Three. Two. One. Poof!

So currently I am taking 19 credits. At the College of Liberal Arts and Science (CLAS, Arts & Sciences, or just simply the College), the maximum is 17. To go over, you'd need to course action into classes and perhaps get permission. I haven't quite gotten to that point yet, because I haven't "officially" signed up for my major seminar. I know I'll get into it, so why signing up just yet?

I guess you're next wondering why I am taking 19 credits.

• The economic answer might be that I want to maximize the benefit of spending over $10,000 on tuition alone, and because it is a sunk cost, I might as well as max out on credits (and go a little over?).
• The psychological answer might have something to do with the incentives of the classes themselves and how they are all so individually interesting.
• A fourth year might tell me that it is because I want to have an easy fourth year and take as many classes now as possible.
• A third year might tell me that it is because of the realization that there are only three semesters worth of classes that are left and I want to take as many classes that I want to take before leaving college (forever).
• A second year might gape at me. Oh, you'll understand soon enough.
  
• A first year might tell me it's leftovers of my overachieving self from high school kicking in for a final spurt.
• A baby might cry at me.
  

They're all right.

Listen people, I'm feeling the time crunch. Why do the years speed up after first year? My fourth year friends are graduating and planning to buy balloons similar to this. The more ridiculous, the better. And I will say from the two graduations I've attended before, that there are some hilarious ones! Think four people holding 2, 0, 1, and 0 balloons. Think a host of sea animal balloons. Think sorority girls getting all the same pink balloons... and the same dress... and the same shoes.. well, you get the idea anyway! When college kids are talking about buying balloons in mass, it's either someone's birthday, a revival of prom, or graduation. One of these days, I am going to buy a balloon just for the heck of it, tie it to my wrist, and wear it to class. Then I'll let it go and look like this.

The way I deal with frustrations is to make a statement against it. (See earlier balloon case one more time.) In any case, taking 19 credits also might be my way of saying I'm not leaving college after three more semesters. See? I'm immersing myself in college-ness. Classes! Learning! Fun!

Tuition

It's what affects us, but we don't think about it on a daily basis. I am spending an average of $38.26 a day just to be in college. Currently, tuition of full time undergraduates (per semester and broken down into Virginia and non-Virginia):

ARCHITECTURE: $4,869.00 / $15,869.00
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES: $4,840.00 / $15,840.00
COMMERCE: $4,878.50 / $15,878.50
EDUCATION: $4,841.00 / $15,841.00
ENGINEERING: $4,846.00 / $15,846.00
NURSING: $4,843.50 / $15,843.50

According to the UVA Today blog, the Board of Visitors just approved hikes in the cost of tuition, meal plans, and housing for next year. The number given for the tuition of an undergraduate (school is unspecified) is $5,314 / $16,787.

Reasons for this hike include unexpected costs and a decrease in state funding. This year there was a total unexpected cost of $11.2 million and a reduction of $14.7 million. Sounds like a lot, right? "Sound financial management calls for the University to look beyond 2010-11 to the following fiscal year," Sandridge said. Ok, way to not mention a large, approved spending.

Does sound financial management approve a $58 million price tag on SIS and yearly several million maintenance fee? According to a friend who graduated as a computer science major, if you put a team of graduate computer science majors together, you could have gotten a more user-friendly and efficient product than SIS... for a lot less. SIS is better than the previous system, ISIS, but I don't think it was worth $58 million.

While having a sound financial management means cutting excess, it also means making good choices in what you do choose to spend.

musing of a girl with a knapsack

Coming from my favorite little coffee-tea shop, Para Coffee (shameless plug, I know... it's on Elliewood!!!), I bumped into a friend on the Corner. It's the typical UVa scene. Two college students, a boy with a cup of coffee and a girl with a knapsack, talking in front of the bus stop on the brick-paved streets of the Corner. It happens all the time.

I guess what's different about this scene is that I knew this guy for only a month. I took three summer classes over two months, and we had met through one of them. For those of you unfamiliar with UVa's summer classes, the entire summer is split up into three sessions (session I, session II, session III). The maximum number of classes that you can take per session is two. Yours truly, being the overzealous and overachieving student that I am, took three classes and had a job. Needless to say, there was a negative correlation between the number of classes and jobs that I had and my grade.

My friend and I had met during the second session, where I only had one class and was more relaxed. It was a great class, simply because it was an actual Professor who was teaching, he was amazing, and instead of the usual several hundreds of students that he taught, there was only 25 of us. It was definitely an advantage over taking it in the semester. Because of the small class size, I got to know a good number of my classmates pretty intimately, considering that it was only 6 weeks long. We met often for picnic lunches in the Gardens, trips to Downtown, cooking adventures in my apartment, and study groups that actually worked. I must say, I was really impressed with myself that session. I was being social, I excelled in that class, and I still had lots of sleep despite the fact that the class was 8am every morning.

But summer feels like a dream. It was rainy today, I was feeling miserable from sickness, and I'm sure my friend was busy thinking about the things he had to do today, because he was holding a lot of books. It was such a contrast from memories from the summer season, with balmy sunny days and open schedules. We talked a bit about our lives. I told him about my bout with the cold and he told me he was enjoying his classes. It was short, terse, and almost static. Then he said he needed to go to a meeting. I nodded and waved him off.

There's a point in second year where you realize that you're not a first year anymore. For me, it was when I realized that a lot of my friends from first year (and yes, I was still a first year over the summer...) were busy with their activities in which they were leaders. My friend was an Orientation leader, another friend is deeply involved in Student Entrepreneurs for Economic Development (SEED), and another wants to get involved in drama and work with children. I am not involved in any of these activities nor are they particularly important to me. Yet, with the activities that are important to me, I am deeply involved. As we progress and become third years and fourth years, I'm sure that we will all only increase our commitments to these activities, and be more involved in them. At what point will we be too busy for each other?

These were the thoughts that I was mulling over after my encounter with my friend. Typical encounter on the Corner? Oh yes. Typical College of Arts and Science student? Hell yea.