FAFSA and College

The random nature of my email generally doesn't catch a lot of my attention since I seldom need the half-price offerings of the camping store or a bargain basement sale on hip waders at the hunting store's website.

But when the flagged message from the kindly folks who hold my son's educational future in their hands wends its way into my inbox, attention must be paid.

FAFSA - Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Also known as "this is the only way you are going to school unless we discover DNA proof that we are Gettys". While scholarships helped tremendously in the process of the first year, and we anticipate receiving other scholarships, let it be said in today's financial climate that scholarships don't cover the real cost of an education unless you are extremely gifted and have a few connections, too.

Most students are on the work-study plan, which means their parents work while they study.

Naturally, summers are spent at "the Pig" (or some equally regular job) sacking up groceries for delightful old ladies who roll their stockings down to just below the knee. The money made isn't enough to do a whole lot, but it insures you can pay for your insurance and gasoline during most of the school year without too many parental gas money subsidies.

FAFSA applications are meticulous and take into account all of the residents of the household that are human. Sadly, canid relatives need not apply even if graduation from obedience school with an eye on a master's in tail wagging was planned. Only human relations count in the numbers game.

They care enough to spend the very best.

Tuition, books, fees - in some cases but not in all - they are the first assault in the money hit. IF there is money left over, and that is a HUGE IF these days, a check for basic expenses is cut to you. Generally, there IS NO MONEY LEFT. But at least the financial realities of classes and books has been paid.

When parents struggle through their tax forms to make sure Junior and/or Juniette have the proper numbers for FAFSA completion, then the real fun begins of trying to keep them on the straight and narrow long enough to walk down the aisle in a few years and get a degree in SOMETHING that will enable them to do oh so much more than spending the rest of their life saying either "checkatawlferya" or "y'antfrieswitdat?".

Naturally, we understand that either of those phrases may occur as part of getting an education along with a host of others that don't sound very erudite or sophisticated, but which are necessary to get on toward degree completion.

And it is almighty true that everyone wasn't built to be a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon. But I take comfort in the fact that our world has some of all of the above categories just in case I'm either out in space and need fries or have a sudden month-long migraine that sends me to bed.

I guess I don't remember the frustration of my own parents when it came time for college money. I do know that Momma worked at a quick stop late at night to help pay for school, a fact which they carefully hid from us while we were away at a college out west. It was the only way they could keep up with the needs of the two kids at home and the two in college at the same time.

Now that I have my one kid in college, I do understand at least a little bit. And I have to say I am thankful that there are opportunities for scholarships and grants and loans out there to help ease the sting of the semester bills that come due hard and heavy.

Without the help, we couldn't expect to have our son get through college in any swift fashion. It just wouldn't be to eacy to come by at all.

Of course, the idea for colleges and universities is to get you in, get your money and then change the catalogue frequently enough that you are in school for an eternity before you graduate thus bringing in some pretty nice loot.

The idea for parents and families is to get into school and get out with a reasonable GPA and an accompanying reasonable understanding of the major you claim as your own without going completely bankrupt and bald in the process.

Somehow, for most people, it all eventually works out and your offspring crosses a dias somewhere in the world of academia to lay hands on a diploma as much yours as theirs.

Pray for us as we fill out the next FAFSA. It certainly keeps the school credits floating along. And pray for our student/son Thomas. He wants to do well and become a credit to himself and to his eventual profession as an engineer.