This is the time of year when my daughters go back to college — and a chunk of my money goes with them. I know that many of you are going through the same thing.
Emily is a junior at Mississippi College. The Choctaws will hold a four-day move-in party before starting classes on Wednesday.
Amy is a senior at Loyola University in New Orleans. The Wolfpack won’t return to classes until Aug. 29. But Amy, who mostly lives in New Orleans now, is already down there preparing for choir auditions and whatever else it is that vocal performance majors do before the semester starts. It seems to involve a lot of social activities.
I admit that it pained me a little when I realized that neither of my daughters would become the third generation of Corders to go to Mississippi State University. They have to live their own lives, though.
Both of them went to public schools in grades 1-12. But when they decided to go to college, they thought these private schools were best for them.
Somebody asked me if having two daughters attending private colleges means that I am “rich.” Just the opposite, I’m afraid. Fortunately, Amy and Emily were intelligent and talented enough to earn the scholarships that made this possible. They both got jobs, too, which helped even more.
I always tell Amy, “I wish my daddy had let me go to college in New Orleans.” I think she has inherited a little of the wanderlust that used to afflict her father.
I had serious reservations about my oldest daughter attending school in Sin City. But, as a friend pointed out, a young person can get in just as much trouble in Starkville or Oxford as she or he can in New Orleans.
So far, so good for Amy, although I experienced another anxiety attack when she announced that she wanted to move off campus. That has worked out fine (mostly), too.
Emily is more of a homebody than her sister, so it didn’t surprise me when she chose Mississippi College. Clinton is within easy driving distance of both Corder households (her mother’s and my father’s) in Madison.
I don’t think a large university would have been right for Emily. At MC, she is among many friends from her church and school in Madison.
A Southern Baptist college is also a nurturing environment for Emily. She’s a sociology major, but I predict she will end up doing full-time Christian service.
Both of my daughters have bloomed at college. They are far more mature and self-assured than they were when they graduated from high school.
But they both can still make me laugh, intentionally or not.
I’m happy to report that Amy and Emily have both gotten good grades in college. They have followed their grandparents’ and mother’s example rather than that of their father, a far-too-casual student if there ever was one. At least I was until I went back to college and began paying for it myself.
Amy and Emily haven’t called on Daddy to help them move in this year (although there’s still time, girls). Amy is living in the same place and Emily seems to have gotten moving into a dorm down to a science. Plus, she would rather have her boyfriend help her move in than her father. What’s up with that?
Many of you probably think that with one daughter who’s a senior and one who’s a junior, I should be able to see the light at the end of the college tunnel.
Not quite. Amy and Emily have both told me that they’re going to graduate school.
• Contact Charles Corder at ccorder@gwcommonwealth.com.
