Chapter 1398: Chapter 1000: Full-time Mother’s Counterattack 8 (6,000 Words)_4
Because the expenses in Beijing are high, and her child shouldn’t be worse off than others. He’s about to turn four, and it’s time for him to learn what he needs to learn.
She won’t let her child learn under enormous pressure, but what ordinary families’ children can learn, she hopes her child can be exposed to as well. He might not excel in it all, but he should at least know it. The house can be a bit worse, but the learning environment must be better.
Comparing to other students who went to Beijing for school for the first time, her familiarity with Beijing is no less than her hometown. With mobile navigation in hand, public transportation at her disposal, she and her son each carried just a backpack, free from the hassle of luggage. They snacked and strolled to the vicinity of Political and Legal University.
There was no rush to register at school, as it was still early. Instead, she started looking for suitable housing through a mobile app and various agents.
Just searching for schools and housing took a whole week. Finally, she settled on a standard apartment of over thirty square meters, 4,000 yuan a month, and found a private kindergarten near the college. It’s a very quaint, large, old-style kindergarten with older teachers. Though the facilities can’t compare to some organizations, to save for the high tuition of elementary school, she had to go for this kindergarten, which also costs 4,000 yuan a month.
Kindergarten tuition is paid per semester, roughly five months, totaling twenty thousand yuan. Rent is paid biannually, 24,000 plus a 3,000 yuan deposit, totaling US$ 47,000 for half a year’s expenses. It’s truly frightening; one hundred fifty thousand yuan quickly dwindled to ten thousand yuan. The previous sixty thousand yuan is saved in investments, not to be touched for now, leaving herself a backup plan.
The distance between the house and kindergarten is just a fifteen-minute walk, and if using an e-bike, the school distance is twenty minutes, thirty minutes if biking. In general, it’s relatively close.
Afterward, she took her child for a medical checkup, got vaccinations, and handled enrollment procedures. The house was easy to organize as it was fully furnished with appliances, ready for move-in. She only needed to arrange their daily items.
The apartment was clean, tidy, on a high floor, with an elevator. The only unsafe factor is the apartment building; the crowdedness of people could pose risks in case of a fire, the consequences unimaginable.
This was why she had always resisted living in apartment buildings, but nowadays high rises are unavoidable everywhere!
With kindergarten starting on August 27th and university on August 28th, she first took her child to report at China University of Political Science and Law, and updated her situation with the teachers there. To her luck, the school even held a special meeting regarding her situation.
"We’ve arranged a graduate dormitory for you, a single room where you and your child can stay, and even found a spot for your child at the Political and Legal affiliated kindergarten. The regret is the house will be available after the New Year. However, the kindergarten can be processed right away."
Qi Qi couldn’t believe there was such good news; the admissions teacher smiled warmly at her.
"You’ve really worked hard. At your age, and especially with a child, being able to enter our school, the leadership already considered solving some practical difficulties for you. After all, the tuition and rent alone are suffocating. We’ll arrange what we can, but on the condition that your graduate school must also be our school. Is that okay?"
Qi Qi was almost in tears: "Thank you, teacher, thank you so much."
"No need. Kindergarten should start soon; here’s the recommendation letter from our school. With this, you can enjoy a preferential policy at the kindergarten, reducing the monthly tuition from the usual starting point of 5,000 yuan to only 2,000 yuan. We hope you can cherish this opportunity."
Qi Qi suddenly regretted finding schools and houses so soon; was all this hassle over the past days pointless?
Living in the school would save so much money, and being able to attend the Political and Legal affiliated kindergarten and elementary school would indeed be a stroke of luck.
If that’s the case, she could stay at Political and Legal for her undergraduate and graduate for at least six to seven years?
The school’s efficiency was impressive, especially since she had just completed her child’s enrollment procedures. With paperwork ready, she registered at the university in the morning and the kindergarten in the afternoon, paying 12,000 yuan in fees for a semester—ten thousand for tuition and two thousand for living expenses and other miscellaneous charges.
Later, she boldly returned to the kindergarten she had initially approached to plead, explaining she hadn’t expected the school could secure her a preferential policy, and hanging the fact that the other location was closer to the school hoping the kindergarten would refund her, even if just a few thousand less, any refund would do.
Being a 25-year-old university entrant and a single mother with a child, the kindergarten principal prioritized her case, as women shouldn’t trouble fellow women. She kindly offered a full refund and assured, should any changes occur, her child could always be enrolled without conditions.
Qi Qi was moved to tears on the spot.
The kindergarten savings amounted to 8,000 yuan.
The apartment would have a new single room available post-New Year, and there’s no way to refund it, so she could manage living for six months until she moved into the school’s dormitory. With the dormitory and kindergarten being conveniently located behind the university, it fully supports her academics!
At Political and Legal University, her tuition is 5,000 yuan.
Though the scholarship offerings do not match those of Tsinghua and Peking University, and the dining options aren’t quite as good, Political and Legal University is also a revered institution that also provided her such support; this alone makes her determined to pursue her studies wholeheartedly here.
As electric bikes weren’t permitted on campus, she bought a bicycle that accommodates her child, costing one to two thousand yuan. Her electric bike was temporarily stored away, for the beginning of the school year was busy. She planned to ponder suitable part-time options after settling in.
In fact, she possessed various skills—piano, writing, songwriting, computing, medicine, cooking, calligraphy, embroidery, yoga, accounting—many requiring certificates, such as needing an accounting certificate for accounting, a degree for piano teaching, even a training certificate for becoming a yoga teacher. The only feasible freelance options were writing, cooking, or coding, weren’t they?
