I am no longer called Michael B. Diezmos... I am now called Student ######. For the past couple of days, I have been getting in contact with my new school, and it has become part of procedure, whether inquiring or leaving a message, to state my student number foremost before stating my name... I don't have my number memorized, I still refer to the piece of paper given to me...
Besides getting used to this numeral existence, I experienced my first big run-around episode (out of my entire academic career thus far)... dealing with money, specifically financial aid and tuition... it all began with an email... in a nutshell, the email demanded that I pay $5000+ by August 20th or all my classes would be dropped...
"WHaT! Where did $5000 come from, then I was reminded that I haven't paid the Aug. installment of my dorm -but that was only circa $500- where did the $4500 come from? maybe they made a mistake and thought that I was going to pay up front my housing and meal plan for the year.... I did the math and that only came down to around $2500, after some musing, I wisen up and checked my account summary online... the rest of the bill was for my tuition...I got confused, what happened to my "tuition waiver"... I shuffled through my portfolio looking for the contract I signed..."
It became clear to me that the "out-of-state" tuition was waived (back in April, when I was making my decision, my head wasn't as clear as possible- I'm thinking about graduation, the next two years of my life, friends-- it didn't clearly register in my mind the full meaning of that statement: tuition waiver) BUT what about the "in-state" tuition? I started to panic a BIT, then came to my senses, in-state tuition is always exponentially cheaper than out-of-state's... I was relieved to find out that the money I'll be making while being a Graduate Instructor will be enough to pay for the in-state tuition but before I got into this happy enlightenment I expereienced the "run around"
I called the registrar's office... gave them my number and asked them about my tuition : "Why was it so high?"... they got a bit defensive and pointed out that I was "out-of-state".... then told them that I was a "Graduate Instructor" , the lady I talked had an inkling of my problem and sent me to human resources to look for this other lady... I tried her extension, and her answering machine kept picking (which I didn't understand because it was just the beginning of the day), I thought she was sick so I finally left a message... my paranoia got the best of me, so I called the main receptionist and asked her to connect me to the general HR telephone line...
once there, I told my situation and another lady tried to correct me "don't you mean graduate assistant? "No, a GRADUATE INSTRUCTOR-- at that moment it dawn on me- about what Brock Deither said about the low status of GI....She kept correcting me "don't you mean graduate assistant (she corrected me the way people tried to correct me about Seton Hill being Seton Hall)..." eventually she got annoyed at me... in my mind, if I was going to get the run around, I needed specific direction, get their "word." I asked directions on the things I should do, so if I did anything wrong, it's because they gave me the wrong direction... she tried to end the session because she didn't want to deal with me "you're not in the SYSTEM yet, and you have to be in the system" (AH MAtrix! ), She tried to argue using the point that I had to work at USU for at least three months before getting the "in-state" benefit- she didn't know about the little loophole that exempted Graduate Instructors
she finally brushed me off and gave the infamous line "go and talk to your department" before leaving I checked if the lady that I thought was sick, was there, and she was so I asked if I could talk to her...
When she got on the phone, obviously she got my message, and she might have heard the frustration and sigh in my voice and tried to correct the situation by first apologizing and ADMITTING that I was experiencing a "run around"... she finally gave me the info of the person who handled tuition waiver... I called him, he was sick,
I called my department, not really assured- the lady I talked to said that she'll "call me back if there were any problems" and if she didn't call me it meant that everything was fine ... she didn't call me back...I thought this response was very unprofessional, I'm left wondering, I know about patience, I know that you can't always get straight answers... but the scary thing about big university and being part of the system, letting the computer do all the organizing is that computers' automatic responses don't handle the gray areas of predicaments, they see things as black and white, and I do believe that if I don't straighten this financial conundrum, I'll be having a hard time during my first few weeks, I don't want to start on the wrong foot, I don't want to add this type of stress on top of the other things going on like teaching my first class, and taking my first classes for my program)... I called the waiver tuition guy again and found out that my department hadn't submitted the tuition award request yet...
my next action is to email a reminder to the director, then confirm with the tuition waiver dude, then call registrar again to set up a tuition payment plan to coordinate payment with my first pay check (hopefully I'll see it)... pretty soon I'll be part of the system, and when I call the office, I'll have to first state my student number and confirm it with my name in order to interact in this faceless numeral existence...
Posted by Michael Diezmos at August 10, 2007 6:45 PMSHU was small enough that the people in student services and administrative support positions really did have the chance to get to know you. At a larger school, people aren't necessarily being rude, it's just that they may already have been cussed at by somebody else that day, or they don't know how to interpret the tension in your voice because they don't know you. Sometimes when I'm stressed, and I'm dreading the conversation I'm about to have, I say something like "I could never do a job like this where I have to help people who are frustrated and worried, and I hope you understand that I know you aren't personally responsible for my troubles, but I've already spoken to (list of people) and I'm really not sure where to turn." It doesn't always work, but it sometimes makes the other person feel a little more at ease. Once when I was flying alone and I volunteered to move so that two other people could sit next to each other, the flight attendant later offered me a free drink (I took a soda). And once when I couldn't find my bag in the luggage room, and after the lady at the desk helped me, I said something about how stressful her job must be, and she looked like she wanted to hug me and gave me a gift certificate for $30. I'm not always this calm on in such situations, but it's a good character-building exercise.
When I left Virginia for Toronto, I signed up for two different dorms, was offered my second choice and accepted; then when my first choice came through, I called to decline the second choice (well before the deadline), but they charged me a late cancellation fee. When I got to Toronto I showed a copy of my telephone bill, that showed I had called on the date I claimed to have called.
Get the names and titles of people you talk to -- I didn't get the name of the person who answered the phone when I called to cancel.
Posted by: Dennis G. Jerz at August 10, 2007 10:39 PMDouble on that. It took my two months to get the verification codes from NYU to prove that I was indeed enrolled for my health insurance to keep carrying me through the summer. Passed from one department to another, I thought I was going to crack; and then, suddenly, I contacted the right person, the codes were sent and my health insurance company assuaged. It's amazing how high those hoops can get, and you still have to jump through them.
Posted by: Amanda at August 11, 2007 2:06 PMhey Amanda,
ditto, I was about to crack too, and I didn't even know it... I think I was so tense and on the defense that when i finally talked to the nice lady, who apologized and admitted the reality of the "run around", I was caught off- guard... I've yet to complete that jump...
hey Dr. Jerz,
I'm definitely starting to list their full names and thier titles and if possible their extension... for future references so I can avoid this circle... yeah I understand the population difference... I don't know if I'll be that calm, maybe in person when I can see their facial expressions and hear the tone of their voices simultaneously