general problems of the 1999 Saturn SL

I just received a 1999 Saturn Sl 2 series a year ago from my mother for my very first car. I got it at about 100,000 miles and it is now currently at 122,446. I noticed about a month ago while I would be driving, usually after about 1-2 miles after starting up the car and driving, my gears began to Slip. I kept up with just about monthly oil changes, accompanied by transmission fluid checked and topped off. My transmission oil has never been low. Then, about 4 days ago I went to leave from my work orientation, and I couldn't back up my car from my parking spot, the reverse had went out. So I put the car back in drive, then back to reverse thinking maybe it didn't go into reverse all the way and it did not work. I revved up the engine, nothing happening until I did it oretty hard, and eventually it started rolling back a little. I looked up on the internet to see if this was a pretty big issue or not, and I realize I see it a lot in 1999 Saturns. A recall I believe would be the best option for fixing this issue and would further prevent people from spending so much money. I took my car to a mechanic and it's currently sitting there now. I don't know what they are going to tell me. I believe it could be a small part that just needs replaced, but I'm sure they're going to just have me purchase a whole new transmission which is not what I prefer to do as a 18 year old college student. Especially if the car was only 700$ that I purchased it for.

The lock on the steering column is too loose to be turned effectively only someone who has driven the car for a while knows how to get the key to turn so that the car can be started.