Thursday, January 31, 2008

Trying not to FREAK OUT!





This past week has been one of the most unnerving weeks I have ever had. My daughter, Joy, graduates from Lititz Christian School this May. That’s not the part that is freaking me out. To me, there is nothing but great joy and excitement in seeing her pass through these great milestones of life.

She has applied and has been accepted to Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. That’s not the part that is freaking me out either. In fact, that is acting like a soothing balm to the fact that my first born is getting ready to leave home. For me, Liberty is like a home away from home. That is where I spent my four years of college. I loved it there. I have talked to other aging alumni who agree…there is just something really special about that mountain and the Liberty Campus. To send my daughter there is like sending her home. I know that there are many other really good Christian colleges out there, but I will always see Liberty as head and shoulders above them all.

Here is the part that is now freaking me out. This past week we had to finish her enrollment process in order to lock in the current tuition rates. If we waited until after January 31, the rates increased. But to finish the process we had to select and lock into a monthly payment plan for the Fall semester. That payment plan begins immediately. That’s right. My daughter still has four months of High School remaining and my credit card is now being charged monthly toward her first year of college. Folks, listen. That freaks me out!

When I saw the figure I was floored. Now keep in mind that Liberty is consistently in the lowest 10% of all Christian colleges when it comes to costs. Still, the final figure for her fall semester freaked me out. Surely that was the cost for all four years, right? No! Well, it must have been the cost for at least half of her college career, right? No! Okay, then, it must be the cost for her first full year…right? No! This final figure now being divided over the next ten months and being drafted from my VISA is only for her first semester of her freshman year. Folks, listen, I am freaking out!

So the calculator in my head begins to work automatically. If you take that amount and double it, there is the cost of a full year. OUCH! If you take that new amount and quadruple it, that is the amount of a four year college run….please, Joy, finish in four years!!! As the calculator inside my head does its computing I can honestly tell you that I am freaking out big time!! And if that wasn’t bad enough, it then hit me that in two years, as Joy begins her Junior year of college, our son, Jonathan, will be starting his freshman year. I am freaking out over the cost of one kid being in college…how do I even begin to imagine the cost of two kids being in college at the same time?? FREAK OUT!!!!

So, all you blog readers who have already endured the stage of life that I am just now starting, please take the time to send me an e-mail (skdistler@lgbc.org) and share with me what you learned. I can use some advice, but even more than that, I can use some reassurance! I’m open to anything but horror stories. Please keep those to yourself! I'M FREAKED OUT ENOUGH!

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