Paying for college.

I just got a second job today. I'm going to be a take-out girl at a restaurant. It's basically like waitressing over the phone. I start on Friday. My minimum-wage, minimum-hours job at the Admissions office is just not going to cut it anymore. It's really nice not having to work all the time, but it's also really nice being able to afford things like rent for next year.

So for the second summer in a row, I will be working more than one job at about 50 hours a week. Goodbye, life.

My dad made an interesting point this weekend. He was talking about how college tuition has gone up a lot over the past 10-20 years, but starting salaries have not gone up that much. Plus, today, college graduates have to pay for a heck of a lot more than our parents did when they graduated. Internet, cell phones, gas...none of that stuff was an expense back in the 80s.

He's right. According to the College Board, the average cost of tuition and fees for an in-state, public 4-year college is $7,605 a year. Out of state tuition averages $11,990, and private universities and colleges run upwards of $27,293. In 1980, it cost $2,373 a year to go to a 4-year public university. Granted, there's inflation and all, but tuition inflation is higher than general inflation.

So basically we are paying more for college, we are paying more for living expenses, and we aren't making as much money if we can even find a job when we graduate.

We're pretty much screwed.

Hence, the second job. I'm going to go start learning the 30 page menu now...

Groupon.

I have been on a quest for a new hairstylist for a couple years now. I had a fantastic girl back in high school, but junior or senior year she just kind of fell off the face of the earth (left the salon, stopped returning phone calls, etc).

I thought I found a haircut guy earlier this year, but he texted me the day before an appointment and said he no longer worked there and that my appointment was canceled.

So anyway, because of the unreliability of hairstylists (and a bit of bad luck), I have not had a haircut since December. (Yes I realize how terrible that is, but my appointment for January was canceled, and I haven't had much luck finding a new place).

A couple weeks ago, I bought a Groupon for $60 at a hair salon downtown. For those of you unfamiliar with Groupon, it's basically a coupon website. They have "Daily Deals" for your city where you can buy gift certificates at a lower cost. My $60 to the hair salon only cost me $25. You get the idea.

Of course after I paid for my Groupon, I read the "fine print." I had to use all $60 in one visit. Haircuts are not $60. This may sound a little strange, but I'm terrified of coloring my hair. I've always kind of wanted to color it brown, just for fun, but I've never colored it or even gotten highlights. I really like being able to say "This is my natural color, I've never dyed it" and I'm a little paranoid that I won't be able to get it back to my normal color.

So as much as I like saving money and all, I now have to do something drastic to my hair. I'll let y'all know how that goes.

Refunds.

So every once in awhile, I get student loan return checks, which basically means that they gave me more in loans than I really needed. This gives me a false sense of having large amounts of money. Because yeah, I have an extra thousand dollars in my account, but no, it's not actually my money. This makes me kind of sad because I'm going to have to save it so I can pay it back. The system seems a bit skewed...

But actually I'm probably going to use it anyways for books and study abroad stuff. It works.

So Tip of the Day: Be financially responsible. Bleh. And take out student loans.

Ouch.

I just wrote UNL a check for $484.86.

Yay education.

It was weird because I never write checks, and I definitely never write them that big. It's kind of depressing to think of your bank account getting $500 smaller in about 30 seconds.

It's even more depressing that the first big chunk of my hard-earned money from working a crap ton over the past 2 1/2 years went to pay for books and a parking permit. And that was after scholarships and loans and what not kicked in.

I keep saying I need to get a real job, but I kind of really don't want to. Maybe after football season...

Tip of the Day: Play intramural sports. Good times, good times.