My life has always been full of surprises, and, to this day, this one still leaves me wondering.
It started my freshman year here at FAMU. I was an out-of state student from Colorado Springs, Colo., who had no clue what he was doing. I took a chance, however, and accepted a substantial loan through iRattler.
After accepting my rewards, I did what most students would do: I sat patiently as the days flew, checking my account daily to see if I had received the “forever talked about but rarely seen,” net check.
After about three months of waiting, and three months of listening to other students celebrate, I began to wonder where my net check went.
I searched the Foote-Hilyer Administration building, and it wasn’t there, so I checked online, and it wasn’t there either. Retracing my steps, I reviewed my FAFSA and noticed that it was filled out under my ex-stepdad’s address. After calling him, he explained to me that he didn’t receive any money in the mail. Nothing had seemed to be deposited into his bank account either.
This search went on for the entire year, and, because I lacked funds, schoolbooks and bills became an extra struggle.
As I transitioned into my second year, I ran into the same problem. I accepted my financial aid, this time in the Foote-Hilyer Administration building. My first unseen net check left me with an uneasy anticipation, so receiving another one was quite hard to believe. The fourth week of school passed, November rolled around, and I still didn’t have a net check. I was fed up.
The $18,000 tuition for my school year was quickly posted, but my refund, was unseen. My friends would let me borrow their books, and my mom and sister would help me as much as they could when I ran out of money earned from work.
By junior year, my hopes of seeing a net check or even receiving one were gone. One day, however, as I walked back to my dorm, I noticed a message on my voicemail. I listened to the message and I froze. To my amazement, and on the other side of my phone, was a woman telling me that two “large checks” had been sitting in their building.
Skipping with joy to Foote-Hilyer, and not understanding how it could be, I got there and grabbed those checks faster than the cars that speed down Wahnish.
I will never understand how my first two years went by without receiving a net check, and to this day, receiving one still baffles me.