Riding the ULV merry-go-round

editorial cartoon by Kevin Johnstone
editorial cartoon by Kevin Johnstone

Trying to get back on track after financial aid finally sent that award letter? Well if it is sitting in your University of La Verne mailbox, you can join the many students who are being turned away because no one without that golden 96/97 sticker is allowed to receive their mailbox key or their mail.

Many students were given the runaround by the financial aid office this semester, playing phone tag with the department’s workers, getting notice that their paperwork was somehow lost. But even through all the chaos, students hung in there and waited out the rough ride. Unfortunately, some students on the other end of the see-saw still have not obtained their award letter, thus they have not been able to confirm classes, continue to eat at the dining hall, buy books or acquire their mail.

Consider this: As of Sept. 16, students were still having trouble receiving mailbox keys without their I.D. card with the 96/97 sticker on the back. They cannot receive that sticker without their award letter that has been sent to their mailbox, which they can not get into without the key, that will not be given to them until they show their I.D. with the sticker on it, which they can not get until they receive their award letter which is in their mailbox… the process is like riding a merry-go-round in a bureaucratic black hole.

Who is to say that just because one’s financial aid status is uncertain, that they are not allowed to receive their mail, and why add to that problem by withholding bills which are in the mailbox? Not to mention personal correspondence and subscriptions, credit card bills only allow you a fixed number of days before they tack on a penalty fee. Who will pay that fee because of the lack of the 96/97 sticker? Will the school pay for it? How about writing the creditors a letter saying it was held in the mail? And, if financial aid decides to send you a 25-day notice about a loan that needs to be signed and turned over, how will you get to it?

Coming to a small school with only 1,000 on-campus undergraduate students, one hopes to avoid big school problems such as large classroom sizes, uncaring faculty, tough parking, being only known as your social security number, financial aid problems and slow mail.

How about no mail at all?

The University needs to understand that students return to school hoping classes will be utterly painless, teachers will not assign to much homework for the first night, and that their roommate will hopefully stop snoring. Students do not need to come back to school worrying about financial aid, class confirmations and eating dilemmas. They certainly should not need to worry about whether or not they will ever receive their mail.

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