So just in case you were still wondering, I haven't received any new information on the whole going back to work for my former boss thing. I was really hoping for another weekly update last week, but didn't receive anything, so I'm still in limbo on the whole situation. And yes, it completely sucks to just keep waiting!
In the meantime I'm continuing to send out tons of applications for basically any reasonable jobs I believe I'm qualified for, because I can't keep waiting forever.
On top of this stress we've been dealing with a nightmare situation related to SD's financial aid for school. When he was deployed last summer he requested a leave of absence (LOA) from school for the 3 months he was gone. He completed all the necessary paperwork...but someone at the university accidentally mis-keyed in his expected return date to school and instead typed in a return date 1 week earlier than he came home.
So when that date arrived and SD was not back yet and enrolled in a new class, the university automatically returned all the remaining financial aid on his account back to the lender...a total slightly over $2,500! When the school discovered the problem, they told SD he couldn't start a new class until they fixed the problem and would notify him when that happened.
Well, they told SD they had fixed the problem and he was allowed to begin a new class in late Sept. Then a few weeks later they called and said they were not able to recover all of the funds sent back to the lender (for some unknown reason) and that we would have to pay the balance out of pocket asap.
We contacted the lender and found out the only reason the school wasn't able to recover ALL of the funds was because the school specifically requested only to receive a smaller amount back! The lender also told us this problem could easily be resolved if the school simply sends in a new request for the remaining financial aid that needs to be recovered.
Well, the extremely long story short is the school refuses to do that! Instead, all of the supporting information I have presented that identifies the whole entire problem is the result of an error made by the school has now been escalated as a dispute to a financial review board...and their review process is very, very slow.
In the meantime, SD is supposed to begin a new class later this month, but he can't start that class until these financial aid problems are resolved. The bottom line right now is that the school is trying to force us to pay roughly $1,600 out of pocket to resolve this issue. Well, like most people, we don't have an extra $1,600 just lying around right now.
And to make things worse, I just spoke with the lender this morning who has now been misinformed and told that SD has completely withdrawn from school! So now a portion of the funds already recovered that were scheduled to be dispersed tomorrow have been placed on hold and will not be sent to the school to help pay the cost of tuition until the school goes through the process of notifying the lender that SD is indeed still enrolled full-time.
Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!! Seriously! I have figuratively already pulled out all my hair on this issue!!! The whole problem is a result of a mistake made by the university and it's caused such extreme stress over the past month we've been trying to resolve these issues.
And the whole thing is compounded by the frustrations of my continued delay in finding a job...because we could deal with this mess a lot easier if I had a paycheck coming in. But unfortunately I don't have a paycheck yet and trying to scrimp together every penny we can find to fix this problem (on top of already being tight on funds) has resulted in some extreme stress and difficulty to continue to find ways to pay our bills each month.
I honestly expected to have a job by this point, but it hasn't worked out that way and in the area where we live hundreds more people are being laid off each week, making it even more difficult to find a job.
It's become so ridiculous! Unfortunately, I have an awful feeling that we'll end up being forced to come up with a miracle and pay the outstanding balance in full up front, and if we're lucky we'll end up being reimbursed at some later date. Is that right? Is that how this matter should be resolved? No. But I'm not sure what else we can do.
I used to be convinced that the military pay finance department was the absolute WORST department on the planet, but today I've been proven wrong! The school financial aid department has CLEARLY vindicated the military pay system...because when military pay makes a mistake they at least fix the problem.
In the meantime I'm continuing to send out tons of applications for basically any reasonable jobs I believe I'm qualified for, because I can't keep waiting forever.
On top of this stress we've been dealing with a nightmare situation related to SD's financial aid for school. When he was deployed last summer he requested a leave of absence (LOA) from school for the 3 months he was gone. He completed all the necessary paperwork...but someone at the university accidentally mis-keyed in his expected return date to school and instead typed in a return date 1 week earlier than he came home.
So when that date arrived and SD was not back yet and enrolled in a new class, the university automatically returned all the remaining financial aid on his account back to the lender...a total slightly over $2,500! When the school discovered the problem, they told SD he couldn't start a new class until they fixed the problem and would notify him when that happened.
Well, they told SD they had fixed the problem and he was allowed to begin a new class in late Sept. Then a few weeks later they called and said they were not able to recover all of the funds sent back to the lender (for some unknown reason) and that we would have to pay the balance out of pocket asap.
We contacted the lender and found out the only reason the school wasn't able to recover ALL of the funds was because the school specifically requested only to receive a smaller amount back! The lender also told us this problem could easily be resolved if the school simply sends in a new request for the remaining financial aid that needs to be recovered.
Well, the extremely long story short is the school refuses to do that! Instead, all of the supporting information I have presented that identifies the whole entire problem is the result of an error made by the school has now been escalated as a dispute to a financial review board...and their review process is very, very slow.
In the meantime, SD is supposed to begin a new class later this month, but he can't start that class until these financial aid problems are resolved. The bottom line right now is that the school is trying to force us to pay roughly $1,600 out of pocket to resolve this issue. Well, like most people, we don't have an extra $1,600 just lying around right now.
And to make things worse, I just spoke with the lender this morning who has now been misinformed and told that SD has completely withdrawn from school! So now a portion of the funds already recovered that were scheduled to be dispersed tomorrow have been placed on hold and will not be sent to the school to help pay the cost of tuition until the school goes through the process of notifying the lender that SD is indeed still enrolled full-time.
Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!! Seriously! I have figuratively already pulled out all my hair on this issue!!! The whole problem is a result of a mistake made by the university and it's caused such extreme stress over the past month we've been trying to resolve these issues.
And the whole thing is compounded by the frustrations of my continued delay in finding a job...because we could deal with this mess a lot easier if I had a paycheck coming in. But unfortunately I don't have a paycheck yet and trying to scrimp together every penny we can find to fix this problem (on top of already being tight on funds) has resulted in some extreme stress and difficulty to continue to find ways to pay our bills each month.
I honestly expected to have a job by this point, but it hasn't worked out that way and in the area where we live hundreds more people are being laid off each week, making it even more difficult to find a job.
It's become so ridiculous! Unfortunately, I have an awful feeling that we'll end up being forced to come up with a miracle and pay the outstanding balance in full up front, and if we're lucky we'll end up being reimbursed at some later date. Is that right? Is that how this matter should be resolved? No. But I'm not sure what else we can do.
I used to be convinced that the military pay finance department was the absolute WORST department on the planet, but today I've been proven wrong! The school financial aid department has CLEARLY vindicated the military pay system...because when military pay makes a mistake they at least fix the problem.
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