School Stuff

School is about to hold the position previously held by Art Awakenings--my whole life.

I contacted my adviser about the mental illness thing. He asked if it was controlled well with medication. Hmmm. I didn't know how to answer that honestly without incriminating myself. After getting some good words to use from a friend, I responded, "I do take medication for it, but I still have ups and downs at times." That was good enough for him. He said I'll be fine. I sure hope so.

Monday is my orientation day. Thursday is my financial aid appointment.

Now originally I had asked if financial aid covered the entire cost of the program. But I don't remember if I used the words "financial aid" or "Pell grant." There's a big difference there. Financial aid can include student loans. I want the Pell grant. I applied for the Pell grant (the easy part of this strange financial aid process). I was awarded $5,350. That's a nice sum of money, but the program is $10,625, which leaves me with $5,275 to pay. All I can think is, wow that's a lot of money for school.

Last night I talked to my brother and he gave me a little perspective. He said that his schooling, if he went full-time, would be over $8,000 per semester when you add in the cost of books and supplies. My program is only 35 weeks, so I kept thinking that's a lot of money for only 9 months of schooling. But 9 months is a little over two semesters. So I guess that's an okay price. The Pell grant award I got was the amount for one semester. So *hopefully* the school will take two Pell grant payments (to cover two semesters) and then I won't have to search high and low for another grant or (gulp) take out a student loan. Two payments of $5,350 gives me a $75 surplus. Woohoo! Someone pray for me that that will be the solution.

In the meantime, the process for applying for financial aid at this school is incredible. I can't just apply for the Pell grant and be done. I have to also apply for a Stafford loan. I have to come up with six references. I have to have this financial aid appointment. And this all before the actual schooling! Oh dear...