Damn, for a public school? That's pretty damn expensive! What's your major? I know a lot of schools (i.e. Business, Engineering) have additional fees and thus are more expensive than others. Still, that's almost double the costs from 5 years ago. I mean, it's a good school from an academic perspective, but I would guess that is on par with or has surpassed UT/A&M/Tech and other public schools in the state.
I'm doing English/Creative Writing. Thanks for the update, I'm glad I can pay it now. 17 hours, $6500. That better include the living expenses. Still makes me mad I have to get a meal plan.
I recently transferred to the Business college (finance), and it seems like every damn class has $200 in extra fees! If I didn't have a pretty decent scholarship, my dad would certainly be having a heart attack.
Hey, do you know if Peoplesoft will be applying financial aid before the 14th? Right now, my scholarship is labeled as "Pending Financial Aid", and it doesn't show up when I try to pay. It would really suck if I had to put an extra $1250 on my credit card, then beg them to give it back. This is what the billing screen looks like, and I fear that if I include the scholarship myself (and fill in $3325), that they might drop me. If you have any insider information in regards to this, I would really appreciate it. _
are you on facebook? theres a huge UH group on there that addresses all those issues, something like "Things every UH student needs to know for Fall 2007." I remember reading a bunch of peoples' concerns about not getting financial aid posted in time. tuition is due on the 14th and financial aid is going to be applied on like, the 20th? i'd call UH. PeopleShlt sucks balls, btw.
About a month after my last semester at of U of H, I got a really nice job with an energy company after multiple interviews. Not surprisingly, after they offered the job they needed a background check. About a week before I was about to start, the HR manager who setup the original interview called me, and told me I needed to talk to U of H, because they said I didn't graduate. I went down to the Admission/Admin/Registrar's Office in E. Cullen, and the woman at the counter said that for whatever reason, my graduation probabl hadn't been processed. I asked her for what specific reason; and she very exasperatedly said she didn't know why, and didn't show any willingness to find out. I explained to her that I'd just been offered a job but couldn't take it because of this hitch, and she really had no solution. I asked her how long it would take for my graduation records to process, she gave me the trademark U of H "8 to 10 weeks" answer (never mind that I had already passed and completed all my classes a month earlier). So, I continued on and started asking her about specific stages in the graduation filing process, and asking her how long each part took. But after two or three of those questions, she looked to the person behind me and said, "did you ever go on a trip with a little kid who kept on asking you over and over 'are we there yet', 'how long will it take'?" I smiled politely and asked her name. "Why do you need to know my name?" I basically spent the rest of the week holed up at Anderson Library, calling the College of Business begging them to write a letter to the HR Manager to assure her that I had in fact graduated, and they gladly obliged. If it weren't for their pretty good Career and Job Listings Website, which I have to pay as an alumni to retain access to, these hideous people wouldn't get one thin dime from me. Which is sad, because I loved every single minute I spent there as a student. It's the largest school in the state not named UT or A&M, but I guess without similar resources 35000-40000 students can be tough to manage, or apparently not be priggish to.
For the UH students that don't know, they have made this software change starting for the fall 2007 semester. Anything from summer 2007 and before was done via enrollment services online. Now it is under peoplesoft. Yeah, it sucks.. To the dude that had the pending financial aid issue, I had the same problem... but I just paid in installments so the amount I paid (half for the 1st installment, 1/2 in two other installments) wasn't as much as the total I owed WITH the scholarships... so I won't have to "begging" back for my money.
Excellent program, especially if you plan to do grad school: pretty good chance you'd get to teach a course or two. And kudos to U of H for "forcing" more of us to take English coursework. I was a little bummed they didn't take my 3 score on AP English Lit (I think UT and A&M would have), but learning Rhetorical Analysis and getting exposed to Mary Karr, Tobias Wolff and Joyce Carol Oates were more than worth it. Another thing I loved was that, when I was at the Business school (99-02), we were required to minor in International Studies. Sure, we probably could have more prudently used those hours to Minor in a second business field (and alot of students and Professors complained about it); but I think our society is so ignorant about world history and foreign cultures as a whole that it's the best thing we could stand to learn more of. That Middle Eastern Political Science class with Dr. Razi was out of this world.
yeah the fees went up but i'm taking 15 hrs and it's nearly a thousand dollars less than your bill. do you have insurance, housing or something as part of that total? anyways i also have the financial aid pending problem. im pretty sure i saw somewhere that the money would be released on the 13th but now i can't find that link. it would be pretty f#$king r****ded if they release the aid money after they drop you from your classes. i love how they implement a "pay buy the 14th or you're out policy" at the exact same time as a brand new registration program that they can't even get right themselves. brilliant. i guess the best thing to do is to check tomorrow and if it's not there, take an emergency loan from the school to pay for it and pay that back when the aid kicks in. no money out of pocket.
Damn. I can sympathize - I never had it that bad but I always hated those ladies in there. Freekin bitter and useless jerks. Mind you, that was 5 years ago - so it's proabably worse now. Just 2 more semesters at UHCL and I get my M.S. So far I have had no problems with the new peoplesoft system (other than password hell) - maybe I'm just lucky.
I can't even tell you how many futile phone calls I have made to UH. No one cares to help, no one gives a damn. My mother didn't believe the rudeness and ignorance until she made a few phone calls herself. It just seems like the University would want to hire friendly and helpful people. Oh man, I'm taking Poetry Writing, Shakespeare, and Chaucer this semester among other things. I am SO excited. These are the kind of classes I enjoy...i'm so glad I am no longer a business major.
I've got you all beat. UH Law, 14 hours in-state: 8,029.60 And I get the SAME crap from the administration as the rest of you. I hate those central campus @$$h0le$
I wish I could say the frustration you guys are expressing with PeopleSoft in general and the staff at UH was surprising to me but it's not. As someone that works at the University and REALLY cares about what happens to the students there, you have my apologies. I know that doesn't mean much right now. Payment deadlines were extended until today at 5 p.m. and then they will begin dropping people from classes. My understanding (and I asked a TON of people that are supposed to know) of the financial aid issue is this: If you have accepted an award and it completely covers the cost of Fall tuition, you will not be dropped. If you have an award that partially covers Fall tuition, you need to make arrangements to pay the difference. One option is an emergency loan that is not really a loan but more like a delayed payment with an APR cost. It essentially extends the payment deadline for 90 days at 5% APR. BUT if you pay you bill before the 19th day of classes then the APR is 0%. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Call your academic advisor on campus or email them (better idea) and they will help you. Make sure you include your PeopleSoft ID number in the email to them. If you get really frustrated, email ME through the board and if I can;t help you myself, I will make sure you get to someone that can.
thanks mulder, it's good knowing there's someone truly willing to help. I was panicking this morning because my meal plan payment was due today, and PeopleSoft online bill payment was down. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when it finally was up a few hours later.
