UPDATE: Success Rate Now 100%

Update:

I just got my electricity turned on in my name as of tomorrow AND I went back to New York Sports Club (this time on Wall Street, where people will demand good service) and, sure enough, got the $135 fee reduced to $50 (which I knew I'd have to pay).

Tomorrow I'll go to Yale, take possession of the apartment, go to Ikea and order all my stuff, and give Yale my financial aid forms, medical certification, and Columbia transcripts. I also called Yale and asked them what to do if my rent is higher than they allow for in the budget and the financial aid woman was amazing, telling me that if at ANY point I feel like I can't live on Yale's budget then I should come in, review my expenses, and we'll get an increase.

OH, I should also say that when I called the phone rang and the financial aid director picked up...no recordings or touch-tone menus, no hold time, no underlings.

The good thing about a law school that is, like, 15 people lol is that each of these "offices" (financial aid, registration, even admissions) basically only has one or two people in it, so you really do get great care.

I don't know what I'll think of Yale or New Haven when I'm there, but I can say that thus far it has been like the Four Seasons of law school customer service in all my dealings with them so far. I've never had an email go more than a day without a reply and I've NEVER received back answers that were just the rote repetition of university policy, rather than tailored solutions to my problems.

:)

VC