<p>Are you really saying that your gf couldn’t manage to save up ~$25 a week over the summer for books? I find that hard to believe, sorry. I am 20 years old and I manage to pay my car, apartment, books, etc all on my own. And that meant eating only tomatoes, bagels, and pasta for various times over the summer. It also meant working 60 hours a week for a chunk of the summer- holding down 2-3 jobs at a time. I live in a very hard-hit area economically and still managed to find jobs. Did she really manage to save up NOTHING for school? If so, does it really seem like going back to school right now is the best idea? It’s not going to get any easier once school starts, unless she plans on partially living off of a FA refund. Perhaps she should delay a semester to save up for books and such.</p>
<p>Also… when you tell people to expect negativity and incompetence from the FA office, people generally go in with that attitude and a negative experiences arise.</p>
<p>“It’s not going to get any easier once school starts, unless she plans on partially living off of a FA refund.”</p>
<p>She has already done a year of school, while working full time. Same thing for the fall. </p>
<p>As far as the advice on not going on vacations, etc. all I can say is duh! We have made lots of sacrifices to live on half our previous income. Movies, vacation, nice dinners? HA! I wish.</p>
<p>Fingershakers, take care. Your lectures don’t take into account some horrific trends. </p>
<p>When S2 was seven years old, we moved to WA state. I checked and, at that time, it cost about $9000 for a year of college. We diligently worked and saved so we were on track to have about $34 K by the time he started college – and we’d need around $36K. My thinking was the other two K plus a little inflation should be manageable during his college years with some work and some trimming. </p>
<p>Well, it is now $20K a year to attend a public college. So, instead of $36K, we need $80K. Meanwhile gas has double in price, food prices are up, health insurance is up and DH’s paycheck is down as he is a state employee (all state employees have had a 10% pay cut). </p>
<p>So ,yeah, it is hard to come up with more dollars for books . . . or the bus . . . or anything else. </p>
<p>And, dear fingershakers, know that we have to deal with the Financial Aid office to get loans (we’d love handouts but we don’t qualify for Pell and that’s that). Now I’ve done loans over the years for cars and for a house and I’d say Financial Aid forms are worse than other loan applications. </p>
<p>It is not a transparent system. It is confusing and frustrating. We get treated like losers standing in the Food Bank line (which is rude – folks can end up at the Food Bank because of medical expenses or other things than wild living) – and we’re doing our darndest to close the gap between what we saved and what things now cost. </p>
<p>I’m with Al. Movies? Yeah right. Vacation? That’s the night we have microwave quesidillas.</p>
<p>Then why doesn’t she have book money? She could have put aside $10 a week if she is working full time during the school year and had book money.</p>
<p>Being a person who had 2 deceased parents and putting myself through college and grad school while raising a child by myself (never having been pell eligible), I totally get what it is to struggle and balance work, school and family and to come up with money to pay for school.</p>
<p>I read what you said and asked the same question the both times that you posted it.</p>
<p>She is single and has no dependents (unless she is also contributing to support your household by living with you and yours) and has a full time job. IS she literally eating away and paying lights her whole pay check?</p>
<p>I would say that the **old **Sallie Mae student loan system that allowed kids to borrow up to the full COA without co-signers encouraged schools to increase costs.</p>
<p>I think a lot of people really have no idea how federal financial aid works. It doesn’t stop them from sharing their insights, which is always a blessing.</p>
<p>Thank you for your post, I couldn’t believe it when I read it. You are 100% correct. I thought I was the only college student in America going through this. Frustration doesn’t even begin to describe the way I feel. I am trying to stay positive. But it is hard.</p>
<p>Good luck Lisa. I know it is frustrating. Just try to remember, stupid people need jobs to feed their families too. You’re just gonna have to deal with them.</p>
<p>Big Al, although I have had only positive experiences with financial aid, I don’t doubt your’s has been frustrating and unhelpful. What bothers me is your name calling and condescending attitude towards others who I suspect are hard working individuals and trying to do more with shrinking funds and staffing. Take the chip off your shoulder and you may have better luck.</p>
<p>^Ditto. I wrote something like this a few hours ago, “Seriously, Al. Does it not feel even the slightest bit shameful to speak so condescendingly of those who haven’t been given what you’ve been given?” But then I deleted it and went on my way.</p>
<p>But seriously. If people really are “stupid” (I’d prefer another word choice), then they simply weren’t born with the good-brain genes that you may have (simply) inherited. I tell my kiddos that none of us earned our brain power – we inherited it. We don’t really deserve credit for being smart, imo. We were just fortunate enough to be born that way.</p>
<p>And if the people you’re talking about really aren’t “stupid” but are working in lower paying, or less glamorous jobs than you for some other reason (fewer opportunities, perhaps earlier mistakes, perhaps a second job to pay the bills, perhaps a bad attitude that gets them nowhere, as you’d like to believe), well … are we justified in treating them as low-lifes and something less than ourselves?</p>
<p>EQ is just as important as IQ. Smart people should know better.</p>
<p>The vast majority of financial aid professionals I have met are quite intelligent … it is necessary to know and apply myriad rules and regulations. Many factors impact the processing of financial aid. It is often these factors that make things frustrating for the student … not the fact that the people processing aid are dumb, or uneducated, or do not have any other options professionally. Most finaid professionals do this job for low pay because they actually enjoy helping students. Hard to believe, but true. I know this because I was one of those people.</p>
<p>And just like most FA people act like professionals are expected to, I would guess that most of the students and parents are understanding, courteous, and patient when difficulties arise and need to be worked out. Unfortunately, the world is populated with a certain percentage of people who think they deserve what the want when they want it and when they don’t get it RIGHT NOW apparently get some degree of psychological relief from tarring an entire profession with loud-mouthed criticism.</p>
<p>And just like most FA people act like professionals are expected to, I would guess that most of the students and parents are understanding, courteous, and patient when difficulties arise and need to be worked out.</p>
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<p>Absolutely! The vast majority of students and parents are like this, and that is why finaid professionals enjoy being in the profession.</p>