I'm 30 yrs old, I have a wife, 2 1/2 yr old son, 4 month old daughter, I rent a house from my mom (long story there, I maintain hers and our home and lot, we are all on the same lot), I am in the Navy Reserves, my wife works part time, I am also a full time student.
Without all of the details for the month to month (we pay our bills and whatever else and have $200 left over usually for savings) I can't get financial aid due to my SAP qualifications not meeting their standards (I've attempted more than 150% credit hours than an associates degree requires, I already have an A.A.). I've filed an appeal but it's a long shot that will get approved, the grounds I used for the appeal was that the courses affecting me the most are from 10 or more years ago and that I was recently diagnosed with ADD, regardless the feds tend to be black and white and I don't see why they would overlook my previous courses based on those excuses (I'm grabbing at straws, I'm throwing everything I've got).
I am also a dual enrollment student (2 community colleges, it had to be done). I was informed to submit my private loan to my parents school (I only have 5 credit hours there and I have 7 at my other college, but the VA designated the 5 credit hr school as my parent, they explained it to me but it still didn't make any sense), and I found out two weeks ago that the check my private loan company had sent in was processed but my school couldn't find it.
Over the past two weeks I've been calling the loan company and several depts at the college to figure out where my loan money was cuz the college had no record. Ultimately, the private loan officer for my college had voided the check and sent it back to the same address (there's a different address for returned mail, so she sent it to the wrong address) based on that I hadn't met SAP criteria, but I went with this company because they didn't have any requirements other than a 2.0 GPA min, which I had. After missing half of my two hour lecture, after finishing my lab early, I found out that they can't accept the loan because I am not enrolled in half time or more, I only have 5 credit hours. This was news to everyone including the director of financial aid, who I managed to coax out of his building by refusing to leave and find a resolution to this issue since I'm already paying my interest on a loan I don't have access to and I'm the only one that cares apparently.
There were several instances where I feel like I was being targeted as well. I had had a nasty dispute with a financial aid officer a month prior (not her fault, I was in a bad place from stress and overreacted, but I did apologize not that that makes everything all better) and my loan company dispersed my fund to my college very early last month but I was told to wait until this month to meet the next disbursement period (there was a disbursement window shortly after they received my funds, but maybe they need more time for processing...idk). So, I waited a month and went to pick up my check on the day I was told to go pick up a check and they had nothing in their system for me. Not the business Dept, not financial aid, no one. The personal loan fin. aid. lady never called me back after I left voicemails and never answered her phone when I called (she probably was legitimately out of the office, I assume, but I never got a response to my messages is what is part of the problem).
A list of events to why I think I'm being targeted:
-
I've never gotten a call back from her after leaving several messages on her personal work voicemail.
-
I had called her to try to resolve the issue over the phone and actually got her after a couple transfers (I'd have to be transferred to a different department and get transferred back and after a transferred call comes back to the main desk and I was transferred to her it would work). She insisted that she didn't have any funds and that my loan agency was all she was waiting on.
2-3) I numbered it this way because they tie in together somehow. I had just talked to the loan agency and they told me the payment was processed and they don't know why my school can't find my account (it's because the school cancelled it and sent the check back to the wrong address. The loan company never received the funds back and it appeared to them that they processed it, since it's a deadend P.O. Box they sent it to). It ended up resulting in the fact that I wasn't enrolled more than half-time with my school (5 credit hours there, and 7 at my 'daughter' college) and that was the final determination, which doesn't have anything to do with SAP.
-
The really shady part is when I had informed her (the schools primary private loan officer) that I would come to her office so we could figure it out because the bank and my college seemed to be on two-seperate-pages (she laughed at me while on the phone when I offered to come by her office now, it was 2 p.m. btw) and we could work out the discrepancy with all three of us as part of the discussion, as I had my bank on hold for me awaiting their officer.
-
But when I got to the office she was just sitting at her desk eating a vending machine snack and I saw her go over to her receptionist, while holding two folders in front of her mouth so I couldn't see what she was saying (she knew I was there, I told her I was coming, and the sign-in log just so happened to be started on a new page where I wasn't listed, I was only halfway through the page I had signed in on and never got an employee signature for having seen me) and I saw her receptionist write something on a blue sticky note.
-
I was curious what was on this sticky note since she and I made eye contact prior and I considered myself an exceptional case when it comes to loans since no one knew where my loan was at, and I would think that would be unusual. So, I made small chat with the receptionist and got a good view if the sticky note she had written and it had my name with a large X next to it and circled. I think she had told her receptionist to not allow me to see her while she held those folders in front of her face.
-
Long story short, I don't want to rock the boat because I committed the first wrong against someone that holds my financial well being in their hands and I don't want it to go any further, but without this loan I will have to drop out of college and get whatever mundane job I can to make it through the next 4 months. I literally can't make it past mid June without it.
Idk what my options are, I'm drowning in school, kids, life (my grandfather apparently won't make to the end of the month now and Grandma needs all kinds of help, plus I have to figure out a way to be on grandpa's miitary honor guard team for my grandma, so that's even more time than I have)
I've been in emergency mode for the last 6 months (IRS stuff, DFAS stuff, Treasury stuff) and I always get screwed over in the end (they all garnished my tax return after me verifying that it wouldn't be with each of them, through multiple departments).
Maybe this isn't the right forum, but I'm out of options. If I can make it to fall I can start my bachelor's degree program, but as for now I won't make it through the end of the month (I can charge things and move stuff around and cash out investments, with a penalty, to make it to mid June, but I've been saving those investments for years and they aren't able to be drawn on for a long time still)
I might be done, I thought there may be a life after active duty service but it's so far reaching idk how anyone can achieve it. The last year and a half have been far more detrimental to my mental well-being than anything I ever encountered while serving. Ironically, I joined so I wouldn't have to worry about education expenses, since I couldn't afford it and didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up back the (aside from the feeling that I owed my service to my country, that's changed btw).
So here's just another lost soul, overwhelmed by everything life has beaten him down with over time. I'm tired. I am constantly drowning. I am broken. Any advice is welcome. I do already have a "counselor" (he's a joke) and I have filled out every form I can find for a mental health eval but, as Americans know, it's a broke system.
Submitted April 10, 2019 at 03:28AM by SelfDestructivMoron http://bit.ly/2IoTaln
