OPT Screw Up- Advice Badly Needed!

[screwup]

Hello everyone, I badly need advice- this is going to be long but please bear with me. I'm currently on an F1-OPT while I finish writing my thesis, and doing research for a professor who is supporting me using research funds. This summer, while I was communicating with my department regarding my OPT, my department secretary assured me that I could be on an assistantship on OPT and designated my funds as such. However, when I checked with the international office recently, they told me that this was illegal as assistantships presume you are enrolled full-time and only provide 19.6 hours of work, where 20 hours are required for OPT. So after some calls and meetings, my department moved my designation to Temporary Worker- what it should have been in the first place.

The only problem is that since I was on an assistantship, I had signed up for a class- not required, but I was thinking what the hell, it's going to be paid for anyway. The problem is since I'm not on an assistantship anymore, I'm going to have to pay for it. My university's grad studies changed my schedule to one credit unit in order to lessen the amount that I have to pay. However, it is still way too much for my salary to handle, since I am only working 20 hours. There is absolutely no way that I will be able to pay all of this off by December.

My question (finally) is, do I have a chance if I appeal to my school and ask if some (not even all, but just some) of the fees be waived? I am not attending the class anymore. I know that I am also at fault in the matter since I should have cleared my situation with the international office before agreeing to be put on an assistantship, so they can just say no and make me pay for it all. The problem is, I really can't. I may be leaving the US by December so I do not want to take out an external loan, my parents certainly cannot pay for it, and I really do not want to be in a hole of debt to anyone. Do I have a chance or is there no hope at all?! I'll be emailing my supervisor something about this of course, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice (or maybe experience?!) in the matter. Thank you!

[TakeruK]

Yikes, this is a really sucky situation I don't think I can think of any advice other than to go ahead and talk to your supervisor and see what they or the school can do. Talk to the school too and see if the fees can be waived...it might help to talk to your supervisor first and they would hopefully help you talk to the right people. You might also want to reach out to any student organizations on campus that help students (e.g. the grad student government etc.) and/or the International Office. Basically, talk to as many people as you can to see what you can do! Good luck.

[screwup]

Thanks! It's going to be a tough journey but I'm optimistic I can make something happen. Failure is not an option since I really can't afford it...   I'll be sure to update this thread with the end result.

[fuzzylogician]

I'd also try the admin staff in your department. They are usually a good resource for who to contact and how to navigate the university's bureaucracy. Good luck!

[screwup]

Updating this thread with a happy ending! After a lot of back and forth, my department agreed to cover the tuition. I might have to pay some other fees, but that's totally fine with me, as the tuition was the lion's share of the fees. So what happened is someone from the international office gave my department completely wrong information, which is what led to the mixup. If somebody finds themselves in my situation, my only advice is to be persistent and try EVERYONE you think can help.  

[TakeruK]

Yay! Glad that it worked out and that you came back to give an update