This chapter opens with a discussion of art colleges, which are typically located in rural areas. Students often ask for college brochures to help them decide where to go to school. The narrator explains that he's decided to attend an art college in the country, but that if he fails this time, he'll have to wait a year before he can go back to school in the city. If he fails again, he worries that he won't be able to find a way to make up for it. He's also worried about how he will pay for the four years of school at a private school, which is very expensive. He tells the narrator that his only option is to attend a rural public school, because that's where he'd have to pay for his tuition. He also tells him that he can't hope to get into a private college because that would be too expensive, and it would mean that he wouldn't have enough money to attend the art college he wants to attend.