I originally went to Salem State and then to University of MA at Lowell. In happy quirk of fate, my current residence is only 20 or so minutes away from UMass Lowell. I started to go through the application process, which is about 20 pages, including an essay portion and meeting with admissions officers. During this process, I discovered because I was a previous student, all I had to do was fill out a one page form! We have winner!
They call it their Fresh Start program and I applied as soon as I was able. To be safe, I included an essay on how I ended up back here. I was accepted a few weeks later! The big problem, paying for it.
I told no one except Cindy about this since if I couldn't receive federal loans for the tuition, we couldn't afford for me to attend. I applied for Federal Loans and was subsequently denied! Why? Because the last time in school, I had to drop out because of a major medical issue (jaw surgery gone wrong). This meant that according the the Federal Government, I didn't keep my GPA high enough to go back to school. It was ludicrous, especially since the college had dropped the bad grades due to the medical reasons, what they meant is that because they dropped those grades, I didn't receive enough credits in that time period to qualify for aid.
After going through their appeal process, I nervously awaited a decision that would decide the fate of my life. A couple of weeks later, they approved my loans! The relief I felt was quickly replaced with the realization of how much I had to do before I started school in the fall.
I had to tell my job that I was leaving. I shouldn't feel bad, I gave them months to deal with it before school started. They had come to overly depend on me though so it initially created some friction. Happy to say they are doing fine and I still talk to them. The way things worked out, I had most of August to get ready for school. That meant getting books now that I was registered and finishing things I wouldn't be able to do anymore, like closing up camp in Maine.
They call it their Fresh Start program and I applied as soon as I was able. To be safe, I included an essay on how I ended up back here. I was accepted a few weeks later! The big problem, paying for it.
I told no one except Cindy about this since if I couldn't receive federal loans for the tuition, we couldn't afford for me to attend. I applied for Federal Loans and was subsequently denied! Why? Because the last time in school, I had to drop out because of a major medical issue (jaw surgery gone wrong). This meant that according the the Federal Government, I didn't keep my GPA high enough to go back to school. It was ludicrous, especially since the college had dropped the bad grades due to the medical reasons, what they meant is that because they dropped those grades, I didn't receive enough credits in that time period to qualify for aid.
After going through their appeal process, I nervously awaited a decision that would decide the fate of my life. A couple of weeks later, they approved my loans! The relief I felt was quickly replaced with the realization of how much I had to do before I started school in the fall.
I had to tell my job that I was leaving. I shouldn't feel bad, I gave them months to deal with it before school started. They had come to overly depend on me though so it initially created some friction. Happy to say they are doing fine and I still talk to them. The way things worked out, I had most of August to get ready for school. That meant getting books now that I was registered and finishing things I wouldn't be able to do anymore, like closing up camp in Maine.