No books? No problem.

My first face to face class this semester has come and gone. It's an educational research class, so you know what that means: RESEARCH! At the end of the semester, I'll be turning in a research proposal. I'm not exactly sure what that means at this point, but I'm guessing I will be writing a proposal for some topic to be researched. I've printed off everything I need for this week in my web-based class, which is about using technology in education. (I'm really pretty excited about this one!) I'll be off and running on it. Tomorrow night is the first meeting of my human growth and development class. (I don't have high expectations; I've had an undergrad class with the same name. How different can it really be? I guess I'll start finding out tomorrow.) This semester will be busy, but definitely doable. Especially since the technology class is only a seven week class.

When I admitted to grad school in 1999, I enrolled in two classes. Due to work, I had the enviable choice of dropping a class or failing it. Since I elected to drop the class, my pace percentage for financial aid was below 67%. By completing all four of my classes this summer, I raised my pace percentage to an acceptable level. What's the problem with that? Summer II ended Friday, August 16. The financial aid hold wasn't removed until Tuesday, August 20. Fall classes started today, Monday, August 26. My financial aid hasn't been approved yet. I don't know if they've even started reviewing it yet. All I know is that a guy from Financial Aid told me that I am in line for review as of the 20th. Oh, I also know that there is currently a peak in financial aid applications. (He told me that, too.) My financial aid will "hopefully" be approved in "the near future". He suggested I check my university email and web for students regularly (which I translated to "daily"), so I can accept the offer and satisfy any requests as soon as possible. I was able to get an emergency tuition loan and sign up for a payment plan, and I have a $500 scholarship this semester, so my tuition is all good for now. My problem is books. I don't just have a lot of extra money after the bills are paid. At the lowest possible prices for used books from amazon.com, the books would cost about $200. Since I don't have a student loan with a refund yet, I can't get a book voucher. Now I get to see how God is going to work out a way for me to have my books in time to complete the first assignments. Oh, yeah, and pass a test over the first five chapters in two weeks.

Have I mentioned that I'm not very patient with things like this? I need to have a plan. I need to have the things I need in advance. Some people are comfortable not having a book on the first day of class. I am not one of them. I was always the nerd that would start reading Chapter 1 before the semester even started. I am pretty anal about my grades. I need to jump right in and start reading the chapters. I am so out of my comfort zone right now.

And I have a feeling that's right where God wants me. He wants me to depend on Him to get my books instead of scheming and finding a way on my own. (My usual MO.) I guess it's just a part of leaving the big fish.