bet all of my five readers know, I was recently accepted for a full-year exchange to University College Cork in Ireland. I intend on studying the Irish language and its history there, as part of my long term goal of focusing on Irish (and general Celtic) linguistics. However, the scheduling of linguistics courses is such that I need to be here for three semesters following the exchange at a bare minimum. No amount of summer or wintersession courses can prevent this. I've got a five semester graduation plan and an adamantly four semester form.
On Monday, I went to the financial aid desk and explained my situation. They had me set up an appointment for the next day with someone who sits on the committee that approves or denies applications. To summarize the appointment: I was told that more than likely I would have to drop the exchange to have my appeal go through and that I should be careful with what I submit with the form, since the committee would likely simply toss it if I had "more than a page" explaining my circumstances. And that the form would have to be in by Thursday (today) at noon, though the committee does not meet until next Friday.
I spent a few hours that day and a few more that evening putting together the four semesters I was to put on the form and trying to put together a concise but thorough explanation of my situation. This includes one semester for which I was given a medical withdrawal but whose credits are still counting toward my attempted credit limit. I'm also told that it's likely that I'll wind up with a referral to Disability Services for Students, since I mention that I've been seeing at the health center regarding ADHD. (Fortuitously, I had an appointment scheduled for this morning with said doctor and he said he would have no problem with giving DSS a formal diagnosis if it comes to that.)
The appeal form also requires the signatures of my academic advisor and someone from the registrar's office. I went first to the registrar's office, was given a signature and notes were made that indeed I did require the general ed classes that I wrote down. I was told this all that I would need from them. I went to see the academic advisor and learned that the previous undergrad advisor for the English department had quit and since been replaced. The person I spoke to, to my great surprise, actually seemed to care about whether I would succeed and whether the plan I had was sufficient or not.
When I went in today to submit the form, I was told that the registrar's office had to circle one of APPROVED or DENIED regarding my graduation plan. I went back, spoke to the same person I spoke to yesterday and was told that they were in fact the person I needed to speak to but that they couldn't approve or deny my plan. At this point, someone else in the office suggested we call the person with whom I'd first had an appointment. As they picked up the phone, however, the person from the financial aid desk came in and the person from the registrar's office cleared up their position and my form was taken. I was told that if something is in fact wrong with the form, I'll receive a call in the near future. As I left, the person from financial aid said to me, "Thanks for jumping through the hoops."
This last sentence says a great deal about the process. Had the previous English undergrad advisor not left, the entire process would have resembled a conveyor belt with a series of rubber stamps, varying only slightly in form. It seems to me to be an endurance contest, a measure of just how badly a student wants to bury themselves in debt for the sake of their education.
It doesn't matter that I've only had financial aid for the last three semesters. It doesn't matter that, in those semesters in which I've actually received grades, I've gone from having wildly disparate marks and a 2.2 GPA to being a straight A student (with one A- that I still feel I didn't deserve *bitter*) with a 2.9 GPA. It doesn't matter that I've been accepted to one of the most competitive exchanges offered on campus. It doesn't matter that I just received a scholarship from the Math department for demonstrating my problem-solving abilities. It probably doesn't even matter that I had approval from the university's Medical Services director to withdraw for medical reasons one semester. What matters is that some numbers have gotten too high and I have to submit my 27b stroke 6 and fight an uphill battle to finish my degree.
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