Of all of the times that I have struggled financially up to this point in my life, my first years in college have to lead the list. All of this is well and good because I know that getting a good college education is going to assist me in finding a job that will help me throughout my entire life.
What really stinks about this, however, is the fact that some of the things that go into a college education are just too expensive. This can make it difficult for the average person, such as me to get by.
One of the first things that I am going to mention is the fact that college textbooks are ridiculous, as far as the prices are concerned. I know that it costs a lot of money for companies to put these books together, and there are production costs that need to be considered as well. I
have always wondered, however, why these textbooks cost so much money compared to, for example, Eastern European countries where other books of similar quality were much lower. I guess the traditions in countries such as Belarus are quite different from what we know.
I spoke to some people, including my parents and a few college professors, who told me that college textbooks were once much less expensive. As they became more expensive, however, something began to happen that drove prices up even further. This is because the used book market came into play more than ever before.
Because book companies weren’t selling as many new textbooks, they began driving prices up so they could cover their expenses and still turn a profit. Although I understand how this works, it still feels ridiculous to pay $500 per semester for new textbooks.
Another thing I find difficult to swallow is that housing is very expensive, even when you stay on campus. This has kept many people from traveling to college (and definitely not in an eco-friendly way, which is even more expensive) and getting the education they really want.
There will always be low-cost options in the local area, but you need to pick and choose before you decide where you are going to live. After all, you need to be comfortable, even if you have to be comfortable on a budget.
All I can say is, I don’t know what I would do without the student loan I was able to get. I know many people have had a difficult time with this, and affording everything from tuition to books to housing has been a real problem. Usually, top sports management programs at top academic institutions offer better conditions, though caution is always needed.
I’m hoping I can get through the entire college experience and get out into the market when jobs are still available, perhaps with a company that wants to make its business a little greener. Otherwise, I’ll have a very high-priced education that I will never be able to pay for.
Sleeping With The Light On
When I was a very young child, I hated sleeping in the dark. It wasn’t necessarily that I was afraid of the dark, but I just didn’t like the fact that there were no lights on. I used to beg my parents to turn the lights on at night and then leave them on, and many times they obliged. Although they would come in and turn them off at some point during the night, I rarely woke up and realized they were off.
As I got a little bit older, I began to dislike having a light on in the room more and more. I found it to be disturbing my sleep, especially whenever I hit my 30s and early 40s. Although I haven’t slept with the light on in years, anytime I fell asleep with it on, it would interrupt my sleep enough that I would have to get up and turn it off to contribute, in my way, to going a little greener. I credited this to not sleeping as well as I used to when I was younger, and even the slightest noise would wake me.
That’s when I had a great idea: I’d set a timer on the light so it would automatically turn off at a set time. This worked for a little while, but as it turns out, my bright idea didn’t last for very long. This is because whenever it did turn out in the middle of the night all the electricity was cut to the light. Several times, I woke up and needed to turn on the light to find something, or just to have a little light as I walked from the bed across the room. After stubbing my toe a few times, I decided to try a different method altogether.
For a while, I decided to wear a mask over my eyes to make everything black so I could sleep soundly. This way, I could keep a light on in the room and still sleep without too many problems. This became difficult because I tend to be rather restless whenever I sleep. I can’t tell you how many nights I woke up with the mask halfway around my head or tangled uncomfortably in my hair. This also became a problem when I got married, since my wife couldn’t sleep with the bedroom lights on.
I finally decided to sleep with the light on, though I switched to a small plug-in light that threw most of the light down toward the floor. This allowed me enough light to get across the room without stubbing my toe while, at the same time, not keeping me up at night because of the additional light in the room. I find it odd and amusing that, later in life, I have pretty much gone full circle and gone back to sleeping with the light on again.