in the heights book errors — Page 2

I thought the idea there was that she wouldn't give Vanessa money for her current apartment because she would be supporting Vanessa's mother, whereas if she cosigns Vanessa's new lease, she'll be helping Vanessa get out of that environment with her mother, which is sort of the opposite of supporting her habit.

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The 3am flight has always bothered me. The lyric is "Nina flew in at 3am last night"...Aren't her parents a little worried about her wherabouts? If she got into NYC at 3am, by the time they are singing that song it has to be earliest in my estimation 7 am, so where has she been for four hours?

*shrug* I just figured she was sleeping it off in her parents' apartment all morning, and that's why she's not part of the morning commute of In the Heights, and we don't see her until just before Breathe ("Nina Rosario, what is up?" "Jet lag, I haven't slept all night...")

Have I mentioned that I kinda love this thread? :)

(edit to quote what I was responding to.)

Updated On: 12/17/08 at 05:04 PM

If she says she hasn't slept, why would you assume that she is asleep?

It's a grammar issue: "I haven't slept" means "I still have not gotten any sleep." If she had said "I hadn't slept all night," that could mean "I didn't sleep all night, so I slept all morning."

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That could work, I suppose.

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I never thought about it because, not living in NYC, I don't know how much it costs to live in that area. But if it's as expensive as you say, yeah, I can see the problem.

And, haha, I certainly would! I have sooooo many grievances about LB, like why is Emmett a TA if he's a licensed lawyer, and why does Kate know all of the Harvard Law entrance statistics by heart.

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Updated On: 12/17/08 at 05:35 PM

"How is Vanessa able to cut hair when she's only 19 years old?"

I may be wrong, but is there really an age minimum on who can get their cosmetic license to cut hair...? Nineteen actually seems like a reasonable age to me, and I actually know of people from where I grew up who were licensed to cut hair by a young age.

Also, regarding the question on why can't Nina just go to a cheaper university...I did not see the musical, but didn't she go to Stamford for a while? I mean, Stamford is a pretty prestigious college and that is why she chose to play it by ear and struggle to pay for Stamford. A lot of people will choose to go to the nationally renowned university over a cheaper not-so-great alternative. Just a thought.

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Well, did she get in those first of all? Maybe she wanted to go across the country. I wouldn't say Nina's choice of school is as big of a plot hole as people think.

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Haha, obviously if you get into a school like Stanford, you just go, no questions asked. But going to college in a different part of the country is expensive. I'm from Boston but go to college in Chicago, and I have to work more hours in order to take care of living expensives compared to my high school friends who stayed in Boston. That's why I wondered why she didn't just go to one of the amazing schools nearby.

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I'm so glad I found this thread! I had a lot of questions, too. Nina says her scholarship only covered a portion of tuition. She would have seen her financial aid and known exactly how much the scholarship would cover before leaving for Stanford. I find it difficult to believe that an intelligent girl like Nina who is the first to go to college from her family wouldn't analyze the in's and out's of her financial aid before leaving.

After seeing the show, I wondered why Nina and her parents didn't take out loans to cover the remaining amount. The majority of students take out a loan to cover expenses. The only answer I came up with was that maybe her parents have poor credit (because their business is failing), and so she wasn't able to obtain loans or enough loans to cover all the expenses. Private loans for people with no existing credit have horrifying interest rates of up to 18 percent.

I also assumed Nina was asleep, but for the sake of clarity they should change that line where she says she wasn't sleeping.

My boyfriend is a first generation student who came from a low-income family. Whenever financial aid application and award season came around, he always was panicking over whether he would have enough to cover tuition. Maybe Nina is just immature and didn't do the math, but I would be surprised. It says she applied to "every scholarship" so she must have been aware of financial aid issues. Anyway, my two cents.

Updated On: 12/17/08 at 07:29 PM

Oh, yeah. I think that's what the book suggests happened.

So even a struggling business is considered an asset?

The financial aid system is a mess. My college bases all my financial aid off my stepfather's income, someone who's never given me a dime in my life. There are a lot of students who fall through the cracks.