Zero Balance

Last Weekend, I made the final payment for my daughter’s tuition for her Bachelor’s degree. I am in awe, a little tearful, and also thoughtful about what’s next.

Screenshot of tuition payment website.

I am in awe that I mapped a plan out at the beginning of this year on how I was going to to pay for this year’s tuition bill and successfully accomplished this. Ten years ago this would have been nearly impossibly. Twenty years ago if you had told me I would paying a bill, with a comma, all at one time, I would have wondered, how?

So many factors went into this momentous event:

1) I actually have enough income to save money - not just to contribute to my retirement but also to save and pay my daughter’s schooling.

2) My employer contributes to my dependent’s tuition. This was definitely a game changer that I never considered when thinking about a career or in early parenthood.

3) Generational wealth. While it was not an amount that was going to make me rich or not have to work again, money from my family members allowed me not to increase my debt or for my daughter to have to get debt to fund her education. I wish my grandmothers, my mother, and my uncle were here to mark this occasion.

I take note of this because 17-year old me, who focused on getting into college and then wrangled a full scholarship on top of getting accepted, just wanted to be able to get a job where I could pay all my bills and not struggle.

Life now is so much more that. I literally have to dream bigger because I have achieved those dreams of over 20 years ago and so much more.