Residency Requirement

My teacher on Thursday nights just happens to be the VP of student services at NWACC. Basically, this means he is willing to override the denied course substitutions that did not transfer. I met with him today (Hollah to Kasey for keeping Quincy and Corbin for 4 hours on her day off so I could go over my transcripts kid free) and he pointed out that BSU offers an A.A.

What?!
Why didn't I ever think of that?
Because I was working on a 4 year degree at Boise State, so it never crossed my mind that they even had an Associate's program.

But now that I'm trying to go to U of A, I need an A. A. for the program I want to complete.

So, with my transcripts in hand, he called up BSU, and together, we all went over the A.A. requirements, and guess what?

I only need 2 classes to complete the program, one of them being World Lit...which I just took!
That means that IF BSU will allow me to complete my final two courses at NWACC and transfer the credits back to them, I will have an A.A. in December!

Of course, there are rules that don't allow that, though. BSU requires that 15 of your last 18 credits be taken on their campus. My situation means only 12 of my last 18 credits are being taken at BSU. And today was the LAST day to make an appeal.

So, I filled out the paperwork for an appeal, wrote a letter explaining that I left BSU (as a good standing student on the Dean's List) because we moved away for my husband's career. My family is here, now, and going back to BSU to take one 3 credit class is not an option. And the class is not available online, either (of course). My instructor (mr. VP) also wrote a letter supporting my appeal and attached it to the claim and I faxed it in just in time this afternoon.

Upon approval, (Wednesday is Academic Appeals Committee Meeting Day), I can then contact the Associate's Dean for the college of Arts and Science and get HIS approval. Once I have his approval, I simply need to complete the required Comminucations class (which will meet at NWACC every Friday night from 5-10:30pm for 8 weeks between mid October and mid December) and I will have an A. A. from Boise State University. Wahooo!

Unfortunately, while I was typing this, I found out via phone call that Boise State now wants me to contact the BSU Associate's Dean first and get his approval BEFORE I can make my appeal. I did get the rest of the paperwork for the appeal in on time, so I hope that on Monday, I'll be able to get a hold of the Dean quickly, and that he will support my claim. If not, I wasted an entire day doing nothing, and will be spending 2 more semesters at NWACC taking courses just so I can meet their residency requirement to graduate from there. If that is the case, I'm probably going to bag NWACC altogether, and see if I can make an appeal to the University of Arkansas' A.A requirement (since I meet the credit requirement anyway) and just transfer there, or get into one of their degree completion plans, which aren't ideal, (long daytime hour courses and more expensive) but at this point I just want to be done with something.

Let's all hope that the Associate's Dean is a nice guy that is easy to get a hold of, that he supports my appeal, and that the Academics Appeal Committee also supports my appeal, so I can spend more evenings at home with my husband and babies and not taking classes that will do nothing but add to my collection of units that is now at 81 with nothing but transcripts to show for it.

Moral of the story: Don't play stupid like me. Don't wait. Don't think that you can't go to school when you have a baby. Going with one baby would have been so much easier than going with 3 at home. Just take 20 credits a semester when you are a Freshman, and get a degree before you start your family and move all over the country.

The transfer process is not something I'd wish upon my worst enemy if I had one.
And I'm about to go through it a fourth time.

Send happy thoughts my way Wednesday!