$975: My Linn-Benton Story

$975. That wasn’t the amount that I wanted to owe Chemeketa Community College. With a half grimace on my face while staring at the balance due section of the college’s website, I faced a significant obstacle in attending in the fall semester. 

After several years away from college, I had taken a piano class in the winter of 2022. Getting an A in the course encouraged me to take another, and I figured that in the spring Spanish 101 would be good for my working life as well. Owing the college money was a problem, however.

So, I figured that searching the surrounding area for community colleges might offer the opportunity to receive financial aid. Luckily, owing one college money won’t stop you from getting financial aid from another. Linn-Benton, only 30 minutes away from my home, seemed like a good campus to explore.

On a sunny August afternoon, I drove over to Albany and toured the Linn-Benton campus. This was after a conversation with my mom, wherein she told me that she couldn’t cover the full $975 so that I could attend in the fall. I didn’t want to pay half of the fee, not without exploring Linn-Benton, so after that call I headed over to the campus to see if the school was worth attending.

Cruising down I5 with the windows down in my Toyota Prius, stuck my hand out the window to feel the warm summer air. Albany was only a 30 minute drive from Salem, but I enjoyed the towering conifers and rolling hills along the way. When pulled up to Linn-Benton Community College, a place I had never been before, I had no idea where anything was. Finding a parking spot was easy in late August with fewer students attending classes. 

I stepped out of my car, surveyed the campus, and saw Takena Hall. I headed toward the double doors since they appeared to be the most intuitive entrance; they looked like they had administrative offices in them. After walking through the doors I saw a collection of flags and admired them for a moment before turning to the right and finding what the school called “First Resort.” I spoke with their receptionist about financial aid, application deadlines, and available majors before being directed to the library.

I wasn’t sure that I’d attend, since I lived in Salem, but it looked like a nice campus.

For the next three days, I spent three to four hours each day taking entrance exams, filling out financial aid paperwork and searching through class schedules. I compared the classes available to my credits taken at Chemeketa. I had taken five credits worth of classes in the spring, but I had not been a full time student in five years. 

The classes were plentiful. The schedules were compatible. It looked like I could be successful at Linn-Benton.

Because I got an A in that online Spanish class (and piano lessons, too), I decided to take the full 12 credits to get the maximum financial aid. I felt like my success in school since driving was no fluke and that I could once again make progress towards my degree.

I picked a biology course for my degree requirements, a Spanish course to improve my lingual schools, and a photojournalism course to investigate a potential career as a newsy of sorts.

After hours of testing, essay writing, and finalizing financial aid paperwork I put my printed papers and schedules into my folders and zipped up my backpack.

Attending Linn-Benton is legitimately the best decision of my life; I have a 4.0 with 28 credits, acing biology, physics, photography, and Spanish classes. I'm the News Editor of the school newspaper, and I will complete my Associate degree in the fall. I am preparing to dual enroll at Oregon State University, and I am hoping to take music classes in the future.

Ever since getting up from that computer chair and walking out of the library and into the sun, I’ve never been more glad that I owed someone $975.