Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Green Paper

Green is pretty important yes? Green plants keep our planet alive, green is the color of UNT, green is what my blog is called... Though my blog also stands for Green Releases Excellent Engineering Nerds. O Green how I love thee. Though to be honest, orange or blue is my true favorite color, sorry green.

Green is also the color of our United States currency... In high school, I never really paid for much of anything, except for something I wanted to buy for myself. That's not to say I didn't work hard to earn money! In 7th grade I was a soccer referee, calling the shots and running the party. For sure it was fun while it lasted, parents screaming at me and all. I quit refereeing during my freshman year of college, while I worked at Starbucks as a barista and went to school full time. I was quite busy for sure. I decided to quit one Saturday... I had an 8 am soccer game to referee, 3 games in fact, all consecutive. By the time I got off it was 2:30 pm, and I had work at Starbucks at... 2:30... I closed that night, ending my 14 hour day. Had I not had caffeine running through my veins, I probably would have napped on the floor... :)

Anyway, going in to community college I was doing fine with finances. But now that I'm at a University, finances suddenly became a whole lot more relevant. If you're a prospective student, odds are you're more concerned about which school to go to rather than how much to spend at a school. To an extent, you are right to do so. Although picking a school that's right for you should be number one priority, price is a pretty big object to consider. It baffles me as to why this is, but some schools will charge an outrageously high tuition rate in order for you to attend.

Regardless of price though, managing your finances at a University is just part of the adult pie. Luckily there are people that can help you. As part of paying to come here, you get to talk to financial advisers, the school arranges a debit card for grants, scholarships, and loans, and averages 85% of need met. So if your parents or family don't come through, you didn't quite qualify for the financial aid you need, or you simply need help, you're covered! Someday when I'm rich after getting my degree and a fantastic job, donating to scholarship funds will be on my to-do list. Perhaps I'm already donating indirectly through my tuition and/or taxes I pay to the state, but alas, financial aid and scholarships are important to all students, and I appreciate the opportunities!