Becoming a graduate student

So I've been taking graduate classes, but apparently I am not officially enrolled as a graduate student. While cleaning through things, I found this letter I received last September - in the midst of my very first online graduate class - that let me know I can take as many classes as I wish, but only the first 12 credits will apply towards an actual Master's degree if I am not enrolled.

Poop.
As of this summer, I have taken 12 credits, so unless I enroll NOW then the classes I have signed up for for the fall will not count. So I call and inquire to find out what I have to do.

I have already missed the deadline to enroll as a graduate student for the fall... it was sometime in March. So sure I can enroll, for January 2011. So does that mean my fall classes wouldn't count? Correct. Then I'm not taking them. The secretary I got, was not so helpful or positive or understanding. So I called the biology department, and being a little more helpful, Brian says I can probably get a waiver so that my fall classes will count.

Ok. So I fill out the forms, send in my letter of intent, and get everything sent. I don't have to pay the fee, I don't have to take the GRE's bc my GPA is high, my LIU transcript is there because for some reason I sent it last year, I'm good. Except for the community college transcript. I took two classes at a community college to get certified to teach earth science - so they had nothing to do with my degree - but I still need to send an official transcript.

These people are in the stone ages. I cannot order one online or over the phone. I can go to the office in person - in New York - or I can mail them the form and they can mail the transcript. Is there anyway to speed up the process? Yes, send it overnight with an addressed overnight envelope inside... so I am paying 5 bucks for them to print a piece of paper and stick it in an envelope I am providing. Right. Ugh.

Do you know how much it costs to send express mail? 20 bucks. So it would have been 40 bucks to send an envelope to NY with an envelope inside to NE. YEAH RIGHT. I don't care that much. So I sent a regular envelope with a regular envelope inside and I am crossing my fingers that the crazies at the post office can get my mail around in a reasonable amount of time, that I can in fact get a waiver for my classes that start next week, and that maybe I might be eligible for financial aid.