The Road Ahead

After half a quarter at Seattle Central Community College, Desi has decided not to continue her schooling past Winter Quarter. Her job has, seemingly unbeknownst to her, developed into a high needs position and she no longer has the capacity to hold a full time job while simultaneously going to school. After some stress and a few meltdowns, she's come to this conclusion and we both agree it's for the best. Besides, Mike is the ticket to Scotland, so as long as he's in school the "Scotland in 2010" goal is still in full effect.

Speaking of Scotland, there was a short time when we were considering whether Mike should transfer to the University of Washington to participate in their International Student Exchange program. This would've meant that Mike would be paying the resident tuition for an education in Scotland, which we found attractive. However, after further investigation, we have determined that idea will not work for our purposes. The main reason is the visa situation.

Like we've stated before, if Mike is accepted into a year-long program or longer, his family (aka Desi) is allowed access with an open visa, meaning ability to work, go to school, and travel. But, that's only on a degree seeking student visa and through an international student exchange program, Mike would get a non-degree seeking student visa (because his degree would be via UW rather than University of Edinburgh). Therefore, Desi wouldn't get the open visa that makes this plan attainable by allowing her to work in the UK. So, all this to say, we're sticking with the current plan of Mike getting 45 credits at Seattle Central and transferring directly to the U of Edinburgh.