Student Finance Has Been Sort Of Sorted! About Bloody Time...
There's nothing much going on right now so I thought I'd write a journal entry to kill time.
I was a bit late for work this morning because I had to make an emergency call to Student Finance England. I don't know if I've written about this before but there was a massive cock-up with my application: I'm starting university during the academic year 2011/2012, but my application had gone through for 2010/2011. Since I hadn't yet sent any evidence off I hadn't received a penny for this year, and as I was preparing to send my evidence off I checked my application one last time and noticed aforementioned mistake.
See, when we were given a talk on Student Finance in Sixth Form, the guy made no mention of what us gap yearrists or people staying on another year should do; or, to be more precise, when they should do it. And because so much emphasis was put on OMG DOING IT LYK RIGHT NAO I did it lyk right nao and look where it led me. This big faff with eight days to go until the deadline... le sigh.
To cut a long story short, they've cancelled the 2010 application so I can apply for financial help starting Sept 2011, and all will be right in the world. I'll have the money I need for tuition fees, books and materials - no huge panic like I had at the start of Sixth Form when my EMA took a million years to come through. Plus, I can set a little bit aside for other stuff. Flights back over to England during holidays, for instance. Paying for friends and a certain beloved Jason to come over. Books, CDs and vinyls.
God, I hope I can find a decent record shop over in Ireland! I know there won't be one in Portadown but I don't fancy having to go all the way to Derry, for instance, just because I want to go record shopping. I might strike lucky in Belfast...
In my first hour of work, we've already been phoned thrice by the pigeon guy I mentioned in an earlier entry. The weather outside's dull; the sky's grey and dark like a winter afternoon, and we're set for gusts of up to 70mph, maybe more - talk of trees being downed. I'm inside, thankfully, warm in the artificial light of the newsroom, enjoying my first cup of tea of the day.
Hey, there's a thought; I was half-way through making a cup of tea as I left the house. I started making one somewhat absent-mindedly as I was on hold, phoning Student Finance. Then a lady called Amina Mohammed answered and helped me out - she was pretty helpful, actually; the buggerance was that my Internet was being stupidly slow as she tried to direct me around the labyrinthine Student Finance website. Still, we got there in the end. Thank you, Amina! Hope I spelled your name right!
It's mad how she doesn't know the full extent of my gratitude. This Student Finance faff has, as you all know, been an irritating thorn in my side for months. I just didn't know how to deal with the problem. I even got to the point of thinking it would stop me from going to university, my dream university...
And at the same time, I was oddly resigned to that fate. After all, an extra year in England couldn't be too bad if I had Jason...
But no, as much as I love Jason (and I love him dearly), I'm not postponing university any longer. I am going in September, dammit, getting a bloody good degree, a masters, a phD... I'm going the full kaboodle. And I'm going to do all this while maintaining my relationship with Jason - see if I don't! It may be a bit crazy/premature of me to say this but what the hell, it's my journal - who am I to not express myself honestly in it? - but I think Jason is another incentive for me to do well in life.
I get qualifications, a better chance of a good job, then we can have a comfortable life later on. Plus hopefully I'll have a book published by the time I'm done with university. It might not be a huge success, but pennies are pennies. As The Great God Tesco teaches, 'every little helps'.
Speaking of Jason, he should be going to Exeter today. This is another thing I'm not sure if I've written about: this horticulture course he wants to do requires that he spend twelve weeks down in Exeter doing training; proper hands-on stuff. But he also has to go down there for his proper interview just to sort everything out. They should have sent him train tickets to get there but nothing's come through.
If they don't come through, we've arranged to hang out today as normal. But as much as I want to see him today, I want those tickets to come through so he can get onto this course. I'm also worried that if they don't come through he'll be feeling down later on - of course I'll do my best to support him; never mind my Student Finance faff, that's as good as sorted. Now I can concentrate on worrying about him.
Oh, guess what? I've just got a text from Jason. Speak of the devil... the trip to Exeter for his interview has indeed fallen through. Buggery. They'd better give him another interview day, or at least the chance to be interviewed by phone! I want him to do well, but it's not purely down to him - it's all the blinking administraton on the other end who need to sort it out, ultimately.
He finished the text off with 'arf!'. Damn he makes me smile!
I was a bit late for work this morning because I had to make an emergency call to Student Finance England. I don't know if I've written about this before but there was a massive cock-up with my application: I'm starting university during the academic year 2011/2012, but my application had gone through for 2010/2011. Since I hadn't yet sent any evidence off I hadn't received a penny for this year, and as I was preparing to send my evidence off I checked my application one last time and noticed aforementioned mistake.
See, when we were given a talk on Student Finance in Sixth Form, the guy made no mention of what us gap yearrists or people staying on another year should do; or, to be more precise, when they should do it. And because so much emphasis was put on OMG DOING IT LYK RIGHT NAO I did it lyk right nao and look where it led me. This big faff with eight days to go until the deadline... le sigh.
To cut a long story short, they've cancelled the 2010 application so I can apply for financial help starting Sept 2011, and all will be right in the world. I'll have the money I need for tuition fees, books and materials - no huge panic like I had at the start of Sixth Form when my EMA took a million years to come through. Plus, I can set a little bit aside for other stuff. Flights back over to England during holidays, for instance. Paying for friends and a certain beloved Jason to come over. Books, CDs and vinyls.
God, I hope I can find a decent record shop over in Ireland! I know there won't be one in Portadown but I don't fancy having to go all the way to Derry, for instance, just because I want to go record shopping. I might strike lucky in Belfast...
In my first hour of work, we've already been phoned thrice by the pigeon guy I mentioned in an earlier entry. The weather outside's dull; the sky's grey and dark like a winter afternoon, and we're set for gusts of up to 70mph, maybe more - talk of trees being downed. I'm inside, thankfully, warm in the artificial light of the newsroom, enjoying my first cup of tea of the day.
Hey, there's a thought; I was half-way through making a cup of tea as I left the house. I started making one somewhat absent-mindedly as I was on hold, phoning Student Finance. Then a lady called Amina Mohammed answered and helped me out - she was pretty helpful, actually; the buggerance was that my Internet was being stupidly slow as she tried to direct me around the labyrinthine Student Finance website. Still, we got there in the end. Thank you, Amina! Hope I spelled your name right!
It's mad how she doesn't know the full extent of my gratitude. This Student Finance faff has, as you all know, been an irritating thorn in my side for months. I just didn't know how to deal with the problem. I even got to the point of thinking it would stop me from going to university, my dream university...
And at the same time, I was oddly resigned to that fate. After all, an extra year in England couldn't be too bad if I had Jason...
But no, as much as I love Jason (and I love him dearly), I'm not postponing university any longer. I am going in September, dammit, getting a bloody good degree, a masters, a phD... I'm going the full kaboodle. And I'm going to do all this while maintaining my relationship with Jason - see if I don't! It may be a bit crazy/premature of me to say this but what the hell, it's my journal - who am I to not express myself honestly in it? - but I think Jason is another incentive for me to do well in life.
I get qualifications, a better chance of a good job, then we can have a comfortable life later on. Plus hopefully I'll have a book published by the time I'm done with university. It might not be a huge success, but pennies are pennies. As The Great God Tesco teaches, 'every little helps'.
Speaking of Jason, he should be going to Exeter today. This is another thing I'm not sure if I've written about: this horticulture course he wants to do requires that he spend twelve weeks down in Exeter doing training; proper hands-on stuff. But he also has to go down there for his proper interview just to sort everything out. They should have sent him train tickets to get there but nothing's come through.
If they don't come through, we've arranged to hang out today as normal. But as much as I want to see him today, I want those tickets to come through so he can get onto this course. I'm also worried that if they don't come through he'll be feeling down later on - of course I'll do my best to support him; never mind my Student Finance faff, that's as good as sorted. Now I can concentrate on worrying about him.
Oh, guess what? I've just got a text from Jason. Speak of the devil... the trip to Exeter for his interview has indeed fallen through. Buggery. They'd better give him another interview day, or at least the chance to be interviewed by phone! I want him to do well, but it's not purely down to him - it's all the blinking administraton on the other end who need to sort it out, ultimately.
He finished the text off with 'arf!'. Damn he makes me smile!