Opinion
 

Misdirected grants perplexing

By Erin Scoggan

This is the first semester I have ever had a problem receiving my grant money for living expenses. After already calling and speaking extensively with employees from the financial aid and Cougar 1Card departments, it has come to my attention that my grant check had been automatically forwarded to the Cougar 1Card offices.

Herein arises the difficulty. I have never received a Cougar 1Card in the mail and did not even know they were required for identification purposes. 

I have a normal UH ID. Although it isn't linked to any sort of account it has served me fine so far in the library and computer labs on campus and has not been questioned. Now I have no way to get my money out of the Cougar 1Card account because I don't have the proper card.

I had to call the Cougar 1Card office and request a card, which will take one to two weeks to arrive in the mail. The helpful representative I talked to seemed to be familiar my predicament and told me to call the financial aid department back and ask them to reverse the charges on my Cougar 1Card and send a check in the mail instead. When I called the financial aid office, I was forwarded to the supervisor, who, along with his secretary, was perplexed about what I was trying to explain about getting my charges reversed. After clearing a few things up, she then informed me the check would take three to four days to arrive in the mail.

I'm still without my check after the four-day time period and now need the money to buy textbooks in order to complete assignments for my classes.

But, I still cannot purchase my books for my classes or pay for some of my living expenses. My question is why was this not brought to the attention of students earlier? Why weren't Cougar 1Cards sent out to all students, explaining that it was the new identification card and would be the default destination of financial payments?

From speaking with the financial aid representatives on campus I have come to find I'm not the only student dealing with these circumstances. Financial aid representatives are also at a loss about what to do for students. It seems that they were also not informed about this switch to the automatic forwarding of money to Cougar 1Card accounts. The woman I talked to said this was the first time such a situation had happened, adding that they hadn't been trained on what to do about it. Why wasn't the financial aid department given fair warning that this obstacle might arise? Now, the representatives are frustrated with not being able to answer the vast amount of calls concerning this issue.

Of course my fee bill was in my mail bright and early about two weeks before classes started. How come it found its way into my mailbox so expediently and my grant check got sent somewhere else? And whose responsibility was it to get those Cougar 1Cards out in the mail before school started? Who decided to forward grant money to non-existent Cougar 1Card accounts which had not been activated yet?

When I first arrived at UH in Fall 2002, having a credit card on your student ID was optional. I'd like to know who made it mandatory, and when were they planning on informing the student body at UH. How much of a kickback is UH getting from this required Cougar 1Card, and who's benefiting from it? Certainly not the students.

Scoggan is a sophomore and a guest columnist for The Daily Cougar. She can be reached via dccampus@mail.uh.edu.