Mackenzie Carose

The Enmeshment of Money and College

By Mackenzie 5 Comments

As much as I like to think that I only graduated college a few years ago, the fact of the matter is that it has been over 20 years since I received my Bachelor’s degree. A lot has changed in the past two decades in this world and life in general. One big change since accepting my diploma all those years ago is that I have become a mother and since becoming a mother, I have worried about education for my girls.

I believe education will get you where you need to go and along with real life and social situations, will help you get ahead in life. The foundation starts when you are young and grows from there. But in the past year, my worries have settled on my daughters and their post secondary education or the dreaded money-infused terror word of “college”.

Things have changed since the millennium but one thing that has not is how blooming expensive college is. It is insane. I thought it was quite a bit of money to go to school when I went to a university but looking at the pricing of tuition nowadays gives one serious sticker shock.

And with the sticker shock comes the “how are we going to pay for our kids to go to college” conversation because here’s the thing: I do not want them to take out student loans. If you need to read any horror stories about student loans and interest and people taking decades to pay back 5 figure loans of debt, just spend a few hours googling and you will get the picture. I don’t want my girls graduating with their degree but having crippling amounts of debt while taking an entry-level job in their chosen field. So many young adults start their professional career that way and it is disheartening.

I was in a position that I had relatives who helped me with my tuition so that I did not take out student loans to pay for that part but I still had all the other bills that came along with college life: books, parking permits, car loan for my car because I commuted to school, etc…) and all of this added up very quickly, What I brought home from my part-time job just didn’t cover all my bills and that’s where credit cards came in. I racked up a whole lot of debt by the time I walked across that stage to receive my Bachelor’s degree. It took years to pay off. Debt sucks. It sucks whether the loan is from a credit card company or the federal government. It is all awful.

At the end of the day, it is up to my girls whether or not they actually want to go to college. It is entirely their decision. But if they do, I want to help them in any way that I can. So I am seeing what options are available. I am doing some reading. I am saving up money. One book I read recently which really helped me see how things are in this era of college education and what to do proactively to not go into debt to pay for it was Debt Free Degree by Anthony O’Neal. Such an informative book and it gives you a timeline on when to start looking for scholarships, how to choose the best school for your money and of course saving money for said college. It is never too late to start saving for this expenditure and that is what I am doing, in addition to finally starting a 529 savings plan for my girls.

College and money are definitely intertwined and I am sure I will have a sleepless night here and there thinking about it all. But I know it helps to have a plan and a guide in place so that there are no monetary pitfalls. Or at least lessen the number of them. I think as parents we always want better for our kids, we don’t want them to have to do things the hard way if they don’t have to. Debt keeps you bound to bad decisions and I do not want that for my girls.

So if you need me, I’ll be reading up on scholarships and pinching a few pennies 😉

As The Page Turns: July Edition

By Mackenzie 8 Comments

Another book roundup! 🙂

Rachel Maddow: A Biography by Lisa Rogak

It seems pretty obvious that Rogak wrote this book without actually interviewing Rachel Maddow. This book felt like I was reading an over-expanded Wikipedia page. No depth or substance & it gave the impression that you were reading someone’s term paper subtitled “What I Learned About Rachel Maddow”. I think Rachel is a brilliant woman and this book felt like a disservice to her.

Hello Habits: A Minimalist’s Guide to a Better Life by Fumio Sasaki

A great read if you are looking to make habit changes in your life but don’t know where to start or can’t find the motivation.

Find Your Path by Carrie Underwood

So this book has a tiny bit of information about Carrie’s life pre American Idol. Then it launches into all the health routines she started to do once she saw what she looked like on TV and realized other people were noticing how she looked as well. In the book, she says she used the negative comments to turn her nutrition around and start a new health regimen. She then goes into a lot of detail about how she accomplishes this. I have seen other book reviewers state this and I will too: if you have/had an eating disorder, this book might be triggering for you. Not only does Carrie use an app to track everything she eats, in addition, she writes everything she eats in a journal complete with how much protein she had that day, how many macros, fat, calories, etc… She doesn’t sit still while watching a television show even though she says that is her “relaxing time” after a long day, because she exercises during commercials. When the show comes back on she sits down, but as soon as another commercial comes on, she is back up doing squats, etc… It was just too much. She works out a lot and also has a personal trainer and a mobile gym for when she is out on tour. *sigh* This is definitely NOT a book I would recommend reading. I like Carrie Underwood as a singer and I enjoy her music. Her book, not so much.

The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi

Ugh, bloody awful. I was pulled into the premise of this book which revolved around a book editor sent to interview a reclusive author on a Mediterranean island in advance of the republication of his mystery novel which hadn’t seen a bookshelf in 25 years. In between the book editor interviewing the author and trying to find out why he fell off the face of the earth and what it had to do with his book, every other chapter is an actual story from his book, so there is a lot of bouncing back and forth. And bad writing. It was boring and at the same time frustrating, and the ending was regrettable…for all of us who mustered brain cell usage to get there.

So that’s it from me! What did you read this past month? 🙂

As The Page Turns: June Edition

By Mackenzie 10 Comments

Yay, book review time! 🙂

In Her Tracks by Robert Dugoni

The latest book in the phenomenal Tracy Crosswhite series, this novel does not disappoint! Crosswhite who is a detective in the Seattle police department takes on a cold case while also trying to simultaneously help her fellow officers look for a missing girl. Author Robert Dugoni has done amazing work with the Crosswhite books and every single one in this series is worth an extra read or two!

The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths

I love a good British mystery and Griffiths books are just so good! A police detective tries to track to track down the murderer of an old lady who was a “murder consultant” to mystery authors. She helped them come up with the perfect crimes for their books and now she herself falls victim to a homicide. I really enjoyed this book and Griffiths’ style of writing.

The Three Mothers by Anna Malaika Tubbs

A definite must-read. This book tells the stories of the mothers of Martin Luther King Jr, James Baldwin, and Malcolm X. The stories of the incredible women was so well-written. Their lives and raising these sons who would later go on to be activists was intriguing. It was also sad that each of these women had to do the unthinkable and bury their child.

That’s it from me! What did you read this past month? 🙂