I Made A Stupid Money Mistake

I was rather surprised recently when I received an email stating that I still owed $1,000 in tuition.  I didn’t pay my tuition for my Summer class because I expected it to be paid from my Fall financial aid. When the surplus from my Fall financial aid was deposited in my bank account I noticed it was less than I was expecting and assumed that my previous balance had been paid from the surplus.  That assumption was a big mistake.  If I had even done a ballpark estimate in my head I would have figured out that was wrong.

For some reason my school applied about $500 from the surplus to my previous balance but left a remaining balance of about $1000.  I’m now going to have to pay that out of the surplus amount.  This is kind of a pain since the school only accepts checks or cash for payment and I don’t have checks.  I’m not actually out any money because I owed the money either way.  I still feel like I’m poorer though.  This should serve as a reminder to me to not be so lazy when accounting for my student loan money.  I keep track of every penny I spend outside of financial aid so I should be more diligent when tracking my financial aid as well.