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.