<p>.... that my schools financial aid office is incompitent.</p>
<p><em>sigh</em></p>
<p>I've been fighting with them for the past two weeks through both email and phonecalls.</p>
<p>I'm not allowed to accept my FA until my mothers tax stuff is sorted out, because apperently we're 'short' somewhere.</p>
<p>Okay fine. I understand that. So i call (first call) and ask what needs to be done. I was told that i had to send in a document saying where the missing money that wasn't reported was (okay fine) with a letter signed by the both of us. Alright, i do that then i go and fax it in, make sure the school had gotten it.</p>
<p>Did i think everything was done? of course.</p>
<p>One week later.... (today)</p>
<p>I email asking how long the verifacation process is going to take. I get told that my stuff is still incomplete (!!!) and that i needed to send in another letter explaining why...</p>
<p>IF there had been a problem IRS or turbo tax would have caught it.</p>
<p>Is it me or is this a bunch of BS?</p>
<p>Short of going down there and sitting my ass in one of their chairs and explaining to them, i don't know what to do.</p>
<p>/rant...</p>
<p>Any ideas?</p>
<p>Perhaps you should ask what type of documentation they require. Maybe a letter signed by your mother and yourself is not sufficient for their purposes? I don’t know their policy or your situation. </p>
<p>I would email, for records, and then CALL and ask specifically what documentation they need so you make sure what you have provided is just what they need. In a phone call you can clarify any questions you may have. The email is simply for documentation.</p>
<p>i did that already. :<</p>
<p>Good enough. Simply an idea based on the information provided.<br>
Did you post this in the Financial Aid Forum? Perhaps someone else has been asked for similar documentation?</p>
<p>Remember that not everything on th FA form is on the IRS forms. Make sure that what they are asking for is TAX information (on your mother’s 1040) and not FA information. OR they may be asking to validate the FA information with the tax documents.</p>
<p>You have to get them to be super specific about what line item in the 1040 is giving them the problem (it could be that the 1040 doesn’t match what is in the FA documents)…there are many possibilities. Try and get your parent to participate in the call…if your mother does the taxes herself (I feel her pain) she will be able to understand the issue pretty quickly. If your mother uses an accountant, you may need to call the accountant and send the schools request to them so they can help (you will have to pay for this extra help, probably) you figure out what they need from the tax forms. Do not wait a week again for feedback. Ask for the person who is dealing with your file. Explain your anxiety and STAY pleasant no matter how frustrated you are…just play dumb…</p>
<p>ice - There’s no way to say this politely … calling your life partners incompitent (sic) is no way to gain co-operation. It’s probably not coincidental that the FA department isn’t talking to you.</p>
<p>You need the FA department FAR MORE that the FA department needs you. Respond accordingly. (JMHO of course … they’re probably a bunch of a<strong>ho</strong>s who should be fired and then beaten bloody and hanged. The nerve of those people, questioning your mother!)</p>
<p>My school has been screwing with me all summer with my FA, I finally sent in the last form they could possibly request and was assured I’d have my award notice in two weeks time and it was another two weeks late, I JUST got it. I don’t have any advice besides going to the financial aid office with your mom if possible and talking to someone in person. I am finding that is the only way to get things done at my school. Usually something that was a great big complicated mess gets really simple the moment you actually sit down with someone and ask them what’s going on.</p>
<p>yeah nn;; i was ranting when i wrote that… <em>ahem</em></p>
<p>anyway, i’m hopefully going down there this week and am bringing everything i could possibly think of with me so that we can sit down and talk it over.</p>
<p>ice - Good luck with the trip. There’s an old saying “Eighty percent of success in life is just showing up.” That’s one way to say that most problems turn out to be pretty straightforward … once you actually figure out what the problem is!</p>