Nothing is ever easy for me. I get through immigration and customs without a hitch, great. But if that goes well I suppose I should have expected something to go tits up, as the brits say, and I am not to be dissapointed. No matter what I do, there must be a saga. And this is mine.
It starts back with my financial aid. I applied, as did all university bound students, for financial aid before the March 2 cut off date. I applied for my loans, was approved and I dutifully signed my MPNs. This was all done by Feb. I think. Now, once the loans have been approved and the MPNs signed they will inform the university of choice within 24 hours. Several weeks/months later I wonder why I have not received word from the finance office that they have my MPNs so I look through my old emails and find the financial aid lady who is SG and email her.
I sent her a letter of re-introduction and asked her if she had them.
No.
Sigh. Okay. So I have to resign my MPNs. I do that and I have to wait another 24 hours, which because of the time difference means 2 days instead of 1. Whatever. I wait a few days, just to make sure and send her another email. Do you have them now? Yes. Oh good. But now we need your 8 page SAR. Okay. So I call the financial aid office and request my SAR because the university requires it. I am told it will take 7-14 days. Really? Whatever. Now, this is my fault, I should have remembered that as I needed it the last time I tried to get to Hull. No problem, this is only July, I have time. So, eventually I get a copy of my 8 page SAR. Sweet, if I have them then surely the university does too which means I should get a letter of proof of financials.
A week goes by and no email of confirmation. I figure that it takes a little longer for it to get to Hull for some strange reason. But I get nothing from the university so I email SG again. Do you have a copy of my SAR? No. See, last time they got a copy, this time, apparently not. Ok, can I scan them or do I need to mail them to you? Scans are fine. I scan them, email them and wait. An email comes back saying I need pages 3 & 10. I had somehow missed 3 & 10. I send them and it's the end of the day.
So I get to wait for the following day. Still though, it's no problem... it's just worryingly getting towards August... I have time. I should be able to get it all done here soon, and I can get my visa and be good. Nope, now I need to fill out this form. yes, I want every penny you can give me because I want to make sure I have enough money coming in so I don't have to worry about the financials for my visa. I email that back and I wait.
And Finally! I have a copy of my financials. It's now the end of July and I can finally apply for my visa. That's the easy part. I have my biometrics appointment the 29th and then I wait a couple of days for money to come in to pay for the expedited visa fee so I can get my visa sooner rather than later.
After more waiting and fretting and getting into the country I get an email saying that disbursement checks will come on the 20th of Sept. Great! So Mark and I walk the almost 2 miles to the university, go up and down stairs, go all over the place to find out that the check might be in the next day when the banks are at the school. Fine.
So we went another 2 miles home. And returned the following day only to find that not only is there no check but that the computers are down, there are no letters of introduction and we have to go the bank and register in person. Granted this is just a few doors down but... annoying none the less. We are informed that we are required to have an letter of introduction to the bank the following day. Alright, fine, whatever. Within nothing more we can do, we return home and have a rather large lunch.
And this morning, after doing a bit of cleaning up, as Mark would say, we got dressed and headed out. We get to the international office to pick up our letter of introduction as required by the bank to be told that we don't need them. Umm.... say what? We are told that there are new protocols in place today and that because the computers are still down the banks are going to send the university the information of the students who are opening accounts with them, then they'll send letters directly to the bank at which point the bank will open our accounts. And no, it won't help to go to the bank and talk to them, no they won't be able to tell us if they have sent the info to the university and no we won't be told if letters were sent to the bank. The only way we'll know that this has happened is if we get an email from the bank letting us know our banking information.
We were told this could happen as early as 1 this afternoon. I just checked my email... nuthin'.
So Mark & went to visit SG and asked what this means about the check. It's all out of her hands now so I need to ask someone else. It could take several days for the bank to send me my details and it's entirely possible that I won't get a check until the 3rd. I ask SG if I'll get an email letting me know if the check is ready and she said she doesn't know as it's all up to the guy I had to email- from whom I got no other email... great.
So. I have money coming to me. Which I might not get until the third and which I have been told I should have been able to have gotten on the 20th. I have a bank account I opened which I can't access because the bank and the university haven't figured out how to communicated with each other and I have no idea if or when my money will actually be cut.
At least I know it shall be in pounds sterling.
And registration is on the 26th. Oh joy.
It starts back with my financial aid. I applied, as did all university bound students, for financial aid before the March 2 cut off date. I applied for my loans, was approved and I dutifully signed my MPNs. This was all done by Feb. I think. Now, once the loans have been approved and the MPNs signed they will inform the university of choice within 24 hours. Several weeks/months later I wonder why I have not received word from the finance office that they have my MPNs so I look through my old emails and find the financial aid lady who is SG and email her.
I sent her a letter of re-introduction and asked her if she had them.
No.
Sigh. Okay. So I have to resign my MPNs. I do that and I have to wait another 24 hours, which because of the time difference means 2 days instead of 1. Whatever. I wait a few days, just to make sure and send her another email. Do you have them now? Yes. Oh good. But now we need your 8 page SAR. Okay. So I call the financial aid office and request my SAR because the university requires it. I am told it will take 7-14 days. Really? Whatever. Now, this is my fault, I should have remembered that as I needed it the last time I tried to get to Hull. No problem, this is only July, I have time. So, eventually I get a copy of my 8 page SAR. Sweet, if I have them then surely the university does too which means I should get a letter of proof of financials.
A week goes by and no email of confirmation. I figure that it takes a little longer for it to get to Hull for some strange reason. But I get nothing from the university so I email SG again. Do you have a copy of my SAR? No. See, last time they got a copy, this time, apparently not. Ok, can I scan them or do I need to mail them to you? Scans are fine. I scan them, email them and wait. An email comes back saying I need pages 3 & 10. I had somehow missed 3 & 10. I send them and it's the end of the day.
So I get to wait for the following day. Still though, it's no problem... it's just worryingly getting towards August... I have time. I should be able to get it all done here soon, and I can get my visa and be good. Nope, now I need to fill out this form. yes, I want every penny you can give me because I want to make sure I have enough money coming in so I don't have to worry about the financials for my visa. I email that back and I wait.
And Finally! I have a copy of my financials. It's now the end of July and I can finally apply for my visa. That's the easy part. I have my biometrics appointment the 29th and then I wait a couple of days for money to come in to pay for the expedited visa fee so I can get my visa sooner rather than later.
After more waiting and fretting and getting into the country I get an email saying that disbursement checks will come on the 20th of Sept. Great! So Mark and I walk the almost 2 miles to the university, go up and down stairs, go all over the place to find out that the check might be in the next day when the banks are at the school. Fine.
So we went another 2 miles home. And returned the following day only to find that not only is there no check but that the computers are down, there are no letters of introduction and we have to go the bank and register in person. Granted this is just a few doors down but... annoying none the less. We are informed that we are required to have an letter of introduction to the bank the following day. Alright, fine, whatever. Within nothing more we can do, we return home and have a rather large lunch.
And this morning, after doing a bit of cleaning up, as Mark would say, we got dressed and headed out. We get to the international office to pick up our letter of introduction as required by the bank to be told that we don't need them. Umm.... say what? We are told that there are new protocols in place today and that because the computers are still down the banks are going to send the university the information of the students who are opening accounts with them, then they'll send letters directly to the bank at which point the bank will open our accounts. And no, it won't help to go to the bank and talk to them, no they won't be able to tell us if they have sent the info to the university and no we won't be told if letters were sent to the bank. The only way we'll know that this has happened is if we get an email from the bank letting us know our banking information.
We were told this could happen as early as 1 this afternoon. I just checked my email... nuthin'.
So Mark & went to visit SG and asked what this means about the check. It's all out of her hands now so I need to ask someone else. It could take several days for the bank to send me my details and it's entirely possible that I won't get a check until the 3rd. I ask SG if I'll get an email letting me know if the check is ready and she said she doesn't know as it's all up to the guy I had to email- from whom I got no other email... great.
So. I have money coming to me. Which I might not get until the third and which I have been told I should have been able to have gotten on the 20th. I have a bank account I opened which I can't access because the bank and the university haven't figured out how to communicated with each other and I have no idea if or when my money will actually be cut.
At least I know it shall be in pounds sterling.
And registration is on the 26th. Oh joy.
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