Elle and Hugo

Chapter Three

Hugo made his way toward the administrative building for his meeting with the financial counselor. He had to admit, he was a bit nervous. There was a very real possibility of him not being able to go to school. His mom always had to work long hours everyday just to make enough money to get by. Even after marrying Jeff money was pretty scarce. This meant that if Hugo wasn't able to go to school on scholarships and loans, then he couldn't go to school. Well, he could, but that would mean asking his father for money, and he really didn't want to do that. Hugo loved his dad, but his dad was always away and never took the time to really get to know his son. His mother never took money from him, so Hugo wouldn't either.

He walked into the building and was greeted by a young lady behind a desk. She looked like she might be a student worker or something.

"Hiya! How can I help you today?"

"Uh, I have a meeting with..." Hugo paused to look at the slip of paper in his hand. "Mr. Simon?"

The girl nodded enthusiastically. "Sure! His office is just down the hall to the right! He should be in his office; just knock on the door!"

Hugo gave her a small nod and a wave before walking down the hall. He found the room marked Simon and gave the door a strong knock. "Come in!" called a voice from inside. "It's unlocked!"

Hugo opened the door and entered the tiny office. There was a short, stout man sitting behind a large, wooden desk that seemed to be almost too big for the room. The desk was covered in papers and a laptop was just sitting on top of them all. The man stood and held out his hand.

"You must be Hugo. I'm Dean Simon. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Hugo shook his hand and plopped himself down in one of the chairs in front of the desk.

"Will one of your parents be joining us today?" Dean asked.

Hugo shook his head. "Ma's at work all day."

"And your father?"

Hugo just shook his head again.

"Alright. Well, let's take a look at the situation." Dean typed up some things on his laptop, glancing at Hugo over the top of it.

"So you have an academic scholarship which covers about half of what you owe. And then through financial aid loans and grants... that brings us to you owing only about two thousand dollars a semester."

"Right. But the problem is that I don't have two thousand dollars. Is there any way I can take out more loans?"

"Not through financial aid. You could try to get one through your bank, but those loans have to be paid off now instead of when you graduate."

"Well, what are my other options then? I really need to go to school. I can't drop out like my parents. At least not yet. I just got here!"

Dean nodded quickly, scratching his chin. "Well, you could always try a sport? They have scholarships.

"Nope, not gonna happen. I wouldn't even be able to get onto a team if I wanted to."

"Well, what about a music scholarship? You could join choir or band?"

Hugo considered this one. "I play guitar, but that wouldn't be helpful for a band. I could maybe try joining choir? I'm not much of a singer..."

"Well your only other option at this point is to work it off. You could get a job on campus and if you were to work about twenty hours a week including breaks you could pay it off that way."