Today I am thankful for clueless government employed lazy asshats who roll their eyes when you say ....
"This is unfair, I'm going to talk to my senator. Where can I get more information so I know more about the issue before I start complaining?"
They refer you to the internet without answering your questions in full.
[Mua...ha...ha...ha...]
Today was my kiddo's 16th birthday. I wasn't at home.
Nope... I gave my entire day to the government.
They're going to pay.
I spent 3 hours at the local community college. Yep, so three weeks ago, I noticed that my daughter got a letter from the community college. She showed me the letter and it said she owed $1,027 due June 22nd in full.
Alrighty then....kiddo isn't working. I'm not working. The debt has got to be paid so I'm on the hook.
I went to pay it and the school demanded $2,165. I haven't seen another bill.
I am afraid the number is going to go up from there without explanation.
I wanted to know what was up. My daughter and I were given the run around. The Registrar said she was dis-enrolled from all of her classes on February 14th, 2017 but she was still submitting coursework.
The admin in the Registrar's office told me that many students are dis-enrolled without knowing about it. I told her I'd write to my senator (who is on the education committee). She ROLLED her eyes. I told her she was lucky. It would probably take years before I'd sit in front of a congressional committee and tell them the story. She'd be long gone by then.
[Go on ahead and roll your eyes sweetie.....the train hasn't even begun to move down the track.]
The Financial Aid office and the Cashier said my daughter was an active student who had failed all of her classes.
I'm confused why the professors didn't say anything about her submitting assignments when she wasn't enrolled in the class.
Well, if her coursework wasn't being graded, why would she pass?
Was she enrolled? Or wasn't she?
If she was did-enrolled, I'd like to know why. I'm reading online that many students with financial aid are being kicked out of their classes for non-payment (because the financial aid office is refusing to release the money on time). I'm wondering if I can report that to a governing agency.
This is beyond bizarre.
They wanted the money by the end of business today -or- they'd bill me a 30% collection charge. EDIT: Federal law limits the collection charges levied against student loans (money owed to schools are student loans and can't be bankrupted on) to 18.5%. I've contacted the Federal Inspector General. There are two other Federal regulations I suspect The Community College of Aurora of violating. I'll try reaching out to the college first (again). If they don't answer, I'll start by filing a Federal complaint.
Okay....not my debt. I'm trying to be a good citizen. I've got to be a good steward of taxpayer money even if I miss a mortgage payment and have to sell my house.
Whatever.....
They give me a stack of papers to fill out to file an appeal.
After three hours of getting the run around, I went home to gather paperwork and wrote a scathing letter to my state senator and the local paper.
That's when I see an article published today that stated that this school has been censured by the Professors Association for firing teachers who refuse to water down the coursework.
So...
Not only is the administration crazy - the classes are crap and professors are fired for trying to give students more bang for their buck.
I'm not appreciating the lesson I learned today.
I returned to tell the administrators who I contacted (senator and paper) and my plans to out the bullshit
and they promised to help me make a payment plan for the debt.
They assured me that they would work a payment plan out with me since they didn't communicate anything about it. They haven't even billed my daughter for the full amount they are demanding.
Do you want to know the payment plan?
I have to pay it right away.
They put it on my credit card. I pay it off every month. It's an old card. The interest rate has to be around 24%.
I feel lied to and betrayed.
So....
I'm going to be broke when my payment is due. That will be August 7th. I've scrimped. I saved. I had $6,000 in savings to get me through my unemployment but this stupid school has tore me a new arse.
What comes around.....goes around....I'm better at the ass chewing thing.
I got my start with my daughter. I let her know.....
1.) Community college is a rip off. Listen to your mom and go somewhere decent. This is why enrollments are declining. I tried to tell her two years ago. She didn't listen. I hope she's hearing me now.
Geesh!
2.) You're not saving money if tuition is $1,000 less a semester than the well acclaimed private college down the road. If the cheap community college dis-enrolls you without telling you and then forces you to pay back your student aid with a 30% collection fee by using a credit card with 24% interest.....
you're better off going to the private college where
a.) you actually learn something,
b.) don't put off future employers who read that your community college has watered down the curriculum in the newspapers
and
c.) paying 4% interest on your student loan.
The worst thing I did for myself was go to Yelp, Facebook, Google and a variety of college rating websites and read the reviews.
They dis-enroll people all the flippin' time! They are chasing students away with their bad behavior!
They have no clue.
They're not paying their professors anything.
Where is all that money going?
Why are they dis-enrolling students without notice? What's the motivation?
Do they get more government funds doing that?
There has got to be a reason.
If there ever was an excuse to gut funding for the community college system in Colorado.
THIS IS IT!
Lawmakers are always asking us to tell them why school is so expensive.
Schools play games to increase the money they rake in and drag out the length of the degree programs.
It's costing the taxpayers a small mint.
*******
I walked by two homeless people sleeping on park benches and a dead dog on my way into the school's parking lot (both times!!).
Of course, animal control won't pick up the dead dog (not their job). Grrrr....what are we paying for?
Cities like to arrest homeless people rather than help them. Grrr...again....what the hell?
And I'm trying NOT to run for City Council.
I don't hear anyone else stepping up here.....
Trust me, I've been belting out all my bitchy badness.
It's almost like the local politicos are the Borg.
They assimilate each other and get stuck in groupthink.
*******
It gets worse!
Holy shit....
it actually gets worse.
This crap all happened within the past month.
My elderly aunt's car was hit by a hammer!! Some guy tried to break into her house. He couldn't get in and got frustrated and hit the windshield of her car in frustration. She was home. Cops won't do a thing.
This picture is the reason for my wrinkle cream addiction.
I swear this is what Grandma looked like at 65! (sans the beard) I'm terrified....I'll be his doppelganger.
My fourteen year old niece was mugged at gunpoint while walking with her friends. The cops won't do a thing because they think the crime was committed by someone she knew. My sister is almost as bitchy as me (we just run in different political circles). She ran to the local King Soopers and told everybody she came into contact with. The store manager said that the same thing happened to one of his employees. The perp had the same description. The cops didn't do anything.
Yes, my sister and I do that - we tell everyone EVERYTHING. We get our bitchy political trait from our grandmother. It comes from the Grant side. It skips every other generation and, as the Mormons have traced our family tree, one can find that it connects to Ulysses S. Grant (the slave owner president who was arguably worse than Trump but who could kick an army down while drunker than a skunk).
We don't drink so we're meaner.
Things are going to Hades in a handbasket.
What does a community leader do?
I'm so pissed, I'm getting my angry wrinkle back.
My hair....I dyed it brown. It's red again with a little white stripe (I'm lookin' kinda like Rogue - except I'm fatter).
I'm so mad it would probably be a mistake to touch me, too.
This is annoying.
My peace is disturbed.
Anger I can deal with anger.
Tears are another story.
I nearly cried today when I read of other families going through this. I asked one of the college administrators if students who were homeless or in the hospital could get coursework extentions.
I was told NO!
They are automatically dis-enrolled.
This wasn't always the case. I was a victim's advocate a long time ago. Most community colleges gave extensions to crime victims or people in dire straights.
They've lost their compassion.
I'm livid.
Dis-enrolling students puts them in default. Any money owed to a school counts as a student loan. They can't enroll in any college until it is paid off.
For the battered woman or single father.....crime victim.....explain to me....
HOW IS THIS COMPASSION??
LAWMAKERS PROMISE THAT OUR TAXES ARE USED FOR COMPASSIONATE PURPOSES!!!
AT LEAST THAT'S WHAT THEY PROMISE WHEN THEY'RE TRYING TO RAISE THEM!
THE MONEY WE PUT INTO HIGHER EDUCATION ALLEGEDLY HELPS THE POOR AND DOWNTRODDEN....
SO THEY SAY.
IT'S A COMPASSIONATE THING THEY DO WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS ...they say....
WHERE IS THE COMPASSION HERE?
THERE IS NONE!!
The liberals are gettin' greedy.
This is libertarian ammo to gut funding.
I don't trust this institution. I certainly don't trust the Colorado Department of Education or the Higher Education Commission because they're letting this shit happen.
They are horrible stewards of our money.
Education is not a bargain - especially if students are being automatically withdrawn and the college is not communicating about it. This means that the student will have to pay twice to take the same courses.
Again, I'm reading about other people dealing with this in various online forums. This school had to hire a Dean of Student Retention? Why?
You know what.....I can't figure out how to contact him.
What good is he if he can't accept feedback about his institutions failures.
All this did was cement my political ideology.
What do you want a bet I'll meet several people just as angry and I am?
******
For me, it's a spiritual issue.
The Gods (or God) puts me in these situations to lead. They put me in these situations so that I can see what needs changed.
I am tired.
I want to rise above it. I like to think of my dream life as the Dam road. It's a frontage road that I drive to and from my hypnosis office every day. I look down and see all the idiots stuck on the freeway beneath me. The video is of my view during rush hour. The speed limit is 40.
This picture is of the highway beneath the damn road. The highway is always packed. People choose the highway because they can go faster; the speed limit is 65. They rarely get to go 65. They just sit there. Staying off the highway saves me about 45 minutes each day.
I want to rise above the fray and the crap.
I want to drive the quiet damn road that is my life while other people drive on the Highway to Hell.
I can't let it go.
This shit is being funded with my tax dollars.
Besides, after this crap, I won't be able to afford to eat for several months.
That means, I'll have a crabby tone to my political speeches. Libertarian leaning folks don't get food stamps.
It ticks me off....the neighbors with the least are getting the shaft. They're getting stuck in government traffic.
I'd rather not spend my life arguing with people who feel entitled to waste other people's money.
I'd rather draw, paint....play bass...work three jobs so I could pay more taxes to lying liberals....
find someone wonderful and make love...
now I have to make war.
Story of my life......
I just wish people would stop lying and playing games.
It's annoying.
Love ya,
S.