Student aid approved.

Well I called the school with my handful of questions, and of course I had to talk to 4 different depts to get them all answered. Well since I can claim minimal profit on my taxes (in childcare you can write off your entire home as a home office, so long as it's a room the kids or the business uses, I keep confidential files in a expand a file in my bedroom). I found out I have $520 in enrollment fees waived for the summer (that would be 20 units worth, 6 units is full-time for summer). Seems I also qualify for a pell grant, in which they simply send me a check. I was expecting something like a credit at the book store, but no, they mail a check. The check should arrive with the first week of each semester, so I'll have to buy my books (most likely on eBay) and then get "reimbursed" a week or two later.

College plans made

Well I feel like I'm running ten years late, but I'm finally able to finish the college I started, my parents made too much for me to get aid, and my mom refused to sign a loan. I should've taken it seriously and finished then, but my parents were less than supportive, and the 3 hours on the bus each day got to be a bit too much, but at 18 all I had was time. Now with a toddler and a school aged child, a business and family commitments, I'm much better at organizing a schedule and my life. I even managed to remember to visit my Grandmother on her 65th birthday this year. I met with my counselor last week and set up a plan to get thru in just over a year, on the contigency that I keep my grades high, she'll sign off on high-loads of credits. Basically with all my non-school commitments, she'll ok extra classes IF I take classes that I can complete easily (i.e. nutrition instead of physics). I applied and got my FAFSA approved in 3 days (they do it online now!), and I'm now waiting for may 11th to set up my class schedule (all of my general ED I can do online, so I'll only have to attend campus for my ECE classes. I haven't yet told my parents I'm going back to school, but I suspect at some point I'll bump into my sister (who's 17) as we're in the same college. Since even has summers off from his charter school, I'll start with a full load in June>July (6 units) and then move into a full load of 12>16 units a semester, only reason I can go for an aggressive schedule is that I work from 3pm > 2 am, and the kids go to sleep at 8:30 pm, so I can study while they sleep, so online classes are ideal for my oddball hours. State daycare regs say I can use an alternate for up to 20% of the time, so long as they have the same background checks (spouses and other adults in the home get checked under the same set of rules), so Matt can cover during my 4 hours of class time a week (the parents know I'm completing college).

Back to school for mommy.

Last week I received my postcard to attend my 10 year high school reunion. I really enjoyed the last 2 years of highschool, but when I flipped thru my yearbooks, I remembered most of my friends were either a year older or younger than I was, and I can't quite see making the trip to see "that guy who sat behind me in math class" (note: if by some fluke that guy reads this, man I'm sorry, but I couldn't remember your name then either). I feel a little apprenhension about going back to college 10 years later, not that I'll get a senior's discount yet, but I have so much MORE going on than I did 10 years ago, that I'm not sure if I can schedule in adequate study time to pull off straight A's (Funny thing about college, if I'm going to foot the bill, I'm going to get A's). Part of me shakes my head, and when it comes to math I'm going for the "solid C approach" (I *wish* I could justify a class in accounting as a replacement for math 90, but I doubt it). Tomorrow I go down and go over my "plan" with the guidance counselor (In a sick twist, I'll be finishing up just after I turn 30). The "plan" is to take 3 courses non stop till I'm done. Thank goodness for online & hybrids, I don't have 9>12 hours a week to spend at school, studying while the kids nap, sure.