The college years...all 5 of them....money well spent!

Upon completion of high school I decided to head on out to RIT for a little edumacation. The school was recommended by a family friend (Mr. Dillman) who's daughter was attending RIT at the time. She had heard of this engineering program called "microelectronic engineering" (uE) and touted that the placement into industry was ~100%...basically you just had to have a pulse. So I said to myself "Self, I have a pulse!!" and off I went.

After the first year of indoctrination, I mean edumacation, my head was spinning so I did what any self respecting 19 year old would do...head back home and take up a graveyard shift at the local Frito-Lay plant. Ironic that this move landed me in my first "chip" business job ;-) Working graveyard meant I got some extra bones for the effort. One additional benefit was it allowed me to take on a few odd jobs during the days to supplement the income ... no not drug pushing but instead painting houses. I started my own "business" and set out to paint the world a brighter tomorow (and to paint a brighter financial picture for myself)! That was a rough summer but I banked enough to tell those devils (a.k.a. parents) that I did not need their $$$ anymore...this kiddo was going to make it on his own (with loans and scholarships). In hindsight, I should have let them pay a little longer ;-)

Anyway, I went back my second year and that was when it all clicked. First, I was sure that I was in the correct major as I absolutely loved uE ... but more importantly two life changing events happened at the end of the year. First, I was offered a Co-op job at this little chip company called Intel (to be further called "the company" ) in New Mexico. Back then they didn't have the cool swirly logo like they do today, so it was a hard choice. In the end I went to Albunukie anyway ;-) Second, whilst in Albunukie I laid my eyes on the pertiest girl I ever did see...the future Mrs. But I digress...

My co-op at the company ended up being my "life" sentence. They paid really well (twice what I was making at my previous chip job) and the opportunities to apply one's intelligence was unbelievable. Hence, I was hooked. Not to mention I got to take lots of coffee breaks as apparently nerds are quite fond of their coffee...the start of my second life sentence...the java! Anyway, the remaining 3 years at college were 6 months in Crapchester and then 6 months in either Phoenix or Albunukie (hence why it took 5 years vs. 4). The major dough made during the co-op months was great enough to significantly offset what would have been a terrible debt. Not that I got out unscathed...but the scalping could have been mucho mucho worseo! As it turns out, that original job interview for the co-op position was my last. Every summer I returned to the company without fail and after graduation the offer was already in the mail...

Oh, is it obvious by now that I am tremendously in favor of a quarter based co-op education? Beyond the financial benefits and the increased odds of landing a full-time job upon graduation, there is the sometimes overlooked advantage...you get a sneak peak at the rest of your life...for better or worse. My kiddo's will hear this story someday...I promise.

One last and significant financial lesson I accrued in college: shop around and find your ideal bank with the greatest benefits you can extort!! I began by plunking my hard earned Frito-Lay/Painting money down into the closest bank I could find. It just so happened to be Key Bank. The service was absolutely terrible, the rates were terrible and they did not even have this new thing called online banking....holy crap batman! So I started to shop around and ended up choosing a little bank known as Citibank. Now, they didn't have the cool red umbrella on their logo at the time so that was not the reason for going their way. Instead, it was three main factors. First, the service was second to none. Second, they allowed me to upgrade to Citigold status (many perks involved) despite the fact that I was WAY under the requirement of having $50K in the bank. Third, they had online banking. Now this isn't the glamorous / slick web stuff we have now. It was a program on my computer which actually dialed directly into the bank and established a connection! It was awesome (despite looking terrible) since it meant I could do all my banking from anywhere in the country without the need to keep toting my monies around. Nowadays this is commonplace for any Tom/Dick/Harry bank...but back then it was cutting edge and that is the reason I still hang with the Citi today!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention...all that slick online banking saved me so much time, that I ended up developing a bad habit of watching Seinfeld with my roommate...Mr. Cangemi...which took years to finally break!