Academic Chaos Part Three...

Days before my first final (math) at PCOM I found myself once again at Harold Washington. Why? I just found out that I have in fact been denied financial aid via snail mail. How I’m going to make these new payments happen is going to be a God given miracle. I quickly filled out all the paperwork (SO much paperwork!) for the scholarship and now needed my high school transcripts. I walk into the registrar’s office and ask for them. “I’ll be right back.” the man behind the desk tells me and gets up disappearing into a room. I stand and wait. Minutes tick by. He returns without anything in his hands. He mutters something to the lady sitting next to him. She replies with something I don’t understand. Something about files that were placed somewhere else. He leaves again. More minutes tick by. The man returns and says that he can’t find them. Umm…Great. He said that the guy who took them from me originally no longer works there and he doesn’t know what this person did with the transcripts he took. He advises me to ask my high school to fax over my transcripts. Fighting the urge to scream yet again, I remember that PCOM has my transcripts. I leave Harold Washington and get the transcripts from PCOM. Within minutes they produce the transcripts and I go to the school’s library to study for my math exam before Swedish massage class. After a few minutes the numbers seem to all blend together. I pull out my phone and text a co-worker who is also going through the same nightmare I am with registering at Harold Washington. I explain my financial aid crap and she has to do the same. She set up a payment plan which I will have to do as well. As I send another text something dreadful fills my mind. I slam my book shut and race out of the library, then downstairs, then out the door and back over to Harold Washington. Thank God the schools are so close together. What is filling me with utter terror is the fact that I didn’t pay for my classes the day I registered which means I am no longer registered. Which will mean sitting in that wide open ocean of a space hoping there is still room in the classes I need to get in. I don’t have time for this. Not with finals coming up. Not to mention I’m still doing my job. Jeff is in Colorado right now visiting his family, and I miss him. I feel like a fish out of water trying to breathe again. Back at the registrar’s desk I explain my situation to the woman that was helping the guy help me with my transcripts. “This has been an utter nightmare!” I exclaimed to her, knowing this isn’t her fault but I’m coming apart at the seams. “I know honey. I know you’ve had a hard time.” she typed quickly, staring at the computer screen. “Ok, it looks like you’re still registered but I don’t know how long you’ll be in the system. You need to go to the business office and pay for your classes right now.” I thank her and race upstairs to the office. I have exactly sixty minutes before massage class starts. “So, what happened?” the same short haired black woman who stamped my original schedule is staring at me in disbelief. I’m back in the business office explaining my financial aid issue. “I was told I was able to get loans and now, I’ve been told that no, I’m not approved for loans. I need to pay for my classes. Now.” I repeated myself. She gave me a list of instructions including going over to the computers behind me, signing up for automatic payment, putting ten percent down and going to the registration office for a new schedule and bringing it back to her for her to stamp. Within a few minutes online and a few more minutes standing in line, I had my new schedule. “Make sure you come back on August thirteenth to get your student ID. You have to have your schedule with you to get it. OK? Don’t forget.” the woman told me. I thanked her and left, racing over to PCOM for class grateful there was nothing else to do regarding my schedule or registration.