Life Lesson Number Five: College is expensive

For many of us, the cost was a factor when looking at colleges, at least, it was for me.  I remember visiting Penn State and thinking by the time my four years are up, my parents will have spent around 200,000 dollars just so I could further my education.  According to the Business Insider, Penn State has the second highest in-state tuition out of all the public institutions across the country. For those out-of-staters like myself, 48,000 dollars a year is pretty grueling as well (thanks, Mom, and Dad). Until I was at college for a few months, I never knew about all the other expenses and they sure do add up pretty quick.

Another expensive part of college is the books.  In high school, we were given books for free.  Of course, my parents paid taxes to fund the school.  When I walked into the book store, the second day of my classes, I found myself flabbergasted by a number of books there were and the cost.  One of my books cost $175.  Of course, I could rent the book, but that was a ton of money and I still needed to purchase four more.  The sad part was, I only needed that book once the whole semester.  The academic part of college was expensive but the social part was too.

The summer before my freshmen year of college I worked at a day camp.  Every time I got a pay check my Mom would tell me to save the money because I was going to need it for college.  At that time, I just yessed her to death.  What could I possibly need that money for?  Little did I know that my bank account would shrink my first semester in college.  Hockey Sticks and Chinese food I quickly learned were the only food places open at four in the morning and those places didn't take meal points.  Every time I would walk into the bookstore or McClanahans I would see some type of Penn State apparel that I needed to add to my closet.  Then I would make my way through the HUB and see the THON apparel.  I needed a THON shirt or two to wear around campus and let's not forget the cute THON hats that everyone wears.  If I wanted to see a hockey game or attend certain sports events that cost money too.  When it came time to travel home and visit my best friend for her birthday I found out that traveling to and from State College wasn't cheap either. The bottom line was my bank account was diminishing and my meal points were as well.

We're pretty lucky here at Happy Valley.  We have a variety of food places to eat at.  From Burger King to Au Bon Pan to Jamba Juice to Chick-Fil-A to Mixed Greens, we have it all, but unfortunately these places, as good as they are, deplete our meal points.  After awhile I realized that my handpicked salad that I enjoyed eating everyday from Mixed Greens cost 7 meal points.  The crazy part is I only get 800 points a semester but pay 2,000 dollars for it.  I learned to not get the salad everyday from Mixed Green and avoid Starbucks as much as possible.  Of course once in a while you have to treat yourself, but treating yourself too often can lead to rationing at the end of the semester, or a phone call home to Mom and Dad asking for more meal points.

The bottom line is that college is expensive.  I learned quickly that I couldn't order Chinese at four am every week or get my favorite drink from Starbucks each week.  I can't buy every cute shirt I see downtown or in the bookstore and that renting my books saves tons of money. Most of all I learned that I'm grateful that I have my summer job again because my bank account needs the money!