Our Love Story—Mailbox Woes Part 2

Ever since Rob sent me that tiny Valentine a few days earlier I looked forward to checking my mail with great anticipation. I was always secretly hopeful that I’d see Box 778 written in Rob’s distinctive handwriting on something, anything, inside of my mailbox.

But on this particular day all I had was a note from the business office telling me that the Oregon Opportunity Grant had been over promised to too many students so they had to refigure my financial aid package once again. I owed $100 to the school effective immediately.

Just a month earlier I had used my last $500 (the money that was left over from my summer job) to bridge the gap between the $1,500 scholarship that was given to me and the $2,000 I owed.

Now I’m sure to the average student at Corban, $100 was a piddly amount of money considering tuition, fees, books, room and board was upwards of $25,000 per year at that point in time.

But for me, $100 might as well have been $1,000, or $10,000 for that matter. I was broke. I was broke as broke could be. I was working two jobs just to get by. I had a total of $103 in my bank account—just enough to cover my expenses until my next paycheck. If I paid the business office the amount owed I would be left with $3 to my name to get me through the next couple of weeks.

I can not drive off of campus for the next two weeks (though that means I can’t go home for my Birthday). I can go without purchasing any extra food or drinks outside of what was on my meal plan (no Shari’s after Ekklessia for me). I can do my best to make do with only the school supplies I have on hand and refrain from spending any money on anything for the next couple of weeks… right?

I couldn’t believe I was once again facing a financial crisis. I was so frustrated and discouraged. But I knew I would somehow weather this storm just like I had weathered the tornado from a couple of weeks ago. With my head held high I marched down to the business office, whipped out my check book and wrote a $100 check as if it wasn’t the last $100 I had to my name. 

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