Are all college financial aid offices terribly disorganized?

[Dr. Venture]

About two months ago I'm told my fafsa was selected for verification. The financial aid office sends me a list of documents needed. According to the letter I received I needed Worksheets A,B, and C, Fafsa Verification Sheet, my parents tax returns from last year, and my parents tax returns from this year.
I called my mother, she said she just did everything online didn't use the worksheets, sends me everything else.
I fill out the verification sheet, put everything together, attach a note saying my mother didnt fill out the worksheets, and drop it off at the office.
Three weeks have gone by and I get an email saying I was suppose to fill out another sheet, the A, B, C Verification. So, I take a look at the sheet and realize I'll need the tax returns back from the office so I can fill this out.
Once in the office, I find out that they can't find my parents tax returns. So they'll also be needing another copy of those. Now my mother has to get another copy of her tax returns, fill out this paper, and mail it down to me.
This is ridiculous. It's already April, I'm going to be like the last person to get all of this stuff in because of them, I'm barely going to get any money.

[odecom5]

yes.


thats all there is to it. yes.

perfect example of how bureaucracy does not work.

edit. don't worry, last year they were missing some info that they needed before they could give me any money, and they didn't tell me until after the deadline, so i didn't get any

[Dan]

Are all college * offices disorganized?
Yes


More succinctly said,
Are all bureaucratic systems disorganized?
YES



I run a non profit and commonly work with both the city and college campuses and doing the simplest of things is like pulling teeth. Sometimes I think someone just decided to make a process as difficult as humanly possible, just to fuck with people.
"Did you file a formal request with Department A so Department B can mail you the paperwork to schedule a meeting for putting up a sign?"

[Dr. Venture]

The most ridiculous part is the information they now need, they already have, on two different forms and the tax returns itself. Except now they need it on third form with a different name.

People have complained about bureaucracy's like this for years, why isn't the system ever changed and made easier?

[jigz23]

I don't understand these long answers

YES

[Slacker]

Yeah. I've been dealing with military, VA, and college bueracracy's for about 4 years now.

The key is finding the right people. In every bueracracy there are a bunch of people who essentially do nothing, but there's always at least one who pretty much does all the work. They key is to find those people who will actually get things done. So when you go to to front desk don't ask "can you help me with this" ask "who should I talk to about this" They probably don't want to help you but they'll probably be willing to foist you off on someone else. Eventually you'll be able to find the person who can actually get something done.