Chapter 24

January – Senior Year – Age 18

Those Fateful Letters

Ms. Pillsbury was on her game this year. The Senior class as a whole had all filled out their college applications and submitted them before Christmas. She had been inspired by Finn's determination. He was raising Charlotte to the best of his abilities – and whenever she visited, she thought the little girl was very well adjusted – and complete school, work, and go to college. It was awe inspiring to watch him grow into this young man. She was also pleasantly surprised to see that the whole class had applied to some school or another – be it tech school, or community college, or a four year college; even a few applied to Ivy League schools. It made her smile at the whole graduating class, especially since no one had dropped out since the beginning of the year. This was quite a resounding success in her book.

Those who had sent out applications early, by the end of Thanksgiving were starting to get their acceptance letters. Kurt got an acceptance letter from NYU already. He was over the moon, especially since Dave had gotten accepted as well. Finn was waiting on pins and needles for any news from the four colleges applied for. In the back of his mind, he had a devilish voice saying that he would never get it; but he was determined to make the most of his life, for Charlotte's sake.

Friday rolled around and Finn had his routine: school, work until six, pick Charlotte up and head home for some downtime with his gorgeous girl. This particular day ended up slightly different. When Finn brought Charlotte home, there was an air of excitement from Carol as she greeted them at the door. "What's going on Mom?" Finn asked warily.

"Nothing," she practically shouted, the nervousness radiating off her in waves.

"Something is definitely up," Finn argued. "You're practically bouncing out of your skin."

"You got a letter today," Carol admitted.

"A letter?"

"From Bowling Green," Carol confirmed. "It's on the kitchen table." Finn dropped all his bags and rushed – with Charlotte still in his arms – to the kitchen. There sat a large envelope with the university name splashed across the outside. He tore into the envelope and took out the first page of the letter.

'Dear Mr. Hudson,

Upon review of your application, we would like to offer you our congratualtions on your acceptance to BGSU!'

"You got in?" Carol screamed.

"I got in!" Finn shouted. "Char! Daddy got into college!"

"My baby's going to college!" Carol cried out, hugging her son and granddaughter.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Within two weeks, Finn had four acceptance letters from the four colleges he had applied for. While he would have to apply for financial aid, he would claim emancipated status and hopefully they would give him a bit more money than they would if he filed that his parents were now married. He had applied for several local scholarships and garnered around $8,000 a year. Then he would see what the schools were going to offer him.

"So am I writing the pro's and con's list for each school?" Santana asked, already getting out her binder and a pencil.

"Well, you do have better handwriting than I do," Finn reasoned sheepishly. She mockingly rolled her eyes at him and got ready for the list.

"Okay, Kent State first."

"Well, it costs the most, so that's a con," Finn replied. "And it's the furthest away."

"Daddy," Charlotte called. She ran over to him and tried to climb into his lap. Finn helped her and began to tickle her

"They have a three year program for a bachelor's in case management for individuals and families, that's a pro," Finn said, pausing to blow a raspberry on his daughters belly.

"Okay, anything else?"

"They really didn't have family accommodations," Finn shrugged.

"Alright, how about Akron now," Santana said, shuffling some papers around.

Okay, they had the cheapest tuition and the housing was relatively cheap too. Not the greatest locations for housing," Finn listed. "They had two different majors but I wasn't really all that interested."

"Okay," Santana replied, writing down the proper pro's and cons. "Which one next?"

"OSU," Finn said, pulling their paperwork closer. "Definitely the highest in price."

"Yeah, but didn't they offer you a full tuition scholarship?"

"Partial, they would pay for $7,000 of the whole year's tuition," Finn replied, double checking the paperwork. "Their degree programs aren't all that impressive either."

"I didn't like their nursing programs all that much," Santana commented. "The last two nurses I met at the hospital who went there were awful."

"I'll say we're probably counting that one out," Finn said definitively.

"And last one is Bowling Green," Santana said. "Good nursing program."

"Descent tuition, and multiple campuses. Their major is good."

"Daddy down!" Charlotte piped up.

"Alright sweetie," Finn said. She climbed down from his lap and went back to her toy chest. "Okay, let's finish this and we can get dinner together," Santana said. "Anything else?"

"Well, I really liked that they are very alternative family friendly."

"What do you mean?"

"They have small houses for nontraditional families, child care services and all kinds of aid for single parents."

"Sounds pretty cool," Santana agreed. She finished writing the list and put all their paperwork into a pile in the middle of the table, away from grabby hands. "I honestly think we made a choice."

"Yeah, after talking things out it seems like BGSU is where it would be best."

"With everything they offer, they seem pretty awesome," Santana replied.

"I don't want you feeling obligated to go to the same school as me," Finn said, wrapping his arms around her middle.

"It's not obligation, the nursing program is pretty good and it would be nice to go to the same college as someone else I know. And I get to see that pretty Chicka all the time."

"You are amazing," Finn sighed. He leaned over and kissed her. This particularly engaging activity continued for a short time until Carol came home from work.

"Alright love birds, let's break it up and get dinner going," Carol chuckled. It did her heart good to see her son acting like a normal teenager for once.

"Sorry Mrs. H," Santana said contritely.

"It's all good," Carol replied. "I believe the crockpot should be ready, so let's set the table and eat before this little girl needs to go to bed." Charlotte had run out when Carol came home and wrapped around her legs.

"I'll go do that," Finn said, a smile on his face.