Heather's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 2/20/04 -------------------- 1/7/04 10/22/03 9/6/03 8/15/03 8/7/03 -------------------- Heather's Introduction

January 7, 2004

Snowed In.

Or maybe the title of this entry should be “Iced In,” as that’s more accurate. We here at Chateau Cabin Fever are going on Day Three of no school, no driving, no trips to sip on lattes at the local coffee house. So, in honor of Ullr (the Norse God of Snow) I’m going to tackle the job.

So, when we last left our dashing heroine, she was just starting a difficult term in school, caring for three children and dealing with the Evil School District, while studying for her difficult GRE exams. What happened? Did she live to study another day, or did she crack under the extreme pressure?

Honestly, I’d say it was a bit of both.

To start with, I only briefly mentioned – because of time constraints – that John had just quit his job and just started classes at the same University I attend. He had applied to enter as a post-baccalaureate student in the spring, but we weren’t sure how it would play out by the fall. What became apparent, though, was that we were trapped into making a huge change before school started. John, who worked a dangerous job at a glass company for a fairly low wage, could not get his employer to give him a more flexible schedule. Never mind that he was doing well, was over qualified and had been made a supervisor in less than six months. The managers of his company were typical of the managers of many companies these days; they didn’t give a damn about John and knew that, in the Oregon employment market, they could find someone to work the treacherous job and if they didn’t perform as well as John, so what? They wouldn’t have to.

We had figured out by last spring that we needed a more flexible schedule. We couldn’t afford to put the kids in full-time care; even the on-campus center we had sent Chloe to for pre-school would have run at least $700, and possibly $1200, per month. With John pulling in a meager $1300 a month, almost any childcare was out of the question, even if we included the SSI money we get for Ivan, or my financial aid. We had barely scraped up enough to send Chloe to pre-school and at the end of the spring term we had been forced to cut back her enrollment to two days per week. And, if John were to continue to work for the same company, we would have to put the kids in care, since the classes I needed were only offered at times he worked. Essentially, it was either John quit his job or I quit school. And neither of us saw a benefit in me quitting school this close to the end, while I’m doing so well, so that John could work in a crappy job that provide piss-poor benefits, working conditions and pay.

We also knew that John needed to go back to school eventually. He earned a degree in philosophy/pre-law in 2000, but left college feeling unsure about what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. We moved to Oregon and, because of the poor economy and high-unemployment rate, John first found a part-time job at FedEx and, later, a full time job at the glass factory. For the past year or so, though, he’s pondered going back for –shock of shocks – a nursing degree. So when we realized John needed to, at the very least, leave the Factor de Chards of Glass behind, we wondered if we could somehow work it out so that both of us could be in school at the same time. “If we could just find the money,” we thought.
Mid-September, we decided there was no other way. We put Giselle in the on-campus childcare center, placed Chloe in the public kindergarten and made sure Ivan was set up with his regular therapies and school. We have always used my financial aid as though it were a paycheck of sorts – spending it on rent and bills and any other necessities in addition to tuition and books. We calculated that as long as one of us found a part-time job, the kids’ childcare/school situation stayed the same, and John got his financial aid in three to four weeks, as promised by the financial aid counselors at school, things would be fine.

Everything, save one of us finding a part-time job, fell through. All of it. The financial aid package? As of today, January 7th, John has yet to receive his fall – or his winter – terms’ packages. The Financial Aid Office lost four of its seven counselors right before term started back up, two quit, one “left” (whatever that means), and one went off to have a baby. Because of the dismal state of the Oregon budget, a hiring freeze was placed on all government positions, so the three counselors that were gone for good weren’t replaced. Owing to that same dismal budget and the nation’s highest unemployment rate, college admissions were at a record high, particularly at Portland State University. I believe our school’s rates went up some 20% in the past year. Of course, everyone applies for financial aid so, bada-bing, you have a recipe for disaster on your hands if, say, you were the Dean of said school.

Mostly, they just told us to wait, and gave us, along with most of the student body, short-term loans of about $400 a piece. “Well,” we thought, “we can probably make this work. Go late on one bill or two, borrow until they get the financial aid processed and…” And nothing. Enter hitch number two.

But that is a story for tomorrow, I think. The forecast calls for icy conditions for a few more days. It’s nearing 1 AM and I’m beat. So, more later.

Heather