aaaaand financial aid is already being a massive, massive dick to me. there's a positive sign. i like how the dude thinks that his massive dickitude is totally excused and made understandable by the fact that he uses phrasings like "philosophy of education". i mean, obviously, if i try, as a married, financially independent 25 year old who has already paid off one student loan, who has been responsible for paying for my own education for over three years, and who has no contact with her parents, to be considered as (gasp!) a financially independent student, the problem is that i am disrespecting The Philosophy Of Education!

it appears, in fact, that his "philosophy of education" is, in fact, a "philosophy of not giving out financial aid". i've already accepted that the st. john's "philosophy of education" involves not giving free or reduced-cost admission to the spouses of full time employees, but it also apparently involves getting me to force my few-years-from-retirement, in-considerable debt single mother to shell out for (another) undergraduate education. unless of course i try to hit up my father, which would involve googlestalking him, since i have had no contact with him in nearly twenty years. in point of fact, financial aid wants me to provide information for BOTH of them, so they can determine my aid package accordingly, whether or not said parents are able or willing to provide any money to me at all.

according to the federal government guidelines, i am an emancipated, independent student several fucking times over. but then, the federal government doesn't have a "philosophy of education". when they don't feel like helping students succeed, they just explain it by pointing to budget cuts.