Flashes of Panic

I am getting preliminary details of “aid” now, the complicated system by which I work for my degree instead of paying tuition. I’ve figured the process out by bits and pieces, but the details appear to be a bit different at each institution so I’m trying to fit my overview understanding around the details as communicated in a short series of encouraging emails. It’s an odd place for me because once my priority, the degree, is covered, I’m not sure what else I’m supposed to expect or ask for. When I apply for a job, I have a rough idea about the going rate for people who do what I do. In this situation, which is not a negotiation but sometimes feels like one, I don’t have any benchmarks to work from. I don’t know what’s “good” and what’s standard.

One quirk is that they’re now giving me the option of taking a round of summer courses, starting in July. It would mean leaving my job at least a month earlier than planned and greatly accelerating the relocation process, but it might also give me a good start on the “catching up” process which I expect to consume a large fraction of my first academic year. I don’t feel like there’s a wrong answer to this… but I do feel like there’s an objectively better answer, if only I knew which one. I wish I knew someone with some (specific) experience in this who could make the case either way.

Update: Precious few useful classes are available in that segment of summer starting July 1, which makes summer look less like a good idea. Next summer, maybe, when I have the whole summer to take the wider range of classes scheduled for the full 12-week term.

Now Playing: Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth from Come Down by The Dandy Warhols