TGIMonday!

Well, we have finally come to that point, I’m moving to Kirkland on Friday!

Many of you all know I will be attending Northwest University in the fall, but I haven’t expressed a whole lot of details beyond that, this post details what the upcoming road looks like for me.

Academics:

I finally finished my AA at GRCC last year, and I’m transferring to Northwest University as a Junior and I’ll be pursuing my Accounting major with minors in Finance and Psychology. I plan on accomplishing this in the next two years, which means I’ll have to take at least one extra class per semester than the normal load of 15 credits. During the summer, I’ll be working on a few classes from Global University that I will be taking online that will then transfer towards my degree. This will help with course load during the school year and it is an online class that I can take at my own pace (also it’s like 1/10 of the per-credit price of NU for these classes).

Transition Time:

I made my first step towards moving my life up north last month with transferring work stations from working at the Fife FedEx location to now working in the Issaquah location (the 90-mile commute isn’t ideal but oh well).

Now, I got permission to move onto campus a month early due to my work situation, so I move in on August 1st. I will be staying in the Gray 600 dorms for the month of August and then transfer to Perks 200 for the rest of the school year.

The Plan

This is going to be great time of experimentation and discovery. I already blogged about how I’m working on my current daily schedule to emulate what my schedule will be like during the fall semester, which is a very demanding schedule that I’ll have to fit 18 credits along with 20+ hours of work and have some resemblance of a social life in there somewhere.

One of the things I plan on doing is bringing as little as possible with me to my dorm. I plan on have a very clean and simple dorm, maybe even leaning towards minimalism… except for my books, I’m bringing LOTS of books. I’m even thinking about reducing my wardrobe to have a very consistent attire so I can reduce the space needed for storing clothes and as well as reduce the time needed involving dealing with maintenance of clothes (Don’t worry, I’m not going Steve Jobs turtleneck style or anything).

Another interesting idea is I want to build my stamina up so that I can ride a fix gear bike to work on some days (it’s a 15 mile ride), that would be helpful in keeping my conditioning up, and as well as continue to shave off gas expenses.

Finances:

Speaking of expenses, tuition is approximately $34k! Thankfully I’ve received $19k in scholarships and grants. That still leaves me with $15k per year to come up with on my own. Now I don’t know how exactly it is going to happen, but I’m making a declaration that I will have all student loans paid within 18 months of graduating. I was once told “Do your best, and let God do the rest.” Well, here is where my best lies:
I should get $3k a year reimbursed from FedEx as long as I stay an employee with them.
Loan balance: $30k – 6k = $24k

I opened an investing account where I invested in conservative large cap ETFs and I’ve been putting aside $25 a week towards that account. By the time I graduate, with a projected 8% growth rate, I should have another $6k to cash out from (sorry, don’t have the exact calculations with me currently. I’ll have to go back to check them out).
Loan balance: $24k – $6k = $18k

I have $5k in liquid accounts that I’ll throw in immediately to cover the difference between loans approved and outstanding balance. (the original statement of $30k in loans was simplified, but I guess I’ll just restate that as funds not covered by scholarships or grants. I’m approved for $13k in loans so I’ll need to pay some upfront.).
Loan balance: $18k – $5k = $13k

Since I’ll be making a lot of changes when I start school, my budget is going to change dramatically. So that investing account I talked about earlier may be able to expand to $100 a week, which could be another $4k per year in added funds. Note, that is purely speculative. I won’t know that until I look at my income while in school and how my expenses turn out to be.
Loan balance: $13k – $8k = $5k

I can only account for paying potentially $24k of the $30k not paid through financial aid. I’d say the margin for error is probably $5k because I’m optimistic, so lets just say that God needs to “do the rest” with $10k.

So that’s what is down the road for me. There is going to be so many things changing, but it’ll be for the better. Auburn has been a welcome launch pad for my life, but it is time for me to take off and see where I end up. Look out Kirkland, here I come! I’m over-caffeinated and I’m taking destiny on in full force!

—Grant X.
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Currently reading:

“Creating a World Without Poverty” – Dr. Muhammad Yunus
“Spark” – John J. Ratey

Life verse: “But a generous man devises generous things and by his generosity he will stand.” -Isaiah 32:8

Life Mission Statement: To be intentionally focused on providing opportunity and adding value to others.