Back to School for ME!

My kids have been back in school for almost a week now. Now its my turn. Tomorrow will be my first day back to school in 8 years. I am going back to college to finish my degree. (And I am scared to death) I didn't think I was going to be this nervous, but I am. A lot has changed since I was last in school. The biggest thing to change is ME! I am now MARRIED and a MOTHER of THREE. Most of my classmates will be hurrying out of class to get a quick nap before the nights frat party. I will be hurrying home so I can get the laundry and dishes done before the kids get off the bus. I also have to find time to do my homework after I help my kids with theirs. What was I thinking? Why am I doing this?

Why because I want to prove to my kids (and myself) that I can. I want to show my kids that they can do anything if they put their minds to it. I also want to be able to take care of my family if I ever have to. You can't support a family of 5 on a minimum wage job any more. And without a college degree that's about as good as I could do. My kids deserve better than that.

I can do this. It will be very different than most college experiences but maybe it will be better. I know what I want and I am there because I want to be. Wish me luck.

Oh I want to thanks my sister for hooking me up with new school supplies. When she heard I was going back to school she bought me a new backpack filled with notebooks, pencils, pens, highlighters and folders. Hoe cool is she? This totally made my day. THANKS SIS!

Trying to go back to School - VGNO

All I want to do is go back to school. But my college doesn't seem to want me too. They seem like they are doing everything possible to make it harder for me. Or they are doing as little as possible to help me.

I was accepted to return to my old college back in January. I filed for my financial aid as soon as we filed our taxes. Then I waited. And waited. And waited some more.

At the end of May I contacted the school so I could finalize my class schedule. I had to meet with my advisor. So I drove the hour it takes me to get to campus and after about and hour finally figured out which classes I needed and which classes were not already full. Which was LOADS of fun.

While I was on campus I thought I should go by the financial aid office to see what was going on with my money. Well first they looked at my like I was crazy. Then they told me I was not going to get any money or grants because I had only finished 71% of my classes and needed to finish 75% in order to get money. Well I had to drop 4 classes 7 years ago because i could go to school full time, work full time and take care of my son. They just looked at me and said, "SORRY." Well after asserting myself to the little girl behind the counter I was able to speak to someone who really mattered. She told me to go here and do this and I would be able to get some financial; aid because I had been out of school for so long.

Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

I call the school back a month later because the computer is still showing NO MONEY! Well after being passed around to about 6 different people I was talking to the HEAD of financial aid and she told me that what I had done a month ago was the worse ting to do and it would help me because my old grades were so good. (It pays to study.) She told me what I should have been told a month before. Well I finally got everything with financial aid all straightened out.

Yesterday I drove all the way to campus with three kids to buy my books. I thought it would be a good opportunity to show my kids a real college. If I start drilling them about college now There will be no question about going to college later. They were thrilled. They thought it was great. We got all the books and I even got the kids T-shirts to they could brag about their Mommy. After spending an hour in the campus bookstore we went to pay for our loot. They little girl behind the counter just looked at me and told me I couldn't purchase books until 10 days before school starts. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! So we put all our stuff back, (The kids were not happy about that.) and drove back home.

I guess they haven't really been that bad. It is just so frustrating. I am already really nervous about going back. I have been gone for 7 years and I will be so much older than everyone else. Not so much in years (I will be 28 in October where most of my fellow classmates will be 20) but in experience. I am a married mother of three and most of them can't even drink legally.

I am excited and really want to show my kids I can do this. I am just ready for the semester to start. The anticipation is the worst part.

WISH ME LUCK!