Going to college.

Ok, exaggeration. But not by much.

I love Syracuse. I will be one of those obnoxious people that makes her significant other/family watch the sports games and will call friends at UConn to rub our wins in their faces.

WARNING: Digression. Do not read if you cannot follow more than one topic at a time.
[So I'm eating this salad. Has the potential to be really good. It's got peas and corn and carrots and red peppers and celery. But it also has red onion. Now normally I'm not opposed to this vegetable, however, this little guy has taken over my entire palate. So much so that every other vegetable tastes like onion. I'm very disappointed at this moment.]

My Syracuse years will certainly fulfill all those stereotypic clichès and if/when I have children, they will hear about them (and possibly think their mother is a drunk/whore/drug addict/lunatic, but so obvi not the point.) The point is, that I am a die hard-Syracuse-obsessed-fanatic.

And I want to set the school on fire.

BECAUSE as much as I love my school, get good grades, do good things, yadda yadda, I still have to pay out the ass to go there. The majority of my fellow students dont really have to worry about this problem, as they are JAPS and/or trust fund babies. My mother makes a good living. I have a nice house in a nice Connecticut suburb. I have my own car, blah blah. But my mother is NOT paying for my college tuition – which may I remind you is a whopping $43,000 a year.

So last year when I realized that my scholarship and Stafford Loans weren’t going to cut it, and I couldn’t possibly face getting yet another $15,000 loan, I sat down with my FinAid advisor and told her about how my internship is full time and unpaid, how I have a part time job for money to live off during the summer, and how while doing this I was still trying to pay off my credit cards from a semester abroad, not to mention save money for books/booze (ok I didnt tell her booze) in the fall.

So what happens?

Today I get my FinAid award.

Not only do I not get grants or scholarships, but I have been awarded $3,800 LESS than I was awarded last year. NOT TO MENTION, the $2,000 of my award money is now in a loan – not a grant, not work study, a LOAN – at 6.5% interest.

HOW. Is it POSSIBLE. That I sat down with someone and went over how desperate I am for more funds, and they looked at my FAFSA and said “Well, FUCK that chick.”

Someone tell me how. Because I cannot for the life of me figure it out.

So here’s advice for all you kids. College is like a piece of clothing from Abercrombie. Because you’re now a walking Abercrombie advertisement with the logo gratuitously plastered somewhere on the garment, everyone knows that you went to Abercrombie and spent a ton of money. Thus suggesting that you are cool/hot/hip/preppy/rich what have you. But in reality you just spent your last bit of your Christmas money on that one shirt/skirt/sweater and your mom grounded you because you we’re supposed to spend it on your grandmother for her birthday. And now nana isnt getting a present, and you can’t go anywhere in the damn shirt anyway.

In other words, get a real job, work hard, go to school if your job will pay for it. Waste your money on drugs and booze and yourself. Not some guy in a suit who after 4 years will give you a piece of fuckin paper with your name on it. You can get that at Kikos for less than $5.

peace love and cocaine,

natalie marie.