student loans are stupid
Or maybe it's just Western Michigan University...
So I need my student loans in order to pay rent, buy food, and all that crap, right? Well the government of the United States graciously lent me $8000 to pay for my tuition, school supplies, rent, and food. Awesome. Well, the dispersement was last week and I was expecting the cost of tuition to be taken from that $8000 and the rest being halved to give me now (the other half coming halfway through the semester -- as mandated by the Department of Education)...leaving me with half of $5800.
Dispersement day came and I had $1585 in my checking account.
I freaked out, thinking I'd been shorted $1200.
After a call and a long time on hold, it came down to this -- yes, the original $8000 was halved but the entirity of my tuition for the semester was taken out of the first half, leaving me with the $1585 that's supposed to cover my books ($150), supplies (I need a new computer and was hoping to get one), and two months of existence. Then, during the first week of March (when my classes are two-thirds over, having no exam) I will receive the second half of my dispersement, $4000, to get me through the next two months.
Is it just me, or is something just plain fucked up about that? I mean, isn't it typical to have your costs front-loaded in the semester? Obviously, there are the costs of books -- but it also seems reasonable to expect students to need to pay security deposits on apartments, buy computers, and that sort of thing...to make it through the entirity of the semester, from the beginning.
Ugh. Oh well, I think I can make it. It'll be tight and all, but I should beable to penny-pinch my way to March 1. It'll be good for me anyway, in the end it'll mean I save money since it means my budget's down $200 a month for two months.
So I need my student loans in order to pay rent, buy food, and all that crap, right? Well the government of the United States graciously lent me $8000 to pay for my tuition, school supplies, rent, and food. Awesome. Well, the dispersement was last week and I was expecting the cost of tuition to be taken from that $8000 and the rest being halved to give me now (the other half coming halfway through the semester -- as mandated by the Department of Education)...leaving me with half of $5800.
Dispersement day came and I had $1585 in my checking account.
I freaked out, thinking I'd been shorted $1200.
After a call and a long time on hold, it came down to this -- yes, the original $8000 was halved but the entirity of my tuition for the semester was taken out of the first half, leaving me with the $1585 that's supposed to cover my books ($150), supplies (I need a new computer and was hoping to get one), and two months of existence. Then, during the first week of March (when my classes are two-thirds over, having no exam) I will receive the second half of my dispersement, $4000, to get me through the next two months.
Is it just me, or is something just plain fucked up about that? I mean, isn't it typical to have your costs front-loaded in the semester? Obviously, there are the costs of books -- but it also seems reasonable to expect students to need to pay security deposits on apartments, buy computers, and that sort of thing...to make it through the entirity of the semester, from the beginning.
Ugh. Oh well, I think I can make it. It'll be tight and all, but I should beable to penny-pinch my way to March 1. It'll be good for me anyway, in the end it'll mean I save money since it means my budget's down $200 a month for two months.
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