A step in the right direction

Day before yesterday Brittanie came to me and told me she doesn't want to do ROTC anymore. She said she just doesn't like it enough to devote 12 years of her life to it (4 in college and 8 after). I told her I was thrilled because it scared me to death that she would get deployed. Since being in ROTC was the only reason she went to USC Sumter in the first place, I asked Brittanie since she wasn't doing ROTC anymore, would she be interested in switching to Tech for spring semester. She jumped on that because since the wreck she has to pay for her own gas to make up for what that wreck is going to do to our insurance premiums. Going to Tech will save ALOT in gas and it is a good school. As it turns out, it also saves ALOT in tuition. USC Sumter is $3500 a semester and Tech is $1625. She has a scholarship of $2500 per semester. So we were looking at having to shell out $1000 out of pocket for the upcoming semester at USC Sumter just for tuition but she will have tuition, books, and fees paid for at Tech all by her scholarship...and even have money left over! So yesterday she applied to Tech. Last night, we were checking out Tech's website and came across this:

ROTC Programs for Midlands Technical College Students

Midlands Technical College has established Cross-Town Agreements with the Air Force, Navy and Army ROTC Programs at the University of South Carolina. Under these agreements, MTC students who meet established ROTC eligibility criteria will be able to participate in ROTC programs at USC while enrolled at Midlands Technical College. Accepted ROTC participants are also eligible to qualify for ROTC scholarships and earn ROTC academic credit at USC. ROTC credit could apply as college-wide free elective credit at MTC.

Students should contact the specific USC ROTC program directly for eligibility criteria, application and general information:

• USC Air Force ROTC (www.cas.sc.edu/aero/ )

• USC Army ROTC (www.cas.sc.edu/army/ )

• USC Navy ROTC (www.sc.edu/nrotc/ )

I was SOOOOO MAD when I saw this! This means that the ROTC guy at USC Columbia didn't know what he was talking about and she could have been going to Tech this whole time. If she would have gone to Tech she would have been living at home the whole time or at the very least in the dorm at USC (the Bridge program at Tech has an agreement with USC that Tech students can live in USC's dorms...no such agreement with USC Sumter) and the whole apartment nightmare would have never happened and she wouldn't have totaled her car on the way to Sumter either!!! I seriously wanted to punch that ROTC dude in the face when I read this.

But anyway, we submitted the application to Tech online and she takes her last final at USC Sumter on December 10th so as soon as they release her grades, she can print the unofficial transcript from the internet and take it to Tech and make late registration and start Tech on January 12th. She actually has friends that attend Tech so she won't feel so isolated. USC Sumter is a small school and most of the people who go there went to high school together so they have established cliques already and she is not a social butterfly to just go up and make friends. So she has no friends at USC Sumter. As long as she keeps at least a 3.0, she will be transferring to USC in Columbia for her sophomore year and the whole nightmare of her freshman year will be behind her! Making the 3.0 shouldn't be a problem because she has very good grades at USC Sumter and they are pretty comparable schools.