Whatcha Eating Today, VSGers? Tuesday, 7/24/2018

Good morning everyone! I hope all is well and thought I would get started to keep my mind busy. I went to try and enroll for school and was told that I cannot receive financial aid because I dropped out of school when I was 18. That was 10 years ago. I paid up my delinquent account so I could enroll, but they are holding my emotional inability to handle school against me from 10 years ago. I was devastated and as soon as she told me I couldn't contain it, I just started crying. Now that I've calmed down from yesterday, I am looking into private loans, and if I have to I will charge the classes and go part time, or wait until spring.

QOTD: What's the one food you could never bring yourself to eat?

I find I'm pretty open to any food, but in other countries I know some places serve horse, cat, and dog, specifically in rural parts of countries. I couldn't do it.

Hi Mersh - thanks for getting us started. Is there a financial aid advisor that you can schedule with? If you haven't already? Did you drop out of this specific college at age 18? If that's the case, are they denying you financial aid because you're on academic probation? If so, find out how long the academic probation will last after re-enrollment and whether you'll be eligible again once you've "proven" yourself. Is there another college that has the same program you could try?

QOTD: I'll try almost anything once. I've eaten whale and horse in Norway, for example. And I had dinner at Noma in May... lots of strange things in that meal. I wouldn't eat anything meant to be served living or rotted, though. And I won't willingly eat blue cheese or washed rind cheese!

1: protein shake
2: the LAST of the chicken and ham croquetas, if they haven't been eaten by someone else at that point
3: spanish tortilla

liquid and vites: on track
exercise: it's a running day but I really screwed up my leg over the weekend, so I'm going to have a rest day instead so that I can hopefully run on Thursday.

After some leg work, I was able to find out there was an appeal process for the block on financial aid. I have an appointment to speak with my psychiatrist tomorrow and I will ask her about obtaining my medical records regarding my PTSD and depression diagnosis. I can turn those in and explain that I dropped out for emotional and mental issues, and while I wasn't getting help then, I am now.

Hey Mersh :)

My partner actually worked at the financial aid department at a local community college for a few months - he was "on loan" to the FA department to learn their ways because he worked for the college's IT department.

I asked him about this when I saw him.

He says that you can absolutely appeal. "It's a judgement call by an administrator, purely based on their gut feeling, somewhat backed by experience. They (the student) typically get put on a specific plan with restricted course work and a list of courses to redo first to quicker bring up their GPA, like wiping out Fs and Ds."

He went on to say, "Assuming you are eligible for other reasons (you can only get aid for 150% of attempted credits to complete your program, and no more than 3 years for associate/6 year for bachelor), the academic progress is mostly up to the individual school."

In your appeal, definitely write about all the responsible adult things you've done recently :)

Thanks for this information! I asked my psychiatrist and therapist to write a letter, which they did, but I also wrote a letter about how I have improved and what I have done in my life.

Good morning,

Sorry about school, that's crazy. People do change from 10 years ago. Hope you can find a solution to your problem.

I'm having lunch with my dad and stepmom before work. Tonight is wls support group. Hope more people will show up tonight.

Qotd I couldn't eat horse, dog or cat either. My parents were trying to pass rabbit stew as chicken stew and I could tell it wasn't chicken.

B ham and cheese omelette, string cheese, pork and beans and English muffin

L not sure where we are eating at.

D garlic chicken

Have a good day

G'day VSGers. Sorry for your trouble, Mersh.

QOTD: I haven't been able to bring myself to try oysters - or any raw fish. I do like steamers tho!

B: egg, cheese, sausage, english

L: salmon on salad

D: IDK - going to a wake, getting home late

E: doubtful, it's hot and humid and I have that wak : /

L/V: Good, made cold brew at home and it's delish - better than the coffee shop

I'm so sorry your going through that! I do want to tell you that I went through the same thing. I wrote an appeal letter explaining why I dropped out at 18. I told them I was currently at my job for however many years it was at the time and why I was going back to school now and how I was planning on sticking with it. It worked and they let me return and I graduated. So maybe you could also write an appeal letter? Or try another school?

There is an appeal process, I found out today after a lot of leg work! I was frustrated that the financial adviser did not tell me about this appeal. Surely she must have known since she is responsible for aid for students!

Where are you from if you don't mind me asking? I think if you write the appeal that you will def be ok because I've been there.