Ah, Beca Season: that stressful time of year when the UPR makes you jump through
hoops to get your hands on your designated scholarship money. If you’re unlucky enough to receive money from the federal government to pay for your studies, my condolences to your patience. Keeping your cool when your Financial Aid counselor ghosts you for 4 straight months is definitely not for the faint of heart.
The first survival step you must follow if you wish to hold on to at least a thread of your sanity during the academic year is to preemptively accept defeat. Quit checking your school’s financial aid portal, stop compulsively checking your email, and pray that manifesting the scholarship check
will be enough to make it appear in the mailbox. Accept that your counselor hasn’t updated any
of your information and will not be responding to any of your emails anytime soon. Kill any
hope you have for this to happen in order to transform the whole financial aid ordeal into a short process while you still can.
Next, you must remember to stay calm when you see your school bill. Whatever you do, don’t freak out! I
know it’s pretty scary to see that you owe $1,500 when you thought you qualified for a scholarship.
Chances are that, since your counselor’s decided to disappear for the time being, the bill hasn’t been updated yet to include your scholarship funds. It will all be fine. Just remember not to pay for bills you aren’t sure you owe, especially since the UPR will take forever to reply your messages.
If your problems still haven’t been fixed by October, you should definitely cry a little. No
one will judge you for it, I promise. Keep in mind that this is a highly stressful process; so, trust me. I’ve been there. Crying will balance out your brain for a while. Chin up bestie, you’ll get through this.
After such an emotional burst, you should stop thinking about the whole situation.
You’ve freaked out about it and cried it all out. Now it’s time to put it all aside and relax. Later, when all
is said and done, you get to spend that sweet, sweet beca (“grant” in Spanish) cash. So, for now put your feet up and just wait for your money to rain down on you.
Fighting the UPR Financial Aid Office is a fate I wouldn’t wish on my worse enemy.
Keeping your cool during this stress-inducing tribulation will be nearly impossible. Throughout this process, you’ll probably be forced to interact with people that seem to hate the idea of being helpful in the slightest. Despite this inconvenience, you must power through the bad moments in order to reach the end of the tunnel. It will all be worth it when you get to spoil yourself with the beca money afterwards. Good luck on your journeys, young grasshoppers. May you milk the Pell Grant for all its worth.