.Twenty Two THOUSAND Dollar Question.

Alright pals, I'm not really a believer in the "no dumb question" thing.  I absolutely have heard some dumb questions out there.  Also, repeat questions are dumb.  If someone has answered a question... don't ask them again. That's dumb.  Regardless of the fact that there are clearly dumb questions out there I do think it is important not to be afraid to ask certain questions. It's so common the be afraid of sounding silly or stupid and not asking the question at all.  My new rule of thumb, after a recent revelation is, if this question is directly related to my life and/or my well being... I'm going to ask it.  I'm going to ask even if I am afraid of sounding dumb because it could be situation changing or potentially life changing.

As of last week I went back to college.  Being I am twenty five and no longer a rebellious eighteen year old, I had to figure out all of this grown up-ish stuff on my own.  I couldn't hand all of my paperwork over to my mom or dad. So that sucked. The good thing is I was obviously more prepared to handle all of the financial responsibilities as a twenty five year old than when I was a little, green, eighteen year old.

Okay, so after my acceptance to the baking and pastry program at the art institute in Nashville I had to get to business. I fill out my fafsa.  I get back the information that I will be getting some grants and some government loans. Great. After all was said and done I still did not have enough money to pay for school. Yes, I would be working, but I was sure of the fact that between my rent, phone, and other grown up bills I would not be able to cover the nearly $14,000 I would still owe. Womp womp.

At this point I thought, what would most students do? Well, of course they would take out a private loan.  My aunt agreed to co-sign. We filled out all of the paperwork and I was approved.  My aunt calls me a couple days later, which was less than a week before I started classes.  She says to me, "Sar, this loan is stupid." As tears filled my eyes because if I did not have the loan, I couldn't go to school, I say, "yeah." I explained to her that this is the way it works. Almost every student has to take out a private loan because it is the ONLY OPTION. She told me she totally understood and that she wanted to help, but I would be paying $11,000 on a $14,000 loan. Madness. After talking to my lovely Aunt Sue for a little while we decided that I should go into my school and demand answers. Yes, demand... I'm really intimidating. 

The next morning on my way to work I decided to stop at my school.  I go into the main lobby area and say, "I need to see Tricia, I DON'T have an appointment." As the sweet, southern front desk lady tells me she is in a meeting, I crossed my arms and say, "I'll wait." So bad ass.  I found myself a seat and about forty five minutes later Tricia comes out smiling to meet me. 

We went back into her office and I explain to her that we NEEEEED to figure something else out. I ask her about making monthly payments and she tells me they'll be over $600.00 a month. Okay, so that was out. Then she explains that I can pay $200.00 a month but I'll be paying for 53 months in total. So.. that seemed like an option. FINALLY, she casually says, "you said you want to do the 2 year program in 17 months right?" I nod yes. She says,"Well you know if you do it in 2 years you will get a whole other grant for that extra time in school which will take roughly $10,000. off of your bill." UMMMM- WHAT?! No, I actually didn't know that because I am not a financial advisor. 

LUCKILY, my advisor eventually told me that.  The main problem I see here is that I had been sitting in her office at this point for about forty minutes.  I had had several phone conversations with her about my best options. DING DING DING... this is clearly the best option. Yes, I'll lose about 6 months of time in the process, but I will have more hours in my day with a less busy class load to work. More work means more money that I will be taking in. More money coming in equals an easier time with my bills. My school bill went from about $14,000 to a little over $3,000 plus the federal loans that I will pay back, which are minimal interest in comparison to the private loans.

After my Sally Mae loan would have been said and done I'd be paying $25,700 with interest on a $14,700 loan. INSANE. After speaking with my advisor who almost forgot to advice me (who is actually really nice by the way) I will be paying $3,700 over the next 2 years. 

The point of my little anecdote is, ASK QUESTIONS. Whether you feel that they are dumb questions or not, just ask... unless it is a repeat question, of course.  I almost did not go speak with my advisor because I am too proud of a person and did not want to admit that I needed some help figuring out the situation at hand. Lucky for me it all worked out for the very best.



SIDE NOTE- It kind of seems that the loan situation that our most students in our country have no choice but to turn to is very flawed. It pisses me off a little that I could have spent $22,000 more than I needed to in order to go to a two year associates programs. Also, THANKS AUNT SUE. 


THANKS FOR READING PALS! <3

       

.Let's Play Ketchup.

 Being 800 miles from home I decided to start this blog about all of these new, fun things going on to keep my family & close friends in the loop-de-loop.

Well... this whole blog thing is a little bit new to me (or a lot), but I'm going to give it a go.  My husband Larry and I recently moved to Nashville (as in 3 days ago), we are newlyweds as of June 1st, 2013, and I am about to start school for a program in baking & pastry next week.  Lots of new stuff, lots of excitement, and of course... lots of nerves. I love this unsure feeling.

For anyone who missed anything, here is a quick summary of the last two years... LET'S PLAY KETCHUP.

Lar got his doctorate in physical therapy. I sadly left my job working at a kids gym and we decided to travel through his work. In the past two years we have lived in Texas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Oregon, back in Pennsylvania, and in our home state of New Jersey (with my amazing gram). We got engaged shortly after our nine year anniversary of dating, while we were living in Massachusetts.  We were married in New Jersey this past June and it was absolutely PERFECT.  Along the way we have met lots of interesting people that we are lucky enough to now call our friends.  We have been so lucky to drive all over the country together, in love and in a van.

It is a little sad to stop moving from place to place, but for me personally it will be very gratifying to live a little less on whim (although, I do love that) and meet some personal goals that have developed over the past couple of years. That is pretty much that.

                        THE PAST TWO YEARS.

We have moved our life in a van several times.

      

We took countless selfies while on the road.

     

We got engaged.

We ran a half marathon.

He ran a full... in the rain!

               

We got a little closer to Lar's favorite president.

We saw Mount Rushmore!

We finally saw the pacific ocean.

We hiked... a lot!

We took engagement photos in beautiful Oregon.

We have been to tons of capitols. 

Lots of states have welcomed us.

We gave a tree in Colorado a cute tattoo.

We lived with the BEST person ever. (My Gram)

OH YEAH... and... 

...the best thing of all...

                         WE GOT MARRIED!

I can't believe I just summed up two years of my life in a paragraph.  It seems like it should be more than that.  Thankkks for reading my first blog post.  I plan to keep 'em comin' (I'm southern now). Enjoy my little journal in my own corner of the internet!