Gub-ment
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I have little faith in my government to do anything efficiently. I know going into anything dealing with them that my hard earned tax dollars are being used inefficiently for everything they do for me. It really isn't surprising. Whenever anybody in history has had bottomless pockets, i.e. taxpayers, there is no incentive to spend money wisely.
Case in point.
My oldest is going to college and as part of that process is encouraged to apply for federal student aid. I'm 99.999% certain that we earn too much income to qualify but their website says that there are no limits and that one should always apply just in case. My daughter takes this very seriously and wants me to apply. So I am going through the motions so that I can apply, be denied, and move on with life.
My daughter first has to go onto the federal student aid government website and start an application which she did. It in turn sends me an invitation to set up an account as a parent which will be linked to my daughters account, and eventually allow me to input our financial income to determine eligibility. I received the invitation and then on step 3 of 7 of setting up my account, the part where I enter my address and phone number, it sets up a defense that any professional football team would kill for right now. I can't get pass it no matter what I do. I eliminate the usual things like periods for abbreviations, I spell out the state name versus the two letter code, I shorten things up in case there are character limits. No matter what I do, when I click submit to go onto step 4, the computer things briefly, sends me back up to the top of the form but offers no hint of what is wrong or lacking.
This is a site that has been used for probably decades by generations of students. It should work flawlessly.
So last night I called the number. The help number. The one that guarantees you will play tag with a computer somewhere to see if you can actually get a real human to talk too. I played twice and was booted out after assurances that what I needed could be addressed on their website. On the third time, I was greeted by a computer saying wait times were much higher than anticipated and put on hold. 90 minutes later, I hung up and went to bed.
The next morning, I tried the website again across multiple browsers and multiple devices and still couldn't get past the defense of step 3 of 7. I called the number again and on the second attempt, selected the right combination of menu selections to get back on hold again with the same "long wait time" message. I then proceeded to put the website up by creating split windows so I could catch the sneak attach of being asked every five minutes if "I am still there" so they didn't boot me off prematurely and then on the other half of the screen, read through blogs, forums, news sites, playing games for another 2 hours!
Just when I was reading to pound my face through the computer screen, the musack goes silent and I thought for a terrifying second that I was booted from the system. But a pleasant voice, one speaking flawless English for a change, answered and asked about my problems. After verifying my credentials, she proceeded to tell me there was a known bug on step 3 of 7 where ANY ADDRESS you put in will lead to the same results I was getting. The solution was to delete the address, proceed with a strong warning asking me if I was sure I wanted to proceed with no address, complete the four remaining steps and then to go back once my account was added and edit to insert my address.
Why is this a bug still after all these years?
If it is a known bug, why not put a pop up on the login/account creation page stating this bug and how to proceed?
But no, my totally inefficient government's solution is to make every person across the country call in individually, play the telephone/computer roulette, finally speak to a human to find out the bug and then have the person sit there on their computer playing solitaire for 15 minutes while I complete the remaining four steps just to ensure I don't have any issues and then tell me how to edit my address to insert it.
As my friends across the pond say, or so I've been led to believe, I'm gobsmacked.
Honestly, I'd believe any stupid thing government does, and it's getting worse all the time. Ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI later learned that filling this out is a requirement because many merit scholarships request proof that you've been denied financial scholarships first.
DeleteEd, the simple answer is that unlike the private sector, there is no incentive to attend to any of this. Monopolies in the business world are considered a horror and a website failure of this kind would have addressed years ago because it would have cost real income; monopolies of government are accepted as necessary and without recourse - in this case as you point out, it is embedded in the scholarship system and everyone uses it, so what need is there to fix it?
ReplyDeleteMost definitely and why I tend to side on less government on some issues.
DeleteWhat a nightmare. I hope you put your phone on speaker and just went about your business while you were on hold.
ReplyDeleteI did except I had to keep pushing 1 to let them know I was still there and wanted to talk to a representative. If I missed that small window, I was automatically disconnected. Fortunately I think it only asked me that question several times in the first 15 minutes or so of being on hold and then just let me remain on hold.
DeleteFAFSA, I presume? We didn't bother to apply since we were also sure we would be denied and other students needed the money anyway. I absolutely hate on-line forms. I fought with the IRS site, trying to get a PIN for my taxes; I finally succeeded but my temper was frayed.
ReplyDeleteYes, FAFSA. According to my daughter though, I will be sent a score with their denial that must be entered onto her college account before she is allowed to apply for certain scholarships there.
DeleteI hated those FAFSA applications. For my #3 going to college I decided to skip it. That was a mistake. I do believe she would have gotten into her 1st choice if only I had done the headache form fill.
ReplyDeleteWell I filled it out and hopefully can put it behind me now.
DeleteWhy do governments have the dumbest websites you could ever imagine. I have tried to set up accounts and never make it without a phone call or two.
ReplyDeleteMy track record isn't much better in recent memory.
DeleteOh my gosh! I got a headache just reading this. Granted, I've had to deal with our military hospital system, but at least that's better than what you went through.
ReplyDeleteWhen our kids went to the University of Illinois, it cost a lot less than it does now. We also had some kind of savings plan if our kids went to a state school. I can't remember what it was now though.
ReplyDeleteWe have a modern day savings plan, 529 accounts for both our girls, and at least the oldest will get a deep discount for attending school within her state of residence.
DeleteYep, FAFSA is important. It also helps with any degree specific grants, free money, scholarships. Be sure and apply for those! Every little bit helps! Now you only have to do it 3 more times, unless they go to grad school. Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteGulp, we have to do it every year? Oh the joy.
DeleteSo sorry for your frustration Ed. It reminds me of several years ago, when I tried to set up an account at SSA for Dan. I was supposed to set a password and no matter what I tried, the system told me "invalid." I finally gave up. And then there was the three times I tried to do my income taxes online. I used gov recommended sites but each one had serious problems and I finally gave up.
ReplyDeleteThat said, my daughter is a software developer and knows the headaches of trying to get a business or agency to understand why they need to keep their software updated. All they know is that they're being billed for things that they can't "see" on the program or website, or that a "simple" fix (to them) takes hours and hours of billable time.
Absolutely, there is always another side to every story, even mine.
DeleteI will also say gobsmacked from just across the border. 😊
ReplyDeleteOne thing that our revenue agency has done is to implement a call back if you don't want to hang on the line. Supposedly, you don't lose your place in line, and from my limited experience, it is true.
I've done that a few times over the years but I've had some never call back, or if they do, it was many hours later, as if they waited for a slack time to deal with those calls. Because I figured I would have to be on step 3 of 7 when I finally talked to someone, it seemed more prudent to stay there listening and ready at a moment's notice.
DeleteOh, brother. What a nightmare. So sorry you had to go through that! For what it's worth, I'm not sure this is exclusively a government problem, though. Even lots of private businesses have atrocious customer service, especially if you've already made your purchase and you're trying to get a problem solved.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment on my post today, BTW. I truly appreciated that information, which I did not know in that much detail.
And I appreciate you not totally writing me off for sometimes having a differing opinion. I think if we all spent a bit more listening to others with different opinions, the world would be a better place.
DeleteSweet sassy molassey, Ed, what a nightmare. You make it sound so awesome and, based on how the government has been doing, it will still be a known bug when I get to do this with Kyle in a few years.
ReplyDeleteJust yesterday, weeks after writing this, I heard a piece on NPR on how the FAFSA application process was flawed. But they focused on the "formula" behind the scenes and not the application process itself.
DeleteAs I was reading through the comments, I kept thinking, "FIFO," "FAFO," etc. before someone finally hit on it -- FAFSA. I was close! Gotta love those acronyms. We put three through college and I didn't bother with this either, as I knew I would not be approved and I would most assuredly shorten my life by going through these ridiculous motions. But good on you for being a rule follower!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, other scholarships my daughter may qualify for now require her FAFSA "score" as an application prerequisite. I guess I'll know later this year if it was worth this or not.
DeleteSure hope she qualifies for something after all that!
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm sure she won't qualify for government financial aid but she has already received some academic scholarships and has several more applied for that required her FAFSA score. Unbeknownst to her, my wife and I have also been saving for this day too for tax deduction purposes and hopefully have enough to get her through one degree at the college she chose.
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