If you’re getting ready to call the financial aid office, be sure you’re comfortable and within reach of a) food stuffs, b) the TV remote and c) a pillow to scream into — you’re going to be on hold for a while.

In a University model that promotes access and affordability, the financial aid services at ASU seem to be under a sea of red tape so thick only Moses could part it.

The bureaucracy is infuriating — waiting in long lines only to speak to someone who cannot help you and instead will direct you to an even longer and more frustrating line.

In the 2008-2009 academic year, 46,000 ASU students received financial aid with a total adding up to more than half a billion dollars, according to the ever-helpful ASU financial aid Web site.

Clearly, the department has a large number of students to deal with — a number that is increasing with growing student enrollment and the inception of new funding options like the President Barack Obama Scholars program.

But this increase in the number of aid recipients does not qualify as an excuse to not get things done in a timely manner or to rely on an antiquated system. (Note to the financial aid office: No one’s wallet is thick enough to carry the money it takes to pay tuition in cash. Maybe you’ve heard of credit and debit cards? They’re the new big things in commercial trade, and it wouldn’t hurt if they were accepted in lieu of cash or check at one of the largest universities in the country.)

If ASU is serious about its mission to accept as many qualified students as possible, regardless of their financial situations, it should be prepared to handle the increase in people and their corresponding financial aid packages.

ASU President Michael Crow said the University hopes to address some of the problems.

“We’ve had some issues with financial aid services this semester, in terms of time of response and things like that. So we’re working on that. [ASU is] trying to put in place the same kind of 24-hour response we have for technology,” Crow said.

We appreciate the University’s attempts to better the system, but perhaps a 24-hour window is overkill.

We would be happy with an office that is open for more than the daytime hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. To have it open only during regular business hours disregards the lifestyle of many students. Despite the false impression the nation seems to have about ASU, some people do actually go to class during the day, and the people who require financial aid services are also likely to have jobs on top of classes.

A financial aid office that stayed open a few more hours or added a few more employees to the mix would make an incredible difference that would be well worth the cost.

Don’t get us wrong, we are very thankful for the aid we are receiving, it’s just hard to remember that when we’re glued to the receiving end of a telephone for hours waiting for the 16 callers ahead of us to jump through bureaucratic hoops.