Saving For Upcoming Tuition Bill
Yeah, I stopped and looked at the calendar today. Which means I realized I will be hit for fall tuition probably next month. The college is quick to grab our money and slow to process money in our favor, like Pell grants. They usually credit the Pell grant money two days before “drop day” which is when they drop classes for students who haven’t paid yet. I guess it keeps us on our toes or something.
I haven’t decided yet if I want to take another summer course or not. It’s tempting as I make my slow progress towards a chemistry degree. I’m also toying with the idea of switching majors. I am just not seeing much opportunity to pay for pharmacy school since no one offers scholarships for the first year (my mom says first year attrition is pretty high). The idea of going back into debt, even for a high-paying pharmacy degree, turns my stomach.
I’m starting to seriously look at at a med tech degree. That’s lab work basically LOL and lab is fun … when I don’t blow things up, that is. I really thought microbiology lab was neat last year, even though my ADD grad student teacher made it hard to get a passing grade. And the other big plus is I would be able to get into the workforce quicker with a decent wage of approximately $30-40k a year. It would double our household income.
But I digress (too much coffee and hubby made another pot of it). I just got done moving $1000 over to my savings account in my credit union to sandbag for whatever nasty tuition hike surprises the college might have in store for the fall semester. I would have much preferred to sock that money into the money market account where we are building up the fully funded emergency fund, but the college makes it inconvenient to pay by paper check.
The college wants everyone to pay by “credit card.” My debit/check card works just as good, but still I just don’t understand the rationale behind this since Visa and Master Card charge some kind of merchant fee for processing. What ever happened to trying to save students a little money? Even if it is just to get that money back in tuition or the bookstore?
Oh, speaking of Pell grants … I still have to wade through that nightmare known as the FAFSA form. As if taxes aren’t painful enough! Oh well, I do like getting the Pell grant. And even with the accompanying headache it is a good return on my time.