There’s a lot we all probably miss about home. I can honestly say I don’t miss too much yet, except for one major commodity. I don’t miss my parents telling me what to do and where to go. I don’t miss high school drama. I don’t even miss my large bed. My twin sister, Rachael, recently opted to stay with our parents in a hotel during their visit to her college, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and I wondered why. Her answer was simple, “Ryan, there’s air conditioning at the hotel!”
I laughed at her poor state in an overheated dormitory. Here at Drake University, we have air conditioning in our residence halls.
There is one vital part of home I miss though, two-ply toilet paper. Honestly, the stuff we get in the stalls of our residence halls barely passes for sandpaper. A few of us were talking about this one night in Stalnaker and we came to an agreement on the reason for the one-quarter-ply toilet paper. This is the beginning of adulthood. There is no better way for college to prepare us for the cheap scrapping of college life besides giving us see-through toilet paper. The comfort and plush innocence of childhood is gone, replaced instead by the irritating and scratchy demands of adulthood.
In all seriousness though, many of us have started to realize the financial problems we are going to encounter throughout college. Summer savings barely bought us our new laptops, our new clothes, and our textbooks. Now we are left with a room, a meal plan and some flex dollars to last us for at least the first semester. Can I put a few of my meals towards my fraternity dues? Can I donate some of my flex dollars to my textbook fund? The answer, of course, is no.
Thankfully, banks still have some credit they can loan out to students. Student loans are usually pretty safe bets for banks. It is weird that we are only a month into college and many of us have already thought about how we have to pay these loans off in the future. Do we want to change our major to something more economically sound? My current combination of majors is a good key to unemployment, or a lifelong career between the Starbucks and McDonald’s in West Village.
I have considered switching to a major with job security and good pay, but that would be the beginning of my settling. We have always been taught not to settle – “Do what makes you happy, the money is less important.” Well, this is the beginning of the challenge. Are we willing to pay the price for doing what we love, even if it means cheap toilet paper? Whether or not we realize it, the college transition is already taking place inside of us. For me, I will take out loans on loans on loans just to do what I love.
As Og Mandino said, we are all “slaves to habit.” Humans are habitual creatures and there is no time like the beginning of college to start out some new habits. Whether it is holding our money close or frivolously throwing it away, the importance lies in awareness. And with a reminder like toilet paper, I doubt any of us will soon forget our money management.
Price is a first-year journalism major and can be contacted at ryan.price@drake.edu.
