How Should I Proceed?
I recently wrote an article about my teacher being f#cked up and this is sort of a follow up article, even though it's not. This is actually based upon some of the things I wrote in a reply, but it's pretty "fun" nonetheless.
There's no secret that my life has been filled with various ups and downs for a rather long period of time. Especially during the major part of 2018, with just some minor luck at the end of the year... I had a good start of 2019, but it came as no surprise that some things just isn't going my way. This is only School-related.
First off, they made some "minor" changes this semester. They called it "minor" meanwhile I call it MAJOR, because they put all the students in a position where everyone will have to pay back 50% of our student loans. They probably haven't thought about this at all, and I know for a fact that this will happen.
I don't want to repay approximately 600 USD of my student loans, especially not using student loans to pay everything back. It's incredible stupid and contradictory. The fun part is, that everyone is eligible these 600 USD. And we will still need to pay it back due to these "minor" changes... Sounds weird, right?
How come I know this for a fact?
Due to endless phone calls with CSN (the place we get student loans from), I know how they see things. I know their guidelines and I'm aware of their rules and how they grant student loans. You get 100% student aid for 10 weeks. 10 weeks equals 200 points. 5 weeks = 100 points.
This is also why the courses during the education are 10 weeks long. Each course is 10 weeks, but we have 2 courses at the same time to reach 100% student pace. So 1 course during 10 weeks equals to 50% pace. 2 courses, 100%.
That being said, if you read 1 course during 5 weeks instead, you would have a pace of 100%. It's pretty logical. - However, my principal doesn't seem to realize this.
Long story short, we started with 2 new courses this week, so that's 2 courses in 10 weeks. Which equates to a study pace of 100%. Now, with the "minor" changes they've made, we need to finish one of the courses in 5 weeks instead.
So, 1 course during 10 weeks and the other course in 5 week. That equates to a study pace of 100% in one of the courses and 50% pace at the other one, (or 200% and 100%, depending on how you see things).
I know that most of my classmates looks at it from the latter perspective, which I did too at first, but truth to be told, it's more like the first. 100% + 50%.
Anyhow, when I realized this, which I did at the moment they brought this up... I quickly said something like:
"Nope. That won't happen. I'm not okay with these changes."
What I said, had zero weight at the moment. They just told everyone that this is how things are, and we need to finish one of the courses in 5 weeks instead of 10. Like it or not.
I was obviously not okay with this, so I wrote an email to the School principal the moment I got home.
Here's the thing, my principal didn't respond until today, and I sent it Friday last week. Sure, she doesn't work during the weekend, but still. I was kind of expecting an answer, especially as this is extremely important and need to be solved asap.
I probably spent about an hour and a half writing the email, so it's a pretty lengthy email to say the least. It's filled with multiple things that seems to be weird and a bunch of various concerns I've faced since I started this education in March last year.
Also, everything you send to or from my principals email are considered to be public documents, which basically means that anyone, at any point can and are allowed to read it.
I guess the school principal is trying to "dodge the bullet" by setting up a meeting with me instead. She didn't answer any of the things I wanted answers for. She simply wrote:
"I can meet you on Thursday at 09.00. Does that work for you?"
So, here's my question to you...
- What should I do?
I would prefer to get all of the answers in writing. Especially as I could use it as some sort of evidence in case it would be necessary in the future. My guess is, that she's aware of this too, and wants to avoid that.
A personal meeting between me and her would result in talking, which makes it impossible to use that as a form of evidence, as she could just decline everything.
I thought about recording our meeting, but that's against the law if she's unaware of it, and I don't want to tell her, as she could potentially alter her answers.
Also, one important thing is, that she's actually a decent human being. Kind and whatever, but she sucks at her job. So, I don't want to harm her in any way, but I need some leverage for a potential "blackmail" in the near future.
That's basically what this is all about. That's why I wanted answers in writing in the first place. Because I could have used that to "blackmail" her if and when I needed to.
I'm obviously not talking about a real blackmail, but there are things I definitely would want to change, more for my own benefit so to speak, and having written answers from her would provide me with enough evidence to have something to lean on when the time is right...
I'm also not entirely sure, but I don't think these "minor" changes they've made are legal. I think they are trying to leave CSN out of this whole shebang to not complicate things for the students with their student loans...
Well, I know for a fact that they are trying to leave CSN out of this, because one of my teachers said:
"Do not talk to CSN about this, because they have nothing to do with these changes."
And truth to be told, they have everything to do with this, as we would ultimately have to repay student loans for 5 weeks we are entitled to... I'm not sure about these changes being legal or not though.
Why would we have to pay back student loans?
Like I said, 5 weeks = 50% and 10 weeks equals 100% study pace.
If we have 1 course during 5 weeks of 10 and the other course during the entire 10 weeks, we would have a total of 10 weeks and 150 points, instead of 10 weeks and 200 points.
As we get our money in advance each month, we would get money for 100% study pace and 200 points. Also, we would have to study 100% faster, as we cut one of the courses in half...
So, it would basically look like this:
1 course = 10 weeks = 50% study pace = 50% student loans. (100 points.)
1 course = 5 weeks = 25% study pace = 25% student loans. (25 points.)
In total, that would be 75% student funds, we should've been eligible, instead of 100%. So, we will have to pay back 25% of the money just based on that. However, if you study 25%, you get 25% of the money... But you'll also get 25 points instead of 50 (for studying 50%) and instead of 100 points, which we should do.
So, we will miss out on 75 points in total, according to how CSN will see things, based on the numbers of weeks (which is obviously inaccurate). But, the School will give us 100 points for it after 5 weeks... So CSN will take that as 100% studies during 5 weeks, which would've been fine... But, then they see our other course, during 10 weeks.
It's a really messed up situation they put us in... All in all, we would literally be studying 100% + 50%, during 10 weeks in total... But in reality, study 200%, as we need to finish one of our courses in half the time. Which ultimately results in us, the students, having to pay back 50% of the money we got during 5 of the weeks.
Any Advice on How To Proceed?
ǝɹǝɥ sɐʍ ɹoʇɐɹnƆ pɐW ǝɥ┴
Cool! Thank you for the support. :)
I would reply back, "Sorry, I can't make it to a meeting. I would just like clarification. Can you reply to my questions in email? Thanks."
...because this sounds shady af to me.
Sincerely,
I went to one of those for profit schools that told us they had a 98% job placement rate and literally TWO of my classmates got jobs in our field and there is a class action lawsuit about this shit
I already agreed to the meeting though. I agreed to it as soon as I heard about it. I should probably have waited a bit before I agreed to it, but as I'm eager to solve these things, I just agreed without thinking about it much.
It sure is shady, and I've really tried to see how they could solve these things... But I can't find any logical or reasonable answers at all.
I mean, when I first applied to the education, it said that we would be finished in September 2019. Right after the summerbreak, they changed the lenght of the education to end in December 2019 instead.
Reason: "To have enough time to cover all the aspects of the courses."
And sure, even though I wasn't happy about that, I still thought it was okay. I was fine with that change, because I could understand the reasons. But when you suddenly change the length of the entire education by 3 months, there shouldn't be any more problems that affects the length of the education or the courses. And still, even though these changes are in effect, they still force us to finish one of these courses in 5 weeks instead of 10.
Man, there have been soooo much weird stuff happening, so I've become skeptical to everything they say. And most of my classmates doesn't seem to either understand or care about it... It's so messed up.
I've started to feel that I'm the only one who cares about these things, and perhaps I'm just being stupid or whatever for caring so much about it... But I can't just sit here and watch when they potentially can screw me over like this. I need to do something about it.
Well, at the meeting, I would ask for written documentation on official school letterhead. That is how they got me - the recruiter wrote the 98% figure on notebook paper, it wasn't officially documented anywhere.
Maybe you can take someone with you to assist in understanding and always being a witness if something is said later that is differently. Unfortunate how education has to come down to dollars and cents as well!
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Yeah, I've thought about it too. The problem is that most of my classmates doesn't seem to realize what's happening, and others just doesn't seem to care about it... I don't know if it's due to stupidity or they being ignorant. Perhaps they're too afraid to confront anyone about this.
I mean, sure, things might work out perfectly fine, without any problems at all... But, I don't feel like risking that. I need answers as quickly as possible, just to avoid eventual problems in the near future. That way, I'll be able to focus on the things I need to focus on too, and can avoid this potential shitstorm entirely.
However, I'll try to convince one of my classmates to go with me, because I know she's being frustrated about all of this too. Would've been so much easier if all of us went to the principal's office together, as a group.
If you are required to met with her alone, take notes. Send a follow up e-mail thanking her for meeting with you and your understand of what was discussed. Close with if my understand is incorrect, please advise and explain what I misunderstood. This means that if she fails to respond and deny it, you can claim her inaction was acknowledgement of your statements.
I would send this even if someone else attends the meeting.
Good Luck.
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That's a really good idea. A follow up email. Thank you very much!
Your welcome!
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Wow, that's an awesome gift. Thanks! :)
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