Grad School

So, going to grad school is turning out to be much more expensive than I expected. Although BYU has one of the cheapest grad tuition's around, the scholarship fund is waning. I thought (through the grapevine and my own assumptions) that grad students received a 3/4 tuition scholarship. Unfortunately, I was wrong (it ends up being about 1/3 tuition, plus I have voice lesson fees every semester). That wouldn't be so bad, I mean I survived on about that much scholarship as an undergrad thanks to grants, but grad students don't get grants. One thing that I am very excited about is that I get to teach. The teaching pay is very good, but we don't get a ton of hours a week, so I will be making little more than I am making at my current on-campus position. This was disappointing at first (my fault for assuming I would get paid prep time for teaching private lessons, which I don't) because Bryce and I were hoping to start putting money away to save up for when we buy a house.

Anyway, as I have started doing a little research and thinking about the classes and lessons I'm going to teach, I have come to the conclusion that Bryce and I will not be able to survive the next few years of school (and possibly more beyond that) on 1 desktop computer. I have had the wonderful blessing of being provided with a laptop with my current job. I will only retain this blessing for another month, after which I will be quitting my job in order to teach. We have a Mac at home, which is the best computer ever. It is almost 5 years old and we've never had a problem with it. We took it in about 6 months ago to have more RAM put in it and it is just as fast as a brand new computer again. But, as good as our desktop is, there's nothing like portability, especially when I'm teaching. That is why I have decided that this is the computer I need:It is the MacBook Pro 15.4". This computer was named by Consumer Reports as their best laptop. In the magazine I recently picked up, they said, "this is this best computer we have ever tested, hands down." With this computer, I will be able to keep track of grades and assignments as well as make video recordings of my students during their lessons, so that they can see their progress. Not only that, Macs have the best programs for music, pictures, and basically everything. They also have a new set of programs that are like Word, Excel and PowerPoint, just much more user friendly. Not only that, but these programs save into .doc and .docx (and the equivalents for Excel and PowerPoint). Basically, this is the best computer for our situation, except for the price. I mean you can't get the perfect computer for free, can you? Luckily, Apple provides $150 off for students and a free iPod touch when you purchase this computer. I think I may just have to call this an "education cost" and pay for it with my student aid. Or maybe my family will be really generous with graduation gifts and I'll be able to get it with that. We'll have to wait and see. Until then, I will continue to dream...