Some changes have been made to the financial aid process this year that are affecting millions of students.  The main changes are designed to prevent fraud which had been a major problem for the honest average student.  Still this process is creating challenges even for the ones who are in the right.

My experience with this hiccup is far from pleasant.  I go to school full-time, though part-time over the summer, and as such I work a part-time job.  My grants, scholarships, and student loans are my life-blood.  They pay for vital things like my rent, telephone, internet, and food.  My job pays for toiletries and the occassional book.  I’m such a big spender.  ^_~ 

The change has caused a delay of an undetermined length to freeze my loan disbursment.  The delay has forced me to borrow money from my father to make ends meet.  My internet is now solely at school.  To make things even better, my cell got wet and with the warranty voided as a result, I cannot replace it until I receive said funds.

I spoke with financial aid a week ago and was promised my refund by last Friday.  When it dod not arrive I went to see them to inquire about the delay AND the new charges on my student account from the bookstore.  Apparently the bookstore has not received their money from this snaffu either.  It is very frustrating to me, but I know I’m not the only one. 

Please be open and honest on ALL documentation you submit to your school.  If you’re unsure about a document, meet with the appropriate person or department to verify it before turnign it in.  As it stands, I may not get my refund until the semester is over.  This is a terrible thing to live with, but at least I know the day it arrives into my account I can safely write my father a check for the amount he has helped me with during this time.

Ok, when I was in high school, turning in a paper was simple.  You either hand-wrote it in VERY neat handwriting, or typed it up IF you had a computer or typwriter.  (Yes, in the mid 90s not everyone had a home computer.)  Your teacher would read said paper and give you a grade hoping that you had not bought it from someone and thusly plagerized it.  Now they have plagerism software to detect potential violations.  You turn everything in online or typed AND online.  This brings up an interesting point with the grading of papers now.

When writing papers, be sure to have a CURRENT dictionary and thesaurus handy.  Over the years grammar rules, and even citations for quoting and paraphrasing, have been changed.  Today, for example, I was informed that the word myriad need not be followed by of. 

Example: The myriad of problems facing the American economy have no single solution.

This could also be written: The myriad problems facing the American economy have no single solution.

This was news to me, and so came as a shock when I saw my paper had been marked with the suggestion that I was using an improper, or archaic method to employ the word.  Personally, I can’t fathom dropping the of from the sentence.  To me it looks incomplete, wrong, and as though spoken by someone uneducated.  However in a society of text speak equating dollar signs on the best seller’s list, I suppose it’s only natural that our speech declines somewhat.  I know I make minor mistakes now and then, but it bothers me when mistakes become commonplace enough to be accepted.