Why is tuition so expensive? A 20% increase in tuition is now being implemented starting this fall 2009. 20 PERCENT?! F***ing ridiculous! When I started college, tuition per semester was in the $1500s, slowly creeping its way up to the $1700s, then $1800s, and now... $2500s?! Along with that, they're now limiting the number of units we can take to 17 per semester. That doesn't sound as bad compared to tuition costs because in all honesty, half the campus heads only take 12 just so they can be suffice being full-time. But some of us want to get our money's worth and take more than "just full-time" so we don't end up being super-seniors in college for 5-6+ years. Good thing I got a good 18 out of the way last semester.
I know times are hella tough but how are people supposed to get a damn education? On top of tuition, there's expensive ass books, rip-off parking permit prices, and other miscellaneous fees/supplies to be purchased... not to mention transportation. It doesn't help either that gas prices continue to rise.
I'm just ranting because I'm hella avoiding the need to take out a loan. I've been grinding and moms has been grinding so we can pay outta pocket with the goal in mind that I make something of myself. I'm overly thankful though that I someway, somehow, got a couple random ass scholarships my first year of college and that I've finally been approved for a couple grants for this last year of school. Approved for $1900 some dollars to cover each of my last 2 semesters but hot damn, now that tuition has risen with late notice, I gotta dish out an additional $600 per semester now. I knew that shit was too good to be true. The first 2 years were easier on the pocket because I took majority of the same classes with 2 of my best friends so we split the costs for books, parking permits, and carpooled our hearts out. After we cranked those GEs and finally split at that 3-way fork in the road to do our own thang, reach our own goals, and choose different career paths, thats when we felt independence actually took a toll on us. I did it hella Filipino style borrowing nursing books from the "someone I knew" from the semester before me or the cousins' cousin of a friend who just graduated. I even borrowed someone's book for a couple days at a time and xeroxed that baby so I can refer to the important points at a later time.
All in all, things could be worse. I always think about how hard it was for my parents, their siblings, and my grandparents back in the day when they lived in P.I. Times were always tough and they still are, but they always seem to make something out of nothing. That's one of my favorite traits of the Filipinos. They're so resourceful. Here in the United States, people have access to everything and convenience is always key. You can pretty much say we're spoon-fed everything we need. Still, we take this for granted (but that's another issue). This is the reason why Americans get easily stressed out when they don't have access to something. Example: A procrastinating student crams to finish a project late at night. He/she gets hella stressed because they ran out of glue and all the stores are closed. Shoot... Filipinos would mash up some rice and slab on that sticky goodness to do work. You may be thinking WTH? But yes, I did that in elementary and junior high a couple times. My shit would look slightly lumpy, but it worked :]. Anyhow... Filipinos in the homeland use junk that's lying around and turn it into another man's treasure. They use and cherish everything they have.
Moral of the story? SACRIFICE. SACRIFICE. SACRIFICE.
Rant over.
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