(Photo courtesy of Joe Goodz, Flickr)
Getting ready for enrollment should have been done at least six months ago.
Not today, not in May, and certainly not a week before school starts.
A couple I interviewed once said enrollment time is their most stressful season of the year. Christmas spending may put them in debt, but the warm, fuzzy feelings ease the pain. What the heck, it’s Christmas! they say. No such thing for enrollment days. It’s just pure financial pain.
Alex C. wrote:
It’s enrollment time again for my three children in grade school. Every year, I get so depressed during this season. Everything I save whole year round disappears at this time. Then I start at zero again, saving for next year’s round of tuition fees. Can you give me advice on how I can manage this time better? How can I prepare the needed funds adequately in time for next year? — Alex C.
There’s a trick called “sinking fund” that I learned when I was a beat reporter many years ago. You may tell the kids it’s a wormhole that will bring them to a great place across the galaxy. We drop an amount monthly into the wormhole to let it grow big enough to pay all our tuition for the year. How much to feed the wormhole exactly? Divide all tuition expenses by how many months you want to save up for it.
So, when the kids are hankering for their third serving of Dairy Queen Blizzard, suggest feeding the Blizzard instead to the wormhole — the wormhole that can send them to college and a good education. Let them decide. You’re giving them a stake in their own education and an unforgettable lesson delivered without words. Great for teenagers and children.
Enrollment blues, our personal finance article, talks about this tip and many others. Check out the entire article here.
Make a date to start your wormhole. Don’t just file this tip away for future use.
For those whose wormholes have already started growing, don’t stop at next year’s tuition. Go for high school. Go for college. Go for your own post-graduate degrees in Oxford. Sky’s the limit.
April 21st, 2008 at 1:13 am
btw, pisay stipends is based on the family financial status. which, like UP’s STFAP system, had a flaw as it is purely based on the family’s ITRs…. you can see where i am coming from here…as those who are well-off can still receive financial subsidy because… (i believe all of us can complete this statement)
during the time i was there, the maximum monthly stipend was P1K, which is just enough to pay for board and lodging for a dormer those days (which I was for 2 years). i had to sign-up for the godparent program which gave an extra P500/mo to cover miscellaneous expenses and some trips to SM North.
then I was a DOST scholar throughout my college years, with stipends as well.
back then, i can feel how proud my parents were of me especially in the company of relatives, friends and neighbors…but embarassing at times. i can still remember some of their remarks to my parents, “ang swerte niyo naman…” in my mind, i always say to them that i don’t think luck has something to do with it… for me it’s all about understanding our predicament and what I needed to do to help out. i can still remember back when i was in 3rd grade, the first time i heard of pisay and what it offers… i envisioned what it would be like and really worked it to reality.
i still follow the same at this point, i envision where i want to be and do what i had to… the right way that is
April 18th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Salve,
I wouldn’t mind paying higher taxes if it will be working for you. Yes it is steep but hey, you want a good quality of life (or at least a semblance of it, be prepared to pay for it.
By the way I have lots of UK citizen friends (not immigrants) who complain a lot about high taxes. What they do is move to the Middle East (UAE mostly) because their expat fees go a long way compared to their UK salaries.
April 18th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Hi robert, do you mean to say prescription drugs are free? My husband and I were talking the other night about the documentary Sicko and he suddenly has this urge to migrate
April 18th, 2008 at 9:22 am
C_A, thanks for the information. The taxes are pretty steep! But, let me continue my thought bubble from my comment to Ria…
Do Irish citizens complain about the high tax rates?
April 18th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Ria, you’re right. the taxes are high. question: would you feel better about paying those taxes if the social services are good? i can feel a thought bubble coming hehe.