College loans. Come on, people, is it just me?
I feel like I'm a fairly intelligent person. I have a house, I have two cars, I've raised three children, I've held multiple jobs, I've always paid my bills. Somehow, I am surviving this life. But the financing for college, and navigating FAFSA is unreal.
I read through everything! I read the fine print. I sit back and try to understand what they're saying. But for the most part, it goes over my head. I think I understand it and then I don't. Fundamentally, I know that we don't qualify for jack shit aid because we are working individuals, we have a fairly decent income, and we are middle class America. But, once a year I login to studentaid.gov do this FAFSA thing, and it sends me through the roof. I (apparently) have to estimate how much money I'll need for the other part of tuition once I get my piddly $5500 from the government. I’m made to choose a monetary figure as an estimate. And, of course I need to be so careful. God forbid I take out a loan that is more than I need! But also, God forbid I take out too little and then don't have the funds in our day-to-day money to pay for a tuition bill that may or may not change depending on what courses/living arrangement/school fees/books my kid needs.
So, I just wing it, fingers crossed that I did the right thing.
Not for nothing, I love my husband more than anything in the world, but neither one of us are financial people, so neither one of us know what the hell we're doing. And for some reason, it falls on me to figure the finances out.
But now, after cobbling together a bunch of Parent Plus loans to get my kids through college, I'm faced with paying it all back, and that is scary as hell. It can't be just me. I can't be the only one that feels completely inept in this category. Am I? I feel so incompetent when it comes to this area of adult life.
I literally need someone to dumb it way the fuck down.
