Frustrating Experiences with SLCC

This is going to be a rather long-winded rant, but I need to get it out.

Salt Lake Community College is fucking with me. Last semester (Fall 2008), I took 6 credit hours, the bare minimum to be considered part-time and subsequently eligible for financial aid. It was easy enough, and I expected two 'A's for the classes I had taken. But instead, I received one 'A' and one 'E', which is the collegiate equivalent of a "fail". Naturally I was annoyed by this, but little did I know what sort of shit I would have to wallow through to get it fixed.

I e-mailed my professor right away to find out what happened. He explained that he had not seen any of my programs run in class. I couldn't understand this, as I had shown all but one of my programs run in class. I did not show him my final project because it was not completed. I talked to him about this, and he said to just upload the file to the website within a day and he would accept it. So I did just that. I told him that my classmate Stormtrooper received an 'A', and I sat right next to her. I even helped her with her programming when she had trouble.

It was hard to believe that the 'E' grade was correct. And it was not. My professor wrote back saying he reviewed my programs and was going to submit a grade change to a B, but it would take some time since it was the holidays (this was before Christmas). I told him that was better than an 'E', but I still felt my grade should be an 'A', or at least an 'A-'. I simply wanted the grade I earned. If I had earned an 'E', I would have been expecting it.

Christmas came and went. The grade did not change, and the Spring 2009 semester sprung up. I registered for three classes (9 credit hours total), one of which was being taught by none other than the same professor I'd been e-mailing about my grade! When I went to class the first day, he seemed surprised that I was Boyd – I don't think he knew who I was. After class, I went up to him and told him that my grade was still incorrect. He said he would get it changed.

A month has gone by, and my 'E' grade still exists. My financial aid award has been held until I get this resolved. I have about fifteen e-mails back and forth to my professor asking him to resolve this situation, the first dating back to December 17^th, 2008 (the day grades were announced).

The best part is that my professor finally did submit a request for a grade change late January (over a month after first asking him to do it). And in keeping with their exceptional quality of service which they have shown so far, the school "accidentally" changed the wrong grade! Yes, my 'A' grade was knocked down to an 'A-', and my 'E' still exists. What … the … hell?

I know exactly what is going to happen now. My 'E' grade will be changed to an 'A-', but the incorrect 'A-' will not be changed back to an 'A'. Due to the length of which this problem has existed, my financial aid will have been canceled, and I will not be able to receive any money for this semester. This means that $2,000 I was expecting to help pay for school will vanish, and I will be screwed.

And I am still without a job. And rent is due. And I have no money (another story altogether). And my depression is ramping up quickly as a result. *sigh*

*10:45am UPDATE* Just as I posted this, the school e-mailed me and said the grade had been fixed. And lo-and-behold:

Fall Semester 2008
CRN		Subject	Course	Course Title	Midterm	Final
42917		CIS	1020	Computer Essentials (CL)		A
41644		CIS	1030	Object-Oriented Programming I		A-

WOOT! Well, part of my prognostication has been proven wrong. The 'A-' was correctly changed back to an 'A'.

*11:06am UPDATE* The second part of my prediction did come true. They canceled my loan as of January 30th. Wow. So I have to go in, complete the "Exit Loan" process, and reapply for the loan. She said it could take up to three weeks to get this resolved.

Would someone kill me? That would be easier at this point.