College? No Problem!

     I figure that I don't need to worry about how I'm going to send Chelsey to college yet.  After all, I have nearly 5 1/2 years before she heads off to an institute for higher education.  Wait a minute!  That's it?  I only have 5 1/2 years?  I better get a move on!  

     Seriously, in the eight years it took me to get a four-year degree, I got married, had two children, filed for divorce, and emerged with only $6,000 in student loans.  So, when I have a code orange moment, I take a deep breath, look at Chelsey's test scores one more time, and verbally remind myself that college is possible regardless of what life throws our way. 

      Our children going to college is one brief portion of our lives and theirs.  It is important, yet comprises probably five to eight years out of the eighty to one hundred and eighteen we hope to have.  Changing or adjusting our perspective is important.  This is easy to say but can be harder to do in light of increasing tuition and the evolving rules and regulations for financial aid.  I declared myself an independent at nineteen, because I was, and it made Pell Grants an option for me.  Our poor children aren't recognized as independents for Pell Grants until they are twenty-five years old, just in time for graduate school.

     As parents, we need to remember that there are options beyond our wallets.  Local, state, and university scholarships should be applied for because it's a good experience regardless of whether or not the student wins.  Work study programs will work around a student's schedule and provide them opportunity to participate in financially earning their degree.  Working outside of school is also an option if work study doesn't appeal to the student.  I suppose I am reinforcing the concept of "work" on the part of the student. 

     Telling myself, outloud, that college is a portion of my child's life and that there are options usually helps me relax.  If that doesn't work, I can always cry on a friends' shoulder, take a bubble bath and sip a cup of tea, take on two extra jobs and sock the earnings in a college fund, or decide that at eighteen I'm booting my kids out of the house and they can go it alone.