I have submitted the dreaded FAFSA form. It’s the one you fill out for financial aid for college. I didn’t realize that it gave you an instant estimate of how much you’ll have to pony up for the year. My estimate came to all of it. L has already gotten some scholarship money from Iowa State, her school of choice, but there’s no longer any reciprocity between Minnesota and Iowa, so out-state tuition is a bitch. I’ve tried to make her aware that we don’t have much to contribute, and what she can’t come up with she’ll have to borrow, but she’s determined. She could go to a smaller school in Wisconsin for less than half the dough, but ISU is her dream school. The only way I can justify it is that she wants to be a graphic designer (I slapped her hands everytime I saw her doing artwork but it didn’t work) and they have a great program there.
I never realize Iowa State was so close, just a little over three hours straight down I35. Nor did I realize what a beautiful campus it is. It’s very compact with an excellent layout of roads and beautiful landscaping. Right there in the middle of the cornfields. Although it specializes in left brained pursuits like engineering and has a great ag school, it also is very strong in design and the visual arts. And I understand the smell of pig shit isn’t completely overpowering. Minnesotan’s have a huge chip on their shoulders about Iowa, we think we’re so much more cultured and sophisticated, but we’re not.