Oh MY GOD. I have been having a fantastic time with trying to enroll in school at either of the two largest and most recognized online U's. Online is truly the only option for me, 4 kids, a full-time job, yadda yadda. Who has time to sit in a real class?
Anyhow, School A's sales rep* tells me on several seperate occassions that I'm qualified to recieve PELL grant money in a specific amount. The amount (coincidentally) coincides pretty closely with the access fees (book fees). This would mean zero or near zero out of pocket expenses, though the majority would be in student loans. Sounds good right?
School B's sales rep talks about how they're cheaper than School A. However, their 'academic plan' puts me at 3/4 enrollment which qualifies me for less $$. When queried about adding an extra class to make my status full-time, I was told I couldn't do that until I was a sophmore...and would have to request special permission from the Dean. Ummm, okay. Oh, and I'd be paying out of pocket about $250 per month. Wow.
So, I tell School B, no dice. I'm not paying out of pocket, if I can avoid it. I do enjoy having fun once in a while and $250 does buy a fair bit of fun. Heck, that's half my ticket to San Francisco to see my girl! LOL
So, guess what School A's Financial Counselor starts telling me? *eyeroll* Not good things. My grant isn't guaranteed, but she can't tell me what would cause it to be denied/revoked/modified. I'm certain it must have something to do with turning around 3 times while patting your tummy and chanting "oogie woogie boogie". :P My loans aren't guaranteed. Yadda Yadda.
Can you say "How to cause someone to have a nervous breakdown about their finances?" Ugh, ugh, ugh! Her manager is sorting it out now because I don't take kindly to being told "abc" and then being told the answer is actually "def".
So, hopefully I'm still going to school. However, if the money doesn't show up, I'm not going this time around. :(
