Monday, July 04, 2005
Having evaded me the entire past month about co-signing for the private summer loan I took out, The Father finally acknowledged, after I forced the conversation during a phone call yesterday afternoon, that he does not want to co-sign for the fall loan. With the summer loan, he had put off signing it for a month, because he swore he had no time, when in reality he only wanted to stall. He fully intended to torture me again for the two months until fall tuition is due, but I essentially told him he had to make up his mind jetzt.
He pointed out that the interest rate for the private loan is nine percent, which is much more than the three percent assessed for the PLUS loan he claims he cannot afford. My reply to this was,
'Yes, Daddy... but I can't very well take out the PLUS loan, can I? "P" stands for "Parent", and I am not my own parent. I don't know why you keep bringing it up [when it isn't an option].'In this, as in past conversations, he then mentioned, with an accusatory tone, the Stafford loan I received- according to him, I ought to have received more money somehow, and the fact that I didn't indicates I am doing something purposefully wrong. I explained, for only the upteenth time, that the Stafford loan is set at fixed amounts, increasing with classification. Maintaining the 3.9... GPA ensures I shall continue to receive it, but grades do not determine how much I receive. At senior status, with scholarships, the Stafford might cover all of tuition, but definitely not everything with room and board (though I plan to be in an apartment by senior year).
The Stafford loan and scholarships this year cover all but about $1400 of my fall tuition, but after room and board, I have to take out private loans. For some reason, The Father refuses to grasp this reality, and he insists I'm doing something maliciously wrong... because I want to pay more for this horrid education I'm getting. I don't qualify to take out loans without a co-signer, the reasons for which I have outlined repeatedly, but The Father insists I do (irregardless of the bank notices I have received informing me otherwise); I must be doing something in order to shift responsibility to him. That frustrates me more than anything else- that he honestly believes I am trying to shaft him, somehow.
Granted, this comes from someone who wears Cookie Monster underwear, but one of the two people in this equation needs to learn how to act like an adult. The Father should have told me nein from the outset, rather than forcing me to wait anxiously for any kind of reply as the deadline approached. I had to pay an extra twenty-five dollar fee for an emergency enrollment loan to cover the first semester of summer tuition, whilst The Father sat around concocting wild, off-base excuses.
I called him this weekend on his cell phone, as he is in Austin celebrating the Fourth of July with his new family that I am not good enough for. Lubbock is perhaps another five hour drive from Austin, I think, but it is laughable to suggest he would even consider making a side trip to visit little Lauree, who he has not seen since Christmas. Not to sound vindictive, but I hope the barbecue gives him food poisoning.
Ich muss Deutsch studieren.
[Lauree Frances Keith concluded this diatribe at 11:46 AM]