Home Stretch

This semester has been super stressful so far, and it is barely getting started. There has been so much going on it has been hard to focus on the challenge.

But with the final presentation coming up I need to carve out some time to start working on it. I have a fairly good idea of what it is I want to focus on; it's just actually finding time to put together the presentation that is hard.

Not only are my weeks booked with school, soccer, and clubs, but now my weekends are booked to with church, HOSA competition, Happening, etc. Time is hard to come by the last semester of your senior year.

Another big thing coming up is taxes and the FAFSA. I made less than $4,000 this year, yet somehow I owe the government $150. That is half a truck payment plus a tank of gas! And that is after my mom and I sat down and found ways to lower it, saving me $120.

Now that we have filed our taxes we can start on the FAFSA, which is best to get in ASAP. Money is given out on a first come first serve basis, so I am going to be first!

Baylor is expensive ($40,000 a year), and I need all the help I can get. I am also applying for every scholarship I can get my hands on, including another from A Plus.

Trying to keep my grades, GPA, and rank as high as possible as well as applying for all the free money I can possibly get will help keep me from having to take out a lot of loans.

Because although loans can be helpful, Kelsey and the "Foolproof" program online (which is free and available to everyone, so check it out!) have taught me that you have to be super careful with them. It is so easy to wreck your credit for the rest of your life, especially for college and high school students who are often uninformed.

For example, how many high school seniors who are looking at taking out some loans for college know the difference between subsidized and unsubsidized loans? I know I didn’t until Kelsey taught me.

So my advice to people my age: don’t go into it without knowing the facts. Take time to learn it before jumping into it, because a lot of times financial mistakes are hard to fix. Credit card companies, banks, loan agencies, etc. tend to not be as forgiving as one would hope. So make sure you take the time to check out the details, I know I will.

- Katelyn S.