Spring Break
Bursar, Financial Aid should be in constant contact
Megan Lynch
Issue date: 4/1/09 Section: Commentary
As I near the end of my fourth semester at UConn, I have been screwed over by the Office of Financial Aid Services and the Office of the Bursar about five times. That is obviously a displeasing ratio, but the best part is that none of it was my directly my fault. It seems that the level of disconnect between these two very important offices, which rely entirely on each other's information, is horrendous. While most of the time I feel like they're just out to get me, this has happened to many other people. However, I handle all of my finances and bills all on my own, with all my own money. I don't just have my mommy to do it for me; she is simply too busy. And trust me, it's a lot harder to get these offices to listen to you when you don't have your parents to call and yell at them.
My problem at the moment is that I suddenly owe $8,000 - which is strange, because I had a refund check issued to me two months ago for about that much, minus a few thousand to pay off my winter class. When I went to the Financial Aid Office, they told me that they "rearranged my budget," because I had declared in-state residency. So yes, they were asking me to return the money after they had written me a check.
"Why now?" I asked. Well, apparently Financial Aid had found out about my residency change only last Thursday, when I had it officially changed at the beginning of February, two months ago. As you can imagine, I'm thrilled, especially as I don't have much of that money left. As a poor college student, receiving a check for a few thousand dollars that you were not even expecting to receive is like Christmas, except instead of buying toys, you have bills to pay.
But pity is secondary the real issue: how the Financial Aid and Bursar's Offices communicate with each other. It's taken two months for Financial Aid to find out that I declared in-state status, and by then the Bursar's Office had written me a check with the extra money in my account. But now that Financial Aid has my in-state information, I am no longer eligible for all that extra money. This would have all been fine, if one, the Bursar's Office didn't write me a check and let me take it, and two, the Financial Aid Office had found out sooner.
My problem at the moment is that I suddenly owe $8,000 - which is strange, because I had a refund check issued to me two months ago for about that much, minus a few thousand to pay off my winter class. When I went to the Financial Aid Office, they told me that they "rearranged my budget," because I had declared in-state residency. So yes, they were asking me to return the money after they had written me a check.
"Why now?" I asked. Well, apparently Financial Aid had found out about my residency change only last Thursday, when I had it officially changed at the beginning of February, two months ago. As you can imagine, I'm thrilled, especially as I don't have much of that money left. As a poor college student, receiving a check for a few thousand dollars that you were not even expecting to receive is like Christmas, except instead of buying toys, you have bills to pay.
But pity is secondary the real issue: how the Financial Aid and Bursar's Offices communicate with each other. It's taken two months for Financial Aid to find out that I declared in-state status, and by then the Bursar's Office had written me a check with the extra money in my account. But now that Financial Aid has my in-state information, I am no longer eligible for all that extra money. This would have all been fine, if one, the Bursar's Office didn't write me a check and let me take it, and two, the Financial Aid Office had found out sooner.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
A Concerned Journalist
posted 4/01/09 @ 10:31 AM EST
Poorly written and more of a personal vendetta than an editorial. Lacking of both intelligent content and craft. Try again Megan.
Post a Comment