Thirty thousand dollars

Woohyun’s mouth fell open as he stared at the brochure in his hands. The happy and conveniently diverse students in the picture seemed to be mocking him. This has to be a joke…no way college is that expensive right?

It wasn’t even his dream school, no his dream school was almost double the price. All Woohyun wanted was to go to a semi decent culinary school, was that too much to ask? Yes, New York is a pricey city but he never expected to be charged so much. Other states were out of the question due to out of state tuition. Yup, he was locked in New York for the next four years.

Fifteen thousand dollars for student fees alone? Woohyun decided to do some digging around online to find out what these student fees were all about.

What the hell is grass fee? We have to pay a fee to step on the freaking grass?

Squirrel fee? Is this a prank or something?

“We want was best for our students so we hire some squirrel’s to cheer them up during the winter”

You have got to be freaking kidding me! Woohyun dropped into the chair and buried his face in his arms. He didn’t have the heart to ask his family for help, they were only a middle class family after all. They had worked so hard to send his older brother to college just for him to drop out and get stuck with all the student debt.

He didn’t make nearly enough money at his part time jobs to help out his family, let alone afford college. His family always struggled with the bills but if his dad taught him one thing was to always find a way to make ends meet. Nam Woohyun never ever gives up, so he sets up a meeting with the financial aid advisor.

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Going into the building is a bit nerve wrecking for him. He is trying extremely hard not to let his anger get the best of him. He thinks happy thoughts as he pushes the door open.

“Nam Woohyun?”

“Yes ma’am”

He nervously shakes her hand and sits down in front of her. “So I’m guessing you have some questions regarding the tuition?” She quickly asks.

“Yes, I’m wondering what the options are for financial aid-“

“You don’t qualify for any” she shoots him a fake smile, “but don’t worry we have great options for loans” she hands him pamphlets and lets him know how easy the process is. But if there’s one thing his brother has told him is to never ever have loans, and so he tunes her out as she rambles on about how convenient and wonderful this would be for his education. After what it felt like hours she finally stopped talking and Woohyun took this opportunity to ask the question he had in mind, “Umm are there any other options?”

She turned back to the cold and unwelcoming woman and scoffed, “Well unless you file emancipation from your parents or have a spouse…”

“I AM ENGAGED!” He blurts out before thinking about the words that were coming out of his mouth.

Her eyebrows raise in a mix of surprise and amusement. “Really? At 18?”

“Yes ma’am”

“How come you didn’t state that in your application” she gives him a stern look.

“W-we were fighting during that time…”

“Ah I see,” She starts looking through papers, Woohyun can tell she doesn’t believe him a bit and he prays she won’t call him o