More Sunday morning musings

Seems the boy, Noah, (he's 22, if you're a new reader) has decided that he wants to go to college. And not any community college or Weber State U, which is just blocks from here, because those wouldn't be serious enough and are too close to home and wouldn't provide the right atmosphere for his schooling.

Mind you, the boy could barely be interested in high school when he was there, took no college preparatory classes, took 2+ years of technical trade school without ever saying that it wasn't right for him and is only now demanding that his parents, that me and the BSU, provide him with a college education!

He would really prefer to attend Chico State in the Peoples Socialist Republic of Kalifornia but has an acceptance letter, (that just arrived this week) from Utah State, just up the road about 65 miles.

And the BSU is caving into his demands with the delusional hope that every mother with a non-performing kid does, hoping that if we just get him started, with everything he needs, that he will rise to the challenge and excel in a university surrounding.

I, on the other hand, call bullshit! The kid is looking for any excuse to hide out from Real Life and he thinks a college campus will be a great place to do his hiding. As you might guess, this circumstance is what drove the trip to the counsellor's office this week...

I am very frustrated with this circumstance. Noah has shown me nothing that says he is desireous of hitting the books at a college level for the next 4-5 years. He also has shown no interest in taking responsibility for funding any of this desired joy ride to university, instead expecting us to pay his entire ticket of room & board, tuition and living expenses. None of this has been planned more than a week or two out, so I don't really see this effort, (or lack of same) as being realistic. There's been no summer employment to earn money for college, there was an extended road trip to Kalifornia instead. There have been no applications for scholarships or grants or any other preparation, just a recent demand that we owe him an education. He says he wants to be an engineer but he wants to sign up for art classes.

But the bad thing is, his acceptance letter arrived this week and classes start in another week and the BSU is turning herself inside out, trying to figure out how we can pay, right now, for his first term! The amount is a little more than I have squirreled away right now...

I think I am going to loose this battle. The BSU is delusional about his chances and wants to give him the benefit of the doubt. I'm willing to give the boy two semesters to prove me wrong. I suspect a trip to the Credit Union is in the agenda this week for enough cash to get the boy enrolled. By next term he should be well enough established to have found the funding for his expenses. There's a family trust that will pay his tuition, after I pay the first $2K, if I can get the administrators to respond to my queries.

So here is my prediction: somehow, we will get the boy into USU next week, at great personal expense, for his first semester. With less personal expense, I predict he will start his second semester in January. And he will quit either during his second semester or after, and he won't work next summer to fund his second year.

I hate it, but that's my prediction. I hope he proves me wrong. I've tried, hell, several people have tried to offer him less expensive, less rigorous ways to get his college education started that would give him a better chance of success but those ways don't fit his tight little keyhole view.

Stressed? No, not me!