Staying in Alamaba
So this woman that I wrote about previously. She was told today that our services to her would end on June 10. She got angry, demanded money she had given us for savings, and said she'd leave the next day.
I can only hope. I felt strange after the meeting, like I was scared to believe it had really happened, that we were really taking a stand against her, not allowing her to treat us like trash.
I can only imagine how much less stress I'll have after this is all over. Well, different, more manageable stress.
That will be a good thing. I've started thinking about beginning grad school while I'm here. It seems like it would give us so many more options, because then with my degree, we could move anywhere, instead of just a few places where I would be willing to go to school. I knew of a Saturday program that took place at DHR, so I pursued it. It appears to be the same program of study I was accepted to at the University of Alabama last year, only distance education. I thought I was looking into it way too late, as I wanted to start in the fall, three months from now. But the timing is out of my hands, as I discovered this is a new program that only accepts one class at a time. The current one is halfway through, so I wouldn't be able to start classes for exactly a year.
With that, I'd start classes a few months before Tim graduates. Which means we'd have to stay here two extra years. The thought of that, well, it's not my favorite one. There's no guarantee that he can get work with the company as a professional, though the incoming artistic director seems to like him very much. (I know there's a difference between liking him as a person--because who wouldn't??--and thinking his look and acting style could fit a wide range of parts.)
But regardless, it seems like this is the best thing for us to consider. I compared in-state tuition for the program here to the program I want to attend at the University of Denver. Here? Slightly over $9,000 in tuition (not counting that for the first semester, I'd continue working full-time). Denver, slightly over $55,000, and I would go full time, no work, unless it was part-time. We could pay for Alabama from our savings and not have to borrow a penny. Denver, I'd be an indentured servant paying off loans for the rest of my life.
And still, I don't know. While we'll probably swing towards staying, the thought of being around friends in Denver, going to a well-regarded grad school with a gorgeous campus makes me so happy, the cost of it is overwhelming.
And I'm doing things here to be happy. I think we could make it here.
I can only hope. I felt strange after the meeting, like I was scared to believe it had really happened, that we were really taking a stand against her, not allowing her to treat us like trash.
I can only imagine how much less stress I'll have after this is all over. Well, different, more manageable stress.
That will be a good thing. I've started thinking about beginning grad school while I'm here. It seems like it would give us so many more options, because then with my degree, we could move anywhere, instead of just a few places where I would be willing to go to school. I knew of a Saturday program that took place at DHR, so I pursued it. It appears to be the same program of study I was accepted to at the University of Alabama last year, only distance education. I thought I was looking into it way too late, as I wanted to start in the fall, three months from now. But the timing is out of my hands, as I discovered this is a new program that only accepts one class at a time. The current one is halfway through, so I wouldn't be able to start classes for exactly a year.
With that, I'd start classes a few months before Tim graduates. Which means we'd have to stay here two extra years. The thought of that, well, it's not my favorite one. There's no guarantee that he can get work with the company as a professional, though the incoming artistic director seems to like him very much. (I know there's a difference between liking him as a person--because who wouldn't??--and thinking his look and acting style could fit a wide range of parts.)
But regardless, it seems like this is the best thing for us to consider. I compared in-state tuition for the program here to the program I want to attend at the University of Denver. Here? Slightly over $9,000 in tuition (not counting that for the first semester, I'd continue working full-time). Denver, slightly over $55,000, and I would go full time, no work, unless it was part-time. We could pay for Alabama from our savings and not have to borrow a penny. Denver, I'd be an indentured servant paying off loans for the rest of my life.
And still, I don't know. While we'll probably swing towards staying, the thought of being around friends in Denver, going to a well-regarded grad school with a gorgeous campus makes me so happy, the cost of it is overwhelming.
And I'm doing things here to be happy. I think we could make it here.
posted by LE at 6:13 PM
3 Comments:
Could you apply for any sort of assistantship or fellowship or scholarship at Denver? It's worth looking into. I mean, there's no way I would have gone out of state for grad school had it not been for an assistantship. The balancing acts between money and geography and where friends are and aren't ... it's so hard. We've just begun to feel like we could make it work here in Champaign, but who knows?
I was awarded a merit scholarship for my initial application to Denver last time I applied. No doubt there are more scholarships available, but assistantships only go to the PhD students.
You seem to have the ability to be happy anywhere, any time you decide to do something about being so.
All I know is that where you are doesn't change who you are...
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