Because colleges discriminate

... against lower-middle class white girls who rely on financial aid and just want to take some damn art classes.

Apparently, if you already have a bachelor's degree, you can't have anymore. That's all you get. You already had your cake.

I asked if I could enroll as an undergraduate again, and use my last degree to cover my core classes as transfer credits. I didn't think it was a ludicrous suggestion, since I got my degree at the end of 2004 and if I had made this decision one day before graduating, this would have been what they recommended.

I was actually told by a Georgia State (Georgia State!) adviser that doing so would be "having your cake and eating it too." I was under the impression that universities existed so that people could better themselves. Whoops.

Excuse me for seeing the "Post-Baccalaureate" program for what it is: A steaming pile.

Just for already having your cake (i.e., working your ass and bank account off for your previous college degree), you now have to enroll as a non-entity.

You are ineligible for financial aid, because the college doesn't actually owe you anything.
You get last dibs on the list for registration, because the college doesn't think you're a student.
You have to pay student fees, even though all evidence points to your non-student status.

You're probably wondering why I don't just get a Master's degree. Well the whole issue is that I don't have the pre-reqs for the programs I'm interested in. And while taking a Modern Art Survey class at the Institute of Art Chicago might sound spectacular, it's a lot less peachy when you realize that you have to pay graduate tuition for that undergrad class. Probably. I haven't looked into it, but you know that's what they'd do. And I don't have 3 grand laying around. Which is what a survey class would probably cost. (3 hours at 1100 per credit hour... I'm being generous.)

[edit: i looked it up. graduate per credit hour is $1075. undergrad is $965. So... my survey would actually only be $2,895. I apologize]

This GSU adviser, who up until this point had been very nice and helpful, actually suggested that if I really want to be an undergraduate again, that I could apply and enroll as an Art History major if I wanted to take all my core classes again.

No, guy. I already had my fill of Psych 1000 and Elementary Statistics. But the thought is really tempting.