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[gasp][pant]
I don't remember it being so hard to register for classes when I was an undergraduate and we did it by (as I recall) filling in bubble sheets. The computers are supposed to simplify things, right?, but oh my GOD.
So I have decided to take a class this fall. I took one last spring, so at least the labyrinthine process of acquiring Advanced Special Student status (which is what they call you if you're an employee not seeking a degree; yes, it abbreviates exactly the way you think, but obvs. nobody uses that abbreviation [g]) was taken care of. But when I went to register for this one class this fall, I found two things:
I e-mailed over to the relevant people and got the permission of the department. No problem.
Financial ineligibility is kind of a pain in the ass. They send a bill every month, and I'd got this one (all of $18, for the last time I had my allergy shots), and it was due September 20, but no, until my balance was $0 I couldn't register for classes. FINE, fine, I paid the fucker with my credit card and called over to the office to say do me a favor and clear the ineligibility now instead of 48 hours from now, and they did, so no worries.
Except that there are no immunization records in the file for me, and without proof of various immunizations I cannot register for classes. Note please that it has been ten years since I've been an undergraduate, and I am not living in housing or proposing to spend more than three hours a week on campus -- no matter, being in the classroom is sufficient herd membership that they want evidence of two MMRs or I can't get in. I actually have no quarrel with this; what I do mind is that I took a class last spring and wasn't required to prove anything, which my nurse buddy over at allergy says makes sense because you get one semester to get your documents together or get the shots if you haven't had them, but this being the second semester, now I'm up against the wall -- and this is the first I've heard of that, which she agrees is no good. This was Friday, so there was nothing I could do until this morning.
Fortunately, I have a folder in my file cabinet marked "medical", and it has immunization records in it from when I was an undergraduate (polio, DPT, MMR, TB, chicken pox) and from when I went back to grad school in 2002 (all of the above, with an extra tetanus and an extra TB, plus meningitis). Copies of important documents ftw! I brought those in this morning and my nurse buddy bumped me to the head of the queue and entered the information and cleared the leper block, so when I got back to my desk I'd be good to go.
And when I get back to my desk (finally, because the bus traffic OMFG) and log in and go to register, IT SAYS I AM FINANCIALLY INELIGIBLE. You guys, I just about set the building on fire. I followed the link to my account balance and it was zero and I fried the wires all the way over to the bursar's office when I called and said DO YOU KNOW WHAT I HAVE BEEN GOING THROUGH ALL I WANT IS TO REGISTER FOR ONE CLASS CLEAR THAT BALANCE RIGHT THIS MINUTE. Fortunately, they did, and now I am registered, and one can only hope that it will not be this hard in future.
Also, the class has one textbook, and the bookstore is sold out.
So I have decided to take a class this fall. I took one last spring, so at least the labyrinthine process of acquiring Advanced Special Student status (which is what they call you if you're an employee not seeking a degree; yes, it abbreviates exactly the way you think, but obvs. nobody uses that abbreviation [g]) was taken care of. But when I went to register for this one class this fall, I found two things:
- it requires permission of the department; and
- I was "financially ineligible".
I e-mailed over to the relevant people and got the permission of the department. No problem.
Financial ineligibility is kind of a pain in the ass. They send a bill every month, and I'd got this one (all of $18, for the last time I had my allergy shots), and it was due September 20, but no, until my balance was $0 I couldn't register for classes. FINE, fine, I paid the fucker with my credit card and called over to the office to say do me a favor and clear the ineligibility now instead of 48 hours from now, and they did, so no worries.
Except that there are no immunization records in the file for me, and without proof of various immunizations I cannot register for classes. Note please that it has been ten years since I've been an undergraduate, and I am not living in housing or proposing to spend more than three hours a week on campus -- no matter, being in the classroom is sufficient herd membership that they want evidence of two MMRs or I can't get in. I actually have no quarrel with this; what I do mind is that I took a class last spring and wasn't required to prove anything, which my nurse buddy over at allergy says makes sense because you get one semester to get your documents together or get the shots if you haven't had them, but this being the second semester, now I'm up against the wall -- and this is the first I've heard of that, which she agrees is no good. This was Friday, so there was nothing I could do until this morning.
Fortunately, I have a folder in my file cabinet marked "medical", and it has immunization records in it from when I was an undergraduate (polio, DPT, MMR, TB, chicken pox) and from when I went back to grad school in 2002 (all of the above, with an extra tetanus and an extra TB, plus meningitis). Copies of important documents ftw! I brought those in this morning and my nurse buddy bumped me to the head of the queue and entered the information and cleared the leper block, so when I got back to my desk I'd be good to go.
And when I get back to my desk (finally, because the bus traffic OMFG) and log in and go to register, IT SAYS I AM FINANCIALLY INELIGIBLE. You guys, I just about set the building on fire. I followed the link to my account balance and it was zero and I fried the wires all the way over to the bursar's office when I called and said DO YOU KNOW WHAT I HAVE BEEN GOING THROUGH ALL I WANT IS TO REGISTER FOR ONE CLASS CLEAR THAT BALANCE RIGHT THIS MINUTE. Fortunately, they did, and now I am registered, and one can only hope that it will not be this hard in future.
Also, the class has one textbook, and the bookstore is sold out.