A testimony from Adie
Throughout our daughter’s high school years, we saved up little bits here and there, knowing that college tuition was soon coming. Some years my husband got a bonus, and we usually put most of it aside into the college fund. Other unexpected cash, such as from garage sales, also went into the fund.
We learned that our home state of Georgia has a wonderful perk for in-state college students: if the student has maintained a B average or better during high school, then they are eligible for the HOPE scholarship. This pays full or almost-full tuition at the state universities as long as the student maintains their B average in college.
Except, that is, for homeschool students. The rules are different for all graduates of “non-accredited” high schools, including homeschools. If homeschool students have a B average in high school, they must pay full tuition the first year of college. Then, if they still have a B average, they become eligible for the HOPE beginning in their second year. But they also get a tuition reimbursement for their first year.
So, in essence, we lent the state the amount of tuition for one year. In our case, the tuition cost was $4,000. After our daughter’s first year was complete, we applied for our tuition reimbursement and soon received it. With our son only two years behind his sister, we banked that money so we could repeat the process when he began college.
At the end of our son’s freshman year we again received the tuition reimbursement, and then we had $4,000 in our bank account, unnamed. Thoughts of travel went through our heads, but only briefly. A certain young man had started visiting our home often, and a mother’s instinct told me that we may be planning a wedding before too many months had passed. $4,000 set aside would be a very good start on a wedding budget.
Last December, during their senior year, Daniel asked for Greta’s hand in marriage. A May wedding, soon after graduation, was planned. My husband told the happy couple that we had $4,000 set aside, and we would save up another $1,000 to add to that. Anything over that amount would be their responsibility.
On May 22, they had a beautiful afternoon wedding in a little country church, with about 150 family and friends there to celebrate with them. A lovely hors d’oeuvres reception and country dance followed the ceremony. They had worked hard to make it uniquely their own and asked friends and family to help out in many ways.
I kept careful records of every purchase, every expense. When all was totaled, the wedding had cost us $4,863!
Adie Noren is a wife of 31 years, mother of three grown children, and grandmother of two. She and her husband paid off their mortgage one month before the wedding! She writes about crafting and homemaking on her blog, Make and Do.
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