Is its Parent Directory writable by server?

Sounds like a clueless web host. See Changing File Permissions ? WordPress Codex. Change uploads and wp-content to 755

Ok thanks. I tried that, I even tried 775 just in case but neither worked. Think this is something my host can reset on their end or is it something I need to take care of in wordpress? Could it possibly be an issue with the database I set up?

At this point, it’s the host’s problem. Ask them to set permissions for you. If they can’t, they don’t support WordPress, much other software isn’t going to run, either, and so I’d look for a new host.

try 777. some hosts run the web server as the nobody user, so it’s under the ‘others’ category.

if that works, lower the permissions till it doesn’t. you’ll probably be able to change it to 707.

The 777 trick worked. Thanks so much!

777 permissions are vulnerable to hacking. Don’t leave them at 777.

Yeah, I bumped em back to 755 so all’s good.