One Less Thing To Panic About

Misson Accomplished: finally filed my financial aid application for next year, 6 weeks after the due date. Doing financial aid is always stressful for me for a number of reasons (not the least of which is a concrete affirmation of how dirt-poor we are), but this year's was a monumental cock-up. Between my mom flaking out on me, Stanford being a bitch about sending me the right paperwork (I'm still missing forms they said they mailed out months ago!), the Epic Tax Problems of Doom, and my ass-headed inability to get anything done in a timely fashion, it's just been a mess.

But my FAFSA is filed, my CSS profile is submitted, and the financial aid office has my dad's W-2 equivalent and will have my mom's as soon as I tell her the phone number again. Now it's just down to the nail-biting wait to find out if my Expected Student Contribution is going to bankrupt me next year, or if I'll be able to eke out another debt-free year. God, I really hate doing this.

At least I'll probably still have a job next year at the call center.