JAYFORCE

This hits, and hits ME, hard!

I was once a high school senior with eyes on an Ivy League acceptance prize. I was this close…THIIIISSS (like three out of seven admission board votes) close to getting in, too. However, I fell way below Merit-Based financial aid thresholds; and with out-of-state fees, had I been accepted to Cornell University, I might have been even further in college debt than I am now.

(Spoiler Alert: I’m DEEP in that debt sh!t, yo. So deep that my poor Tuskegee, Alabama accent just went BK NY. Even though I’m 4-6 ’til the deep-six… son! And before you ask, homie, hometown Tuskegee University’s fees got higher than folks on the best Cali Bud just when I was ready to apply there. I definitely would’ve got gaffled with that debt, homie… Oh no, my accent just went ’90s West Coast Hip-Hop… poorly. Haaaaaa!)

But I did not get accepted to the one Ivy League college I pursued, unlike Ronald Nelson – an incoming Freshman to The Capstone (aka The University Of Alabama). Ronald, wise beyond his years, has made a bold decision to turn down offers (and aid) from EVERY Ivy League school that accepted him (ALL of them), and several other colleges, to attend UA.

Ronald did the math, and he kept the faith about his post-graduate future which will be rife with so many options.

After some thought and consideration of all the schools’ offers, Nelson decided it wouldn’t be worth the financial strain to use this money for his undergraduate education. He plans on going to medical school after college and knows he’ll be faced with more tuition costs.

“With people being in debt for years and years, it wasn’t a burden that Ronald wanted to take on and it wasn’t a burden that we wanted to deal with for a number of years after undergraduate,” Ronald Sr. said. “We can put that money away and spend it on his medical school, or any other graduate school.”

Plus, though I do not know Ronald’s overall ‘tude at his current age, I would have been SUCH an Ivy League azz-jack. I believe I am a better person for going Crimson Tide (UA) instead of Big Red (Cornell). An Ivy League a-hole in the hole financially. And noooo, going Ivy League does not make folks ‘holes (ex: our hella cool U.S. President went to Harvard)… I am just talking about me.

And to Ronald, who I praise for exhibiting such wisdom at such an early age: Bravo, sir… and ROLL TIDE!

READ MORE: RONALD NELSON TURNED DOWN EVERY IVY LEAGUE SCHOOL

– @ojones1

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