<p>Wow! I have never seen more ways to spin excuses for people who don’t do the job properly that they are paid to do. That’s all this is about. And the truth is that part of this problem is because of attitudes like the ones that some of you are displaying. Maybe someone i felt sorry for some poor fella being born stupid and gave him the job anyway. </p>
<p>Time was in this country, if you couldn’t do your job, they found someone who would. Now we have to feel sorry for everybody and treat everybody the same.</p>
<p>I did not malign all FA personnel, I merely posted to newbies to expect some possible frustration in dealing with a broken system, and in some instances some not so bright folks.</p>
<p>Spin it how you want, it doesn’t change the facts. FA’s job is to get your financial aid in order BEFORE school starts. Unless the student screwed up somewhere, if that doesn’t happen, FA screwed up. And there is nothing wrong with calling them out on it.</p>
<p>You don’t have to feel sorry for people or treat everybody the same, Al. You come across as condescending and rude. Would you really defend being condescending and rude? If that tone comes across to the people you’re dealing with in FA, then you’re probably creating some of your own problem. Sometimes it helps to see ourselves as “blessed” or “fortunate” instead of viewing ourselves as superior by our own doing; and sometimes it helps to think of other people’s perspectives (why they might be doing that job and/or what’s in it for them). That’s why I wrote what I wrote. In an effort to “human” you up a bit. It’s not at all the same as feeling sorry for everybody or treating everybody the same.</p>
<p>As far as the whole “this country was founded on …” bit, maybe it would help to ask yourself if you’re doing your part.</p>
<p>When you wrote this,
I thought it was very ironic! And so now, I will zip it.</p>
<p>My “frustration” with the OP is that he seems to forget that he/his girlfriend as independent students and parents of dependent students are first in line when it comes to the financing of their/their children’s education.</p>
<p>Financial aid, is just that aid; help, assistance. It does not absolve one from doing their basic due diligence, talking ownership, responsibility and accountability. It does not mean that because one is receiving financial aid, that they will not have to come out of their pockets to pay for their educations.</p>
<p>While op is quick to marginalize the incompetent people who work in the FA office, he has totally evaded the question as to why he/his girlfriend who are 2 working people made no effort to put aside some start-up money. They have failed to make a plan, budget for this venture, or set up a contingency plan. Yes, times are tough, they are tough for everyone. Stuff happens, people lose jobs and have to start over again. However, as the saying goes a lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on someone else’s part.</p>
<p>Had he started his rant by taking responsibility for his own lack of planning and said, put aside some money over the summer, work a second job if you need to or the importance of having some start up money because stuff happens, then maybe he would have gotten better responses.</p>
<p>However he can best sum himself up with his own quote </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>as 60 some odd posts later he is still pointing the finger at others as crying woe is me as the victim.</p>
<p>^"he has totally evaded the question as to why he/his girlfriend who are 2 working people made no effort to put aside some start-up money. "</p>
<p>I have not evaded the question, you just have a reading comprehension problem. I have answered it several times. It’s easy to say save and plan, blah, blah, blah, if YOU have disposable income. So I will type slowly this time just for you. My GF and I have half the salaries we had two years ago. Do you want me to repeat it again lest you say I have not answered your question? Half! We have already budgeted, cut slashed, sacrificed, etc. We do not have disposable income to budget and save.</p>
<p>Additionally, my original post was not about my entitlement, or even about whether I got any aid. It was about people who draw salaries to do their jobs and aren’t doing it. It doesn’t matter what your status is or whether you are entitled to aid, my point is that there is a lot of frustration at some of these schools because the FA departments are asleep at the wheel. How long would you last at your job if you were incompetent? Unless you are a government worker or affirmative action hire, not long likely.</p>
<p>If your posts are any indication of how it is to work with you irl, especially with your everything is someone else’s fault and I am perfect mentality, perhaps it explains why you did not last at your previous job.</p>
<p>And I’ve never seen so much blaming someone else for not having money for your GF when you want or “need” it. I’m sorry you are a “victim” of the economy, which I suspect you blame someone else for and not yourself. But, did you or your GF plan during the “good times?” Did you have an emergency fund of 6-8 months of expenses so that you can pay for a month of college without aid? Did you and your GF continually update your job skills to become more recession proof? </p>
<p>Certainly, asking an adult and independent student to pay for a month of school without aid dispersed yet does not seem unreasonable to me.</p>
<p>The sucky economy led to my hours being cut in half at my job, and my husband being laid off for 1 1/2 years. Throughout this time, we had two kids in college, and the staff at both of my kid’s school worked with us. They were kind and gracious and helped us, both in figuring out if our aid packages could be adjusted and an extension to pay when some of our paperwork was delayed. They could have been difficult and unbending. But they weren’t. </p>
<p>They were professionals. </p>
<p>I honestly think you get more out of life assuming the best out of those around us, rather than the worst. If you go into a situation thinking you will be ****ed off, you usually will be. But perhaps Big Al’s experiences were so awful, so heinous at one of the school’s FA offices that he simply cannot utter any kind words for them. Perhaps every single employee at that office is intellectually challenged. So be it. </p>
<p>I am hoping that his experiences will be better in the future.</p>
<p>Good post SL. I don’t assume good or bad in a anything. I look at the results. And your assessment of one of the FA offices is right on. Just horrible at every turn, and it amazes me that in this economy where everyone is looking for work, that some of these folks still have jobs.</p>
<p>I have a character flaw in that I can’t tolerate stupidity. We now live in a society where we have to be so compassionate and tolerant and understanding that employers hire and retain people that just aren’t suited for the job. I was in a McDonald’s last year and the guy that took my order had a hair lip and a HUGE speech impediment. I couldn’t understand a word he said. I asked the manager why he would put someone like that as a cashier. He answered, “Well he needs a job too.” The manager could not begin to understand why he should have maybe put that employee in a position where he didn’t have to communicate so much with the public. Amazing.</p>
<p>I am usually pretty patient with people, probably far longer than most. I work with kids of various ages and this gives me a pretty high quotient for putting up with stuff that would drive others absolutely crazy. And I worked food service in college which gave me tremendous patience and good juggling skills, to boot. </p>
<p>The FA office which seems to be such a problem - very well it could be the tools that the employees have at their disposal that makes it so difficult. Hard to get answers or distribute loans/grants/etc when they are disorganized. Give too few people too many hours and not a good enough software/paperwork management system and you can have chaos. Hope it’s better going forward.</p>
<p>Plus, with the sucky economy, lots more folks need more aid than they used to, complicating the issue.</p>