Getting financial aid is almost like finding the perfect man but instead
of breaking your heart when he leaves, he just asks you for money. Going to the
financial aid office, to see just how poor you’re going to be for the rest of
your life, is like going on a first date. You’re unsure of who or how much
you’ll get, butterflies in your stomach and a nervous sweat from waiting.
There I was, in the lime green
painted office of the financial aid people. A people very different from the
rest of us. The TV played a movie fitting for such occasion, The Grudge. As the waiting room emptied
and I was left alone with the vomit inducing paint color, I wondered why I was
so nervous. I’ve been in school for ten months, all my papers checked out and
literally all I was doing was handing them a piece of paper with my moving
info.
To keep my mind busy and to make
it look like I was actually doing something instead of listening to the workers
conversations, I texted the roommate. She was in class, has been for seven
hours and was just about ready to give up.
On break now, ready to just leave. How can some1 teach math for 8
hours!- the roommate.
8 hours?! That’s insane. I was
never in class that long- me.
Its okay though cause im looking at this cute guy who sits in front of
me.
I’m sitting in financial aid.
Isn’t the lime green disgusting.
I was about to answer her back
when my advisor called me. We’ve chatted through email before but this was the
first time I laid my eyes on him. Again, like a first date. I handed him the
papers, a simple worksheet he’s been looking for since 2013, and he told me
that everything checked out.
He just had one question for me.
“Why are you switching back to online?”
“Family troubles, financial
troubles the usual.”
“I feel ya. I’m still paying off a
loan. I graduated in 1998,” he told me.
“Well, everything looks pretty
good. I wish you the best in your travels,” he says as he stands up and offers
me his hand. We shake and I leave. First date success.
The way back home I wondered about
financial aid. That beast in the college process, the dragon we all have to
slay. It’s really not as bad as you would think it would be. Unless you fuck
up, somewhere on the paperwork, have to start all over again, rip out a few
strands of hair and wait to see just how much aid you’ll get.
This is to all my babies just
starting college. It really is the best four years of your life. Don’t fuck it
up.
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