The hunt, the saga continues...

Now let's get back on track. We know why I need the loan, but what we don't know is if we got it. Well the answer to that question is, yes, I did get the loan, but only partly. We are credit approved, which is a reassurance that my dad and I combined are creditworthy for a loan of that amount, but the downside is that West Chester has to approve the amount. Further downwards of that downside is that WCU has a cap on the amount of aid you can take out, unfortunately for me that cap is about 21,000 dollars shy of what I need. You can appeal the process though, and that is where we are at now.

I initially spoke with a gentleman in the financial aid office at school. We will call him Mr. P. Mr. P was pretty cool and he honestly seemed to want to help. I flat out asked him during our first meeting if he thought I would be able to have the amount I needed, and though he didn't say yes, he surely didn't say no. His response was to see how much aid I would receive from the government and go from there. I honestly believe that if it wasn't possible for me to receive what I needed he would have said no and left it at that. This occurred a month ago, around the time I received word that my loan was conditionally approved. Fast forward again to today. I went to the financial aid office to drop off the various forms of paperwork that I needed to turn in for my federal aid. Mr. P wasn't in so I decided to leave it with a secretary to forward to him. During our brief exchange I realized that I was glad to have my situation fall into the hands of Mr. P and not this secretary and the major butthead she called over. According to Butthead, WCU takes surveys and has deduced the "average" cost of attendance and living for the "average" student. First off let me say, how does a single mother compare with the average student when said average student lives on campus, has mom and dad footing a large majority of the bill, spends Thursday through Sunday consuming amounts of liquor comparable to a small human being, and living off of meal plans that average out to approximately 2 dollars a meal? So again, may I ask, how do I compare to the average college student. The simple answer is, I don't. Secondly, Butthead was a complete asswad. When I look at people I try to see them for who they are, you know, the whole what's on the inside thing. Where as when he looked at me I think he saw a stupid college kid who probably got knocked up because she drank too much, who had the kid to get the extra welfare money, and relies solely on her parents to take care of the big "uh-oh" He didn't see the girl who lost a baby, got pregnant with a little miracle only days after her daughter would have been one, the girl who busted her ass to work and go to full time during said pregnancy, and the girl who still got a B in nursing after losing 5 attendance points. No he didn't see that girl, he just saw the college chick who couldn't keep her legs shut, and this pissed me off. Butthead, don't pretend to know me and don't presume to tell me what the "average" college student does or doesn't do, because as I stated before, I am not the average college student, child included or not.

Now here I am. Pissed about Butthead, but the one ray of light in the cloudy sky...they are going to forward my paperwork to Mr. P because he was who I initially spoke with and they realized he would be most adept to handle my situation. For good measures, after speaking with Butthead and the secretary, I came to work and decided to email Mr. P to ask for a meeting to discuss my situation. What better way to get my loan than to talk to the nice guy and lay it all out there, plus, if I throw in a tear and a strategically placed eye dab, it might just put him over the line and he will grant me what I need. Now to go work on my fake cry...