:(

[green]

I'm on financial aid suspension. Unless I come up with a damned good appeal, I'm not going back to school.

I don't know what to do. I've been wrapped up and looking forward to going back to school for months. I started going back to therapy just so I could get over the agoraphobia enough to attend classes. And now I might not even be able to go? This is such bullshit.

And I don't have a good enough excuse for my appeal. They want something like a physical disability or death in the family. :((((((

Comments

[green]

But the reason I messed up my GPA the first semester I attended was because I was a stupid teenager who would rather go off with boys and play pool than go to class. I failed all my classes. (the second semester I attended, I got all As and Bs, but my GPA was already shot from the first semester and now I don't know what to do. I can't really appeal on solid ground because I don't have a good reason for the mess up.)

[schemingreader]

Wait, when was your first semester? I'm confused about the sequence of events.

[green]

My first semester was when I was 16, after I got my GED.

[schemingreader]

You were a teenager! Now you're an adult! It's time to write a long appeal.

[green]

Their examples for appeal circumstances are things like 'death in the family' and 'serious illness' and stuff. :\ But I will definitely try to do this! I will appeal, I just hope they don't throw it out because my reason isn't good enough.

[schemingreader]

How many years ago did you win the scholarship? Are there other scholarships available to mature students returning to school? I would be delighted to help you with writing this if you need a beta-reader.

How did it happen that you went to college early? Were you bright and bored in high school?

[green]

It's for a Pell grant, the basic federal financial aid. When I first started, I had the Pell grant and also Veteran's financial aid (because of my dad). I can't get the Vet's anymore because I'm too old, but I could still get three years worth of Pell grant money under normal circumstances.

I had to drop out of high school early and get my GED because I kept having panic attacks when I went to school. I still have no idea what caused them.

I don't even know where to start with this appeal. I'll talk to my therapist about it tomorrow.

[schemingreader]

"I had to drop out of high school early and get my GED because I kept having panic attacks when I went to school. I still have no idea what caused them."

You can make a very good case for mental health issues affecting your school performance when you were 16, even if you think "I was just shooting pool with the boys." Your narrative is, you have a history of panic attacks and agoraphobia that was severe enough to affect your previous school performance, but you are now old enough to have figured out how to manage your disability.

Contact the school counselor office, whatever they call it, and ask for an appointment with them. You need to be able to get back to school! You are smart and you crave intellectual stimulation!

[florahart]

This.

This office might be called something like called Disability Services, and might be housed under maybe Student Services or Academic Advising. Tell them your whole story as best you can, and ask them to help you write this story for your appeal in a way that is not untruthful, but which is most likely to meet the needs of the folks reviewing the appeals.

Their job is to help students with issues that block their learning stay in school; that's what you have and want; their job, therefore, is to help you.

Also, I would note, nearly every year one or two of my student staff have some kind of hold on their FA, often for reasons that seem ridiculous. It's not SO unusual, and the folks dealing with it at my U often just need *some* documentation, not *untenable amounts* of documentation.

ETA: oh, and. Tell them upfront that because part of your issue is an anxiety/panic thing, the fact of this happening is creating enough stress to make it hard for you to think about it (my sense is that's how you're feeling? I could be wrong). I think when people tell me they understand they're having a hard time thinking something through, it tends to cause me to understand what otherwise looks like frustrating flailing, which is my fault that I'm sucking at looking at what's going on, but still, it can't hurt to tell them, y'know?

[green]

Yes, it is very stressful. I think I will feel much better tomorrow after I talk to my therapist about this. And I'll talk to her about the disability services department and what I should do.

I am trying not to flail. :)