financial aid and rants and raves

...another registration. Thankfully, this block of the calendar is MUCH lighter than the Fall registration, but to be honest, we would need a hostage crisis to top the lunacy that was Fall 2005. This does not mean that the winter doesn't have its own problems. One biggie is the shorter period of time people allot to gettting their paperwork together. Most people spend December working on Christmas and New Year's, so they try to get their FAFSA done after the start of the new year. This means A: people will be sorely disappointed, and B: people will be even more frantic than usual. Only 3 weeks to go... sigh. Anyway, I haven't posted about financial aid in quite some time, and wanted to mention a note about school codes. Your financial aid application is private information, and only the student can release it to certain schools. These schools are chosen by using the federal school code, and if you wish your financial aid to go to another college, that code must be added. When I say that only the student can add this code, I mean it. The financial aid office can't; the parents can't. Also, it takes a few days to process the change and another few days for the financial aid office to receive the changes. This often comes as a huge suprise for the student. Even worse, you cannot just call the toll free number and request a change. You would need to have the Student Aid Report with you when you called so you can read the Data Release Number, which is a PIN with a VERY limited use: adding more college codes. Most students do not know the importance of the SAR, so most don't have it handy. That means they would need to order another from the Dept. of Education. This problem will be lessened as more and more students apply online with a PIN. If the student has one, he or she can change the code online.

Happy New Year!!!!!!!

Well, 2006 is here, and we have another chance to live life as we would hope to. We have that chance every day, but the collective turning of the odometer gives one more focus and the reminder this life in not forever, so stop acting like it is! Anyway, I begin 2006 with momentous news: I have tenure. To say this great news is like saying the Seattle Space Needle is tall and pointy. Still, I’m a little scared. I’ve avoided a “normal” life with much zest, but a normal life found me anyway, then tackled me and dragged me back to Westchester kicking and screaming. Win some, lose some I guess. Actually it’s more than that. When I chose sobriety (or more accurately, sobriety chose me and I followed along), this fate was inevitable. Getting sober is the tactic acknowledgement that you life is out of control. What you do not realize (in the beginning)is that you life in out of control in nearly EVERY aspect possible. Your relationships with work, family, friends, lovers, etc. are all victims of abuse, neglect, overcompensation, or immaturity. On really bad days, it could be all four. With the work that is required in the program, the normal life I’ve been dreading was slowly taking form while I concentrated on working on other things. I’m simplifying things a bit, but you get the picture. The upshot to all this musing is the realization that I’m not taking that trip around the world, and I’m not moving to another country (yet…) but I’m cool with it either way. The worst part is: I don’t have a plan. I did have a plan for not getting tenure. True, my plan was to take a backpacking tour of brothels in SE Asia and Eastern Europe, but it was a plan. Anyway, that’s all for now. More later.