Hi all. Welcome to WYFP. Here’s the usual yadda yadda:
WYFP is our community's Saturday evening gathering to talk about our problems, empathize with one another, and share advice, pootie pictures, favorite adult beverages, and anything else that we think might help. Everyone and all sorts of troubles are welcome. May we find peace and healing here. Won't you please share the joy of WYFP by recommending?
Okay, now the whiny confession.
Tonight’s WYFP is, in part, one faced by millions. The current cost of college. To which I will get, eventually, but first, a bit of background.
When I was young, my parents made a deal with me. If I went to college, and graduated with a degree, they would pay for my education. If, for any reason, I failed to graduate with a degree, I would pay back any and all monies spent up to that time. Pretty good deal, yeah? So, after taking a year off to try out the world of work, I followed my friends to Oregon State, graduated, and all was well. When I got out, I landed in the computer business just as personal computers were really taking off. (Apple IIC, anyone? :) ) Spent the next 15 years surviving mergers and acquisitions in corporate houses large and small, before changing directions when KidCJB was born. That college degree was my ticket into a great early career.
Skip forward to the late-90s. The hub and I are expecting a baby. I tell the hub that when the kid reaches college age, I’d like to do the same for him as my folks did for me. He agreed that this was a good plan.
(Calendar pages flipping by, indicating passage of time.)
KidCJB is now 19. He, too, took a year off to work after high school. This has been a good motivator for him. Last year, he came home on his fourth day of employment at a local department store and announced, “I am definitely going to college.”
Now, the hub and I knew this time was coming. We knew the deal that we’d made, and that it would require a good deal of money. We knew that college tuition was rising. What we hadn’t followed closely enough was JUST HOW MUCH college tuition had risen. Add to that the undeniable fact that we really suck at saving money, and you know exactly where we are, don’t you?
I know. I know! But we’ve done amazing things with money we’ve spent. Especially when it comes to improving our house and property. And, yes, I’m justifying. Don’t judge. >:P
When I was in school, a year of room and board came in at around $6000. This year, same school, $25,000. That’s $100,000 for an undergrad degree. At a state school. THAT IS INSANE!!
We’ll make it. The kid’s got really decent grades, so he got some help. We have really decent credit, so we’ll do the good, red-blooded American thing and rack up some debt, which we’ll pay off in fairly good time.
But, man. I wish we’d been smarter. A lot smarter.
Anyway, before we move on, I understand that this is hugely a first world problem, and that it can be hard to sympathize with an FP that is the diarist’s own damned fault. Go ahead and let me have it in the thread. So many others facing things so much more dire. Save your sympathy for those who really deserve it. :)
And, with that, What’s YOUR f*@!%n*’ problem?!