Let's be honest with ourselves -- no matter where we go to college, we could all use a little bit more money. Every bit of financial aid that we're given makes a tremendous difference.

At one point or another, we've all found ourselves on the line of our school's financial aid office. There's a dreaded feeling that we all can relate to as we stare at the line in front of us. We'll wonder just how long it'll take them to answer everyone's similar questions and ours.

I've lost count of the number of times that I've had to go to my school's financial aid office; I've joked with my friends and said I've spent more time in the financial aid office than my classes. I've joked that they should take some money off my tuition bill for each time I've had to go back and wait on this line that seems endless.

Let's be honest -- the atmosphere's depressing. The office is bland, and the walls are an off shade of white. There's an occasional flyer on the wall that reminds all of us of the following: "Take out a loan," or "Pay our bills in full before the designated due date," and "Don't forget to have your ID and paperwork ready so one of staff members can assist you."

Let's not forget about filling out the FAFSA and TAP applications yearly and re-submitting endless paperwork.

Must I fill out and re-submit the same documentation again? Ugh! I've re-submitted multiple copies of the same documents because they were misplaced, or not received by the proper person.
I've learned to just email the financial aid office from my school email account so that all my paperwork is submitted with the date and timestamp of each sent email.

I love when I get overcharged for tuition, only to be told to "take out an additional loan to pay for the overcharged tuition or write a two-page petition to have the overcharged amount credited to your bill for the upcoming semester. That's just great... As if the tuition isn't already high enough!

I have to give financial aid some credit, though. I may have had my issues with the office at my school, but all of my issues were eventually resolved and handled, and I've left the office feeling satisfied.

I once told a worker in the financial aid office to, "help me out with my tuition bill because I'm poor." She laughed and so did the workers and people they were assisting. We're all in the same situation: We're all struggling to meet our deadlines to pay our tuition bills. We're all taking out loans and crying about how we'll be in debt forever.

I have a friend who emailed financial aid and their response was, "yeah, your account is a little tricky, a tricky situation. If you will, please come in and speak to one of our representatives so we can sort everything out." Several of us laughed wondering what could possibly make an account a "tricky situation," but, thanks to the wonderful people in the office, the situation has since been resolved.

To be honest, I'm not sure how I would handle working in the financial aid office. I'd probably misplace an important document or two... Sorry! Props to those that work in the financial aid office.

Thanks for handling my situation, and everyone else's situations as well! Thanks for dealing with us as we get annoyed by your constant requests for more information. Thanks for dealing with the colorful words that we may say to you. We're really more annoyed at the situation that we're in rather than you helping us deal with it.

Thanks for all the financial aid you've given us; You've made attending college just slightly more affordable.