Thursday, June 22, 2006

I don't know what to do anymore...

Things just seem to be getting worse and worse with this school thing, and I don't know what to do anymore. After the last communication I blogged about, it seemed like things were going to get better. I wrote them and told them that I had indeed confirmed my intention to go to Brown and I even had the fax confirmation to prove it.

They said that it was their mistake and sometimes things get lost; it was no problem and that they would put me back in their system and mail out my acceptance packet with all the forms I had to fill out the very next day.

The next day I get a phone call saying that they did not, in fact, mail out my acceptance packet because first I had to talk to the people at financial aid and clear up my financial aid status. They said the financial aid people would be calling me that week. They didn't call; instead I got a letter saying that if I did not apply for financial aid and comply with all the financial aid requirements and deadlines by June 16, I could not come to Brown.

Now, here are the problems with this:

First, I've been talking to Brown Financial Aid for over a year now. They said in no uncertain terms that applying for financial aid would be pointless as they will not consider me an independent and no matter what I do, I have to get my parents' compliance with filling out the forms. That is not going to happen; last time I talked to my parents about this they told me, basically, screw you, you're on your own. I told my parents I didn't want their money but despite the fact that they don't consider me their child anymore, legally I still am their dependent and in Brown's eyes nothing I can do will change that. So, since my parents won't cooperate, I can't apply for financial aid from Brown, and I decided not to apply for financial aid from the university at all, since I was getting an outside scholarship.

Second, even if I could theoretically get my parents to comply, they sent me a letter at the beginning of June telling me that I had to comply with all the deadlines - the last of which passed in April. So, I get a note saying you can't come to Brown unless you meet a deadline that passed a month and a half ago.

Third, they can't force me to apply for financial aid from them, can they? They were saying that although I had already been accepted, they were simply going to withhold the forms I had to fill out in order to go to school untill I applied for financial aid. How is that even allowed? They do not force every single incoming freshman to apply for financial aid, how can they force me? So long as I get them their money on time, why is it their business if I ask them to help or if I get a scholarship from outside?

Anyway, I wrote back saying pretty much exactly that: My parents are not going to cooperate; it isn't right that you force students who come from families that don't care about them/are abusive to go back and deal with their parents like this; I'm getting a scholarship from an outside group and after a year of talking with your financial aid office I'm not applying for financial aid anyway, so I don't understand this letter.

After a lot more arguing with the financial aid director, he said that I did not need to apply for financial aid after all, so that part of the problem was cleared up.

Once I got word from him that my financial aid status was cleared up with their office, I wrote back to the admissions people saying I'd talked with financial aid, the problem was over, so please send my admissions packet now because I've certainly missed some deadlines and I don't want to reach August and have them say I can't come to Brown because I never returned forms that I was never given in the first place.

Since I wrote them back, I have gotten no reply. I've left messages that have never been returned. My emails are ignored.

I am getting pissed as all hell. It seems that their new tactic is just to completely ignore me until it is too late to come to Brown. I don't even understand this. How am I supposed to deal with that?

I know that to the people sitting in all the offices at Brown, I'm just some annoying case they are tired of dealing with, but I think maybe they've been working in bureaucratic administration for so long that they forget that to the students trying to go to college, this means our whole future.

I swear, I'm about ready to give up on life.