The Dirt Field

When I took my leave of absence from law school, I did so long after the tuition refund period had elapsed, meaning that my choice had the potential of being a $7600 decision. I say potential because the Director of Student Academic Affairs informed me that I could petition the university to refund my tuition based on my circumstances, meaning that I could theoretically reverse the significant financial impact of my choice to take a year off.

In the past four weeks, I’ve been preparing to submit my request. Okay, that’s a bit of a lie. I’ve been thinking about it for the past four weeks – I really only took action in the past week, because for the previous three weeks I have been very busy doing nothing. Anyway, I had two letters from medical professionals indicating that I have serious issues, and I took the time to draft a lengthy letter explaining my circumstances and my request. With my entire packet in hand, I headed off to Mason today to plead my case.

In addition, I needed to talk to the financial aid counselors about some confusing account statements I’d received in the past two weeks. One indicated that I owed close to $7000, while the other said that I owed nothing. When I arrived in the Student Accounts office, the confused student behind the desk tried to tell me that both statements were incorrect, and that the school actually owed me $750. I knew that this was impossible, but that did not stop me from asking just how quickly he could get me that refund and could it possibly be in cash?

After a lot of confusion and one visit to a back office, the student came back and informed me that my request, the one in my hand that I had yet to submit, had already been approved and that was why the printed statement said I owed nothing. I pointed out that there was no request to have had approved, but he assured me that there was one in the file and that everything was already settled. I started to push the issue, inquiring as to who submitted the request for me, but realized quickly that I should shut my mouth. If somebody tells you they have a check for a million bucks with your name on it, that’s not the best time to start arguing.

So that’s settled. Somebody somewhere felt that I was crazy enough to deserve a full refund of my tuition, and crazy enough to need think I needed somebody else to submit the request for me. As much as I detest looking mentally unstable, in this case, I’m willing to wear my strait jacket with pride.