Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Paying MSRP for my edumacation

As evident by this morning's post, I am the type of guy that gets giddy over getting a good deal. When I buy a car, I like to know I got a better deal than the guy I see down the street driving the same vehicle. This is why the most I will ever pay for a car is the invoice price.

One big problem I have with going to Kenan-Flagler is that, because I am an out-of-state student, I pay the the out-of-state tuition, which is twice the amount an in-state student pays. This upsets me quite a bit. If I play my cards right, I may qualify for in-state tuition during my last semester but I can't help but feel I am getting ripped off.

This upsets me quite a bit. When I was here for the Experience Weekend, I met several students who moved here a year ago, established their in-state residency, and are now paying the in-state rate. I even know one girl who is from out of state, but applied using her parents' address, and is now categorized as an in-state student.

In addition to the in-staters, there are students that are here on a merit-based scholarships. These scholarships can be anywhere from 25% to 100% of your tuition. It's difficult for me to walk around Kenan-Flagler knowing that others are paying less, in some cases, much less for the same education. This is beginning to affect my relationships with other students.

I am hoping that I can channel my anger into something "positive." In the past whenever I encounter something that upsets me, I become more driven to do something about it. Like during my first year at UVA, I had a particular nasty run-in with the Dean of Students .... that's a story for a different time. (wink)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Umm...Bob ( I will choose new names each time) you make no sense..or rather, I don't understand why that affects your relationship with other students.

Merit based scholarships are earned. Don't hate.

And didn't you pay out of state for UVA? or did you cheat that? you know, since you're from Idaho (I'm good at this).

People paying different amounts for school is a fact of life..get over it...but then again, maybe I'm chill since my school (University of Missouri) paid me to attend :-)

(oh and good luck getting your mercedes for invoice price)


ok, must get back to blogging, playing fantasy sports and chatting

Anonymous said...

Yes, I had forgotten to blog about that. I did pay outta state tuition for UVA. But feels different this time around because I am the one paying it (as opposed to BuckyMom and BuckyDad) and the difference is twice as much.

I don't hate anyone because they may be paying less than I am. I am just slightly resentful at the fact that they are paying less. It's like how we used to joke around about how I was making more money than others in the company only because I started working a couple of years earlier.