EA300 Children's Literature Registration

I recently posted a blog post about the way the OU has changed their process for registering for the Part-Time Study Grant and how tricky it had made registering. This is kind of a part two to that saga.

My main worry when filling in the form was the little tickbox that said 'have you applied before?' Or words to that effect. What I should have been worrying about was the little bit on the next page which was asking me for my name.

Last week we returned home from a walk to find a letter from the OU. This contained  all the forms I'd sent in around ten days before and a covering letter explaining why they'd been sent back.

The reason?

On the grant application form it asked for First Name, Last Name, Date of Birth, etc. All the standard sorts of things you're asked on forms and all information the OU already holds on me. Except the information I'd provided on the form didn't match the information they held about me in their system.

Ironically enough the bit that I'd gone wrong on was my own name! The name I've had for the last twenty-seven years and have been able to write correctly for at least the last twenty-three of those.

Yep, my form was returned because in the bit where it asked for your First Name I'd put my first name and in the bit where it asked for your Surname I'd put my surname. Can you see where I went wrong?

No? Neither could I until I checked the covering letter it had been returned with. Apparently the OU has me down as [First Name] [Middle Name] [Last Name] whereas the form had only asked for First and Last Names, therefore the document didn't match their records.

To rectify this I had to either send them a covering letter with my forms asking them to remove my middle name from their records (thereby making their records match the form I was submitting for the grant) or add my middle name to the form.

I did consider sending a somewhat snarky covering letter back asking them to remove my middle name from the records because the form I had sent in didn't even ask for a middle name but I figured that I didn't want to be one of *those* people. In the end I added the extra four letters they were asking for onto the form and it was with some relief that I got an email this week with confirmation that I am now registered for the course!