School!

The weekend was so superbly amazing! I dont even have words to describe how happy I was! Ive never given Oregon that much though except for a love of the coast. This weekend I really discocered how beautiful the whole state is. Its so green! I just wanted to sit under a tree all day even though it was overcast and rainy. I would never think that here in Washington! When it rains here I typically hide inside and wait for it to be over. So the state is great.
The school is even more amazing! The sweatshirt I bought has already become my second skin. My friend Zach came to the preview day with me. We spent 5 hours touring the school and talking the people. The campus is gorgeous so green and lively. There are squirrels everywhere! The buildings are old and brick and really pretty. They have a new rec center with a climbing wall, basketball gym with suspended track, tons of new machines, and a POOL with lap and recreational swims!!! Im pretty sure I would live in there! The classrooms are relativley small and the largest class size is 90. Our tour guide says she has had classes of only 15 people. Everyone we met was fantastic. If someone couldn't answer a question for us they didnt just point us in the right direction. They walked with us and introduced us to someone who could help and made sure we found the answer we were looking for. Everyone was genuinely nice; no one was fake, or rude, or full of themselves and too busy for us.
Cost of attendance includes tuition and fees, books and supplies, room and board, and personal expenses. For an Oregon resident it is estimated at $19,884 yearly. For a non-resident it is $31,425. Then there is a program called Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE). As a Washington resident I will qualify under this program to pay $21,921/year. Just a bit more than an Oregon resident. The only stipulation to this is that under the WUE program you cannot be majoring in ASL studies or Interpereting. The reasoning for this is because they have approximatley 300 incoming students each year that go into those programs. This is a serious downside to me because those two programs are the reason I am interested in WOU. One of the things they do to offset this is once you get accepted into the ITP program there is a tuition stipend available that waives tuition for those students. To get accepted into that program you have to have your first 2-3 years of core classes completed. So my final 2 years of school I wouldnt have to pay tuition.
Through some talking when I was there on Saturday I believe i've found a decent way to make all of this work for me. When I move down and start at WOU I will be declaring a major that is NOT one of the Deaf Studies programs for the first two years. After 2-3 years when I have all of my core classes finished and get accepted into the ITP program I will then declare that as my major. So I will either double major or have an ASL major and something else minor. In doing this I will be able to pay the lower tuition under the WUE program for my first few years and then qualify for the tuition stipend. My other option is to move to Oregon and live there for a full year before starting school; then I will qualify as an Oregon resident. Im not sure which route I will take. Id like to get into school as soon as possible. I need to figure out what I will major in. Im thinking Linguistics would be a good option. I want something that will tie in with the ASL/ITP nicely.
So Ive got a lot of thinking and organizing to do to figure out how to get this all done, but im MORE than ready!
As for what im going