College Economics
As you can already tell from the title, I'm going to be talking about the one common goal everyone has as one of their top three priorities: making money (the other two are family/social life and education). Surprisingly, these three coincide with each other a lot, but I won't get into that. Money has been taking over the human mind since the beginning of time. It's not our fault, just a way of keeping things going in the world.
Now let me ask you all a question: How many of you are paying for your own college? And don't give me that B.S. answer of "Oh financial aid is paying for me AND I have, like, $500,000 in scholarships because I'm so smart AND I took out $20,000 in student loans! HEE HEE!!" No. I mean full-on, out-of-pocket, cold-hard-cash. My guess if you're reading this is you aren't. Perhaps your parents are paying for you to go to college. And of course your answer is probably something like, "NO! I'm paying for my textbooks!" Sweetie, that's nothing. "OMG THAT'S ABOUT $1,000!" Yes... and your mommy and daddy are paying for the other $10,000, right? Yeah, I thought so. "Oh, well then how are YOU paying for college, Miss Hypocrite?" I payed for college with a check from my mom's funeral fund because I'm broke, didn't try hard during my Senior year, and have family financial issues. Because I moved to Connecticut after my dad lost our Florida home to the bank, I had to pay out-of-state tuition. "Oh that's not bad if you're going to community college." Really? If I went to Valencia, I could have paid only $1,188.72 to be a full-time student. But since I go to Gateway in New Haven, CT, I could only pay $2,765 for two classes. All of the funeral funding is gone now. My dad can't help pay for me, nor can anyone else. I can only pay for me at this point. Financial aid won't be taking effect until next year when I am still a Freshman because I can't take enough credits in two semesters to be considered a Sophomore.
Next question: How many of you have jobs? "Duh! I need to be social and go out doing whatever I want!" That's funny. And how did you get that job? "My mom/dad/aunt/uncle/friend hooked me up." Hmm, interesting. I applied to at least five places and only one called me back and that was the pet store, which I currently work. I work there for $8.25 an hour and no more than 30 hours a week. Now before you go off on me for saying that I'm getting a lot of money, I already calculated my pay. At the end of this year, I will have made about $2,500 after taxes. I won't be getting my taxed pay back until I file which I won't be able to do until January of 2014, after the due date of when I am supposed to pay for next semester's classes. I do have a side job of babysitting but that won't help much. Until then, I can't go out buying whatever I want. My tattoo and ear piercings are, unfortunately, going to have to wait until I get into a University.
You might already think I'm being an inconsiderate bitch, and I agree that I am on the bitchy side for tonight. But that's because I'm feeling angry and envious for the rest of my friends back home who can go to the college they want without feeling like they put a burden on their families because they can afford something I can't. Hell, I know a few people dropping out of college to join the military because they can't face the economic downfall from loans and deadlines. Now I understand what they mean by, "college students are on that Ramen Noodle budget." It's too much for someone to handle without any help. I don't know what I can do anymore. But I'm not giving up. I look at each new day as a new opportunity. I keep telling myself that all of this hard work will eventually pay off. I just hope I'm right this time.
Time is money,
Allison
Now let me ask you all a question: How many of you are paying for your own college? And don't give me that B.S. answer of "Oh financial aid is paying for me AND I have, like, $500,000 in scholarships because I'm so smart AND I took out $20,000 in student loans! HEE HEE!!" No. I mean full-on, out-of-pocket, cold-hard-cash. My guess if you're reading this is you aren't. Perhaps your parents are paying for you to go to college. And of course your answer is probably something like, "NO! I'm paying for my textbooks!" Sweetie, that's nothing. "OMG THAT'S ABOUT $1,000!" Yes... and your mommy and daddy are paying for the other $10,000, right? Yeah, I thought so. "Oh, well then how are YOU paying for college, Miss Hypocrite?" I payed for college with a check from my mom's funeral fund because I'm broke, didn't try hard during my Senior year, and have family financial issues. Because I moved to Connecticut after my dad lost our Florida home to the bank, I had to pay out-of-state tuition. "Oh that's not bad if you're going to community college." Really? If I went to Valencia, I could have paid only $1,188.72 to be a full-time student. But since I go to Gateway in New Haven, CT, I could only pay $2,765 for two classes. All of the funeral funding is gone now. My dad can't help pay for me, nor can anyone else. I can only pay for me at this point. Financial aid won't be taking effect until next year when I am still a Freshman because I can't take enough credits in two semesters to be considered a Sophomore.
Next question: How many of you have jobs? "Duh! I need to be social and go out doing whatever I want!" That's funny. And how did you get that job? "My mom/dad/aunt/uncle/friend hooked me up." Hmm, interesting. I applied to at least five places and only one called me back and that was the pet store, which I currently work. I work there for $8.25 an hour and no more than 30 hours a week. Now before you go off on me for saying that I'm getting a lot of money, I already calculated my pay. At the end of this year, I will have made about $2,500 after taxes. I won't be getting my taxed pay back until I file which I won't be able to do until January of 2014, after the due date of when I am supposed to pay for next semester's classes. I do have a side job of babysitting but that won't help much. Until then, I can't go out buying whatever I want. My tattoo and ear piercings are, unfortunately, going to have to wait until I get into a University.
You might already think I'm being an inconsiderate bitch, and I agree that I am on the bitchy side for tonight. But that's because I'm feeling angry and envious for the rest of my friends back home who can go to the college they want without feeling like they put a burden on their families because they can afford something I can't. Hell, I know a few people dropping out of college to join the military because they can't face the economic downfall from loans and deadlines. Now I understand what they mean by, "college students are on that Ramen Noodle budget." It's too much for someone to handle without any help. I don't know what I can do anymore. But I'm not giving up. I look at each new day as a new opportunity. I keep telling myself that all of this hard work will eventually pay off. I just hope I'm right this time.
Time is money,
Allison
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