UCF is Jacked Up

This is in no way meant to be offensive to anyone who attended UCF.  I'm sure it's a great school.  It's just that we have had a rotten experience with them.  Here is our story.

My son, Alex, graduated high school with an A.S. degree in business.  His GPA wasn't great and he didn't participate in community activities, because he didn't want to go to college.  As his final H.S. year was ending and he started seeing his friends leaving or preparing to leave, he quickly changed his mind.  He didn't have any scholarships and missed Bright Futures by .5%.  That being said, I also failed in that I could never afford to pay for the prepaid scholarship plan, so I was of no help to him.

Now, if he had graduated with an A.A. degree, he could have transferred into any state university.  But having an A.S. degree, the universities require 60 credit hours.  He had 57.  So, he decided to move to Tampa and take a class at Hillsborough Community College while he was applying to UCF.

He was accepted, and he was told to go to orientation on January 3 & 4.  He also had to pay $50 so I could go with him.  He also paid $250 to apply for student housing.  The deadline for that was December 7th.  He met the deadline.

As of Wednesday, January 2nd, Alex still had not been assigned a dorm room.  He was still on a list.

So, long story short-  1) he had to pay for housing before he knew how much his tuition would be; 2) he couldn't sign up for classes until he went to orientation three days before classes were due to begin; and 3) apparently, when he applied for housing, the agreement said that he would pay a $1,250 penalty if he chose not to rent a dorm room.

So, the school wanted him to move into the dorm room this Saturday, start classes on Monday, and they'd figure out how much we owe and how much financial aide he's awarded in the next two weeks.  And "I don't have to worry," because they'll work out a payment plan for me any day of the month I choose for somewhere between $500 and $1,000 a month.  Bullshit.  What kind of process is that?

It used to be you met with a counselor first and figured out what you wanted to study, then applied for financial aide to see how much you would receive, then picked your classes, then went to orientation and started a week later.  I think this is bunk.  So now since we've backed out because he doesn't qualify for grants and I don't want him saddled with a crazy amount of student loans at 8% interest, we have to pay $1,250 for them to NOT rent us a room.  Otherwise, his first credit item as a new adult will be a collection account.  Let me repeat, BULLSHIT. Sigh.

So, now, I'm going to think about something happy to write.  Just give me a minute.

O.K.  I thought of something.  Remember my post bashing Home Depot for reporting me past due two months after I paid off my account?  Well, they really didn't care about the complaint I filed, or the letters I wrote them, or my credit bureau dispute.  However, when I sent them a copy of my post on my blog and a snapshot of how many views I had, I received a letter from the President of the credit department advising they changed their reporting to remove the negative reporting.  Go me!!!    So, thank you for reading my blog, which helps my numbers.

Here's the song of the day. (I'm pretty sure when he says, "D.C.'s in the house," he's referring to me!!)