I just made one of the most difficult decisions that I've had to make thus far in my life, and while I am proud that I chose to make the smart financial choice, I still wish that it could have turned out differently.
I have deferred for a semester and will not be returning back home until January.
It pains me to write this, especially because my time here was spent on the basis that I would be returning home after a year, but my finances had a different plan. Believe me, it wasn't my first option to stay, and if there was the slightest chance that I could have made it work and would be at North Park in the fall, I would have taken it. But I have to give myself the best possible preparations for school, and if that means I have to wait a few more months to secure the necessary funds, then so be it.
I know that I come from a town where this is pretty unheard of; where you go straight to college after high school and the thought that somebody might not have the money to pay for school and has to wait a little bit before starting is almost deemed as a failure on their part. And I could think of it that way. Or, I could think of it as a HUGE act of maturity on my part, that I'm not making rash financial decisions with possibly destructive repercussions simply because I want to come home. And don't you worry Chi-town, I WILL be coming for ya.
