Mama Bear

I like to let my kids handle their own problems, but I also know that sometimes "authority figures" don't take young people seriously. On rare occasions, I step in. Today was one of those rare occasions. You know, just in case I didn't have enough to take care of. Prior to his actual enrollment, my son's college had been calling every day, sometimes multiple times per day. His enrollment advisor persuaded him to move his start date up two months, even though my son had some misgivings about it. She assured him everything would be fine. Now he is two weeks into his first class. Last week he got locked out of his student access (and, as a result, his online class); we haven't heard anything about financial aid; no one is returning his calls. Sadly, the one person who seems to have something on the ball -- his admissions advisor -- is the one we're constantly trying to contact now since he's at least apologetic that the other departments aren't calling back. And isn't that the way it always goes? The better you are at your job, the more people's jobs you have to do.

I have been told that I have a talent for being assertive and nice at the same time. At least I've got that going for me. So this morning I sent the admissions advisor, Brad, the following note:

"Good morning, Brad!

I hope you have had a chance to recover from Sunday's excitement. I'm writing because I did not hear from the financial aid department yesterday and am a bit concerned. I need to speak with them before I can request a disbursement from our prepaid funds, and I would like to do that as soon as possible. Also, when Connor logged into his class yesterday, he said he had missed several assignments (which I hope he will be able to make up) and I told him to contact the instructor directly. I know this is counter to the advice you gave him about letting his student advisor handle it, but he is a very conscientious student who completes his work on time, and he is distressed about being behind so early in the game. Also he is taking a one-week vacation the first week of August and was assured when he moved up his start date to July that this time away would not be an issue. As far as we can tell, his instructor is not yet aware of this. 

My main concern is that prior to our having completed the enrollment process we both were receiving phone calls every day, sometimes several times each day. Now we are having difficulty getting our calls returned to find out information we need. I appreciate whatever you can do on your end to correct this situation. 

Best,

Bernadette"

Privacy laws prevent Brad from responding directly to me (until my son fills out some FERP form), but by noon my son had been contacted by his student advisor and the financial aid department. That makes me happy.