What If: Xander Went To College?

[garfan]

They dropped the college storyline about ten episodes in…

Say, Angel should have asked if Fred could have a Chumash curse on her during Hole in the world.

I don't buy it. Xander was supposed to be college prep, he was taking the same courses as Willow, Buffy and Cordie. We never hear of him taking career electives or looking into career opportunities. At the last minute, the writers realized that they needed someone to stand in the non-college bound, Xander worked just as well as anyone, but it's not consistent with how things worked in 2000, that was very much the peak of sending everyone to college. I mean, Tara has less of a support structure than Xander, she managed college quite well.

I like to think that when they started allowing people to choose classes Xander was like "What should I take, what should I take?" And then he handed off the paper to Willow and pawned it off on her, so she was choosing his classes. Of course Willow/Xander codependency is one of my favorite things. I often think he came up with the idea of a road trip when he figured Willow would be going to an Ivy League school and he could drive across country at his own pace and like show up once she was settled in and then decide to take a break and then kind of hang around. That's why when his big dream falls through so quickly he doesn't really care

IMO Xander is so low confidence he never even tried to get into college.

 

[famicommander]

He was poor and a D student. College wasn't an attainable goal for him.

 

[Kendar]

The tuition cost for UC California (including all satellite locations) for the 99-00 year was $2716. Surprisingly affordable, but it doesn't include room and board (not needed), books, or other administrative costs/fees.

They dropped the college storyline about ten episodes in…

Say, Angel should have asked if Fred could have a Chumash curse on her during Hole in the world.

I don't buy it. Xander was supposed to be college prep, he was taking the same courses as Willow, Buffy and Cordie. We never hear of him taking career electives or looking into career opportunities. At the last minute, the writers realized that they needed someone to stand in the non-college bound, Xander worked just as well as anyone, but it's not consistent with how things worked in 2000, that was very much the peak of sending everyone to college. I mean, Tara has less of a support structure than Xander, she managed college quite well.

Unfortunately, I suspect this is the writers not thinking things through. They want the gang interacting together in class, so everyone is in the same class. I'm skeptical that Willow and Oz would be in standard placement classes, but I'm more skeptical that Xander and Buffy are in AP classes. So they apparently just lumped them all together in standard classes.

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

UC in state tuition has always been heavily subsidized, to the point it was free before 1970. Xander's Family financial situation has never really been examined, but money probably wasn't the issue.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

As we saw in The Zeppo, Xander's uncle Rory had a mint condition 1957 Chevrolet convertible. That would be a six-figure price car today. Money is not necessarily scarce in his family, but money doesn't solve every problem (except coming up with tuition today).

 

[ILLYRIAN]

All seemed to go well when Xander decided to go to college,
unfortunately though he got Buffy to drive him to that college,
rumour has it Buffy is still trying to find the right road to get there,
'tis fun doing hand brake turns at the last moment when she thinks they are going the wrong way,
tee hee.

 

[famicommander]

UC in state tuition has always been heavily subsidized, to the point it was free before 1970. Xander's Family financial situation has never really been examined, but money probably wasn't the issue.

He still had bad grades and bad test scores. He wouldn't even have been accepted.

 

[garfan]

He still had bad grades and bad test scores. He wouldn't even have been acaccepted.

Xander is the only person I recall saying anything negative about Xander's grades. It's an informed attribute and the person doing the informing is negatively biased

 

[famicommander]

Xander is the only person I recall saying anything negative about Xander's grades. It's an informed attribute and the person doing the informing is negatively biased

Even in season 1 he's receiving extra tutoring from Willow just to pass his classes. And this is even before they join the Scoobies, so it's not like he needs tutoring because he's out stalking graveyards instead of doing homework like later on in the series or when Buffy needs tutoring. It's not just Xander doubting himself, it's a long term and consistent aspect of his character. He blows off assignments and vocally hopes for Ds on the ones he does turn in. He even intentionally took what would've been an F on that egg assignment when he attempted to eat his egg. His job aptitude test doesn't go well for him, his overall SAT scores resembled Willow's verbal scores, Snyder and Cordelia both knew damn well he wasn't going to college. His only extracurricular activity was a couple weeks on the swim team.

There's just no way he had anything resembling a decent transcript.

 

[Kendar]

As we saw in The Zeppo, Xander's uncle Rory had a mint condition 1957 Chevrolet convertible. That would be a six-figure price car today. Money is not necessarily scarce in his family, but money doesn't solve every problem (except coming up with tuition today).

Never underestimate the ability of someone to hold on to something that they can't afford. Uncle Josh had a 1963 Porsche 911 he refused to sell. His wife divorced him when he refused to sell it to cover late mortgage payments and they lost their house (it would have covered the entire mortgage). He also refused to sell it to cover costs of his daughter's cancer treatment, resulting in her death. They were poor enough they couldn't afford insurance on it, so it just sat there getting babied. He spent the last 20 years of his life in abject poverty, and (as best as we can figure) someone appears to have been the first to find his body and stole the car.

 

[famicommander]

Xander explicitly states that his cousin is his only relation with money, and he has to swallow his pride and beg him for a tuxedo to wear.

His uncle is a washed up drunk who possibly lives with Xander's parents. His car is his only possession and he's not even allowed to drive it, so he rents it to Xander. Not exactly the behavior of a guy who has his financial ducks in a row. We even find out in season 1 that he was laid off from his floor-sweeping job when that computer company shut down.

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

Okay, that still doesn't explain his parent's financial situation. Two married people, with one child, living in California in the 1990s? I'm not saying they weren't intended to be poor, that's clearly the case. I think that's mostly an informed attribute the series doesn't bother to establish the consequences of. Like how the Simpsons were poor with two cars, three kids, a Stay at home wife and a four bedroom home with a job in a Nuclear Power Plant.

And if they were poor, like the father was disabled, the mom doesn't have much work ability, they can't sell the house for being outside of their means, and Xander can't find a job in the local economy, there's always need based financial aid.

Ultimately, I'm glad they didn't "Boy Meets World" this, and have everyone go to the same college together, and have Giles teach at the college, and so forth. I think there was some value in stating that not everyone is cut out for academic work, and showing other career paths, and what it takes to excel in them. I just wish it had better writing.

 

[garfan]

Even in season 1 he's receiving extra tutoring from Willow just to pass his classes. And this is even before they join the Scoobies, so it's not like he needs tutoring because he's out stalking graveyards instead of doing homework like later on in the series or when Buffy needs tutoring. It's not just Xander doubting himself, it's a long term and consistent aspect of his character. He blows off assignments and vocally hopes for Ds on the ones he does turn in. He even intentionally took what would've been an F on that egg assignment when he attempted to eat his egg. His job aptitude test doesn't go well for him, his overall SAT scores resembled Willow's verbal scores, Snyder and Cordelia both knew damn well he wasn't going to college. His only extracurricular activity was a couple weeks on the swim team.

There's just no way he had anything resembling a decent transcript.

Sure he had WIllow tutor him. Did that do nothing? Is she a lousy tutor

The show overstated lck of intelligence sometimes. Harmony is treated as a particularly stupid stump most of the time. But apparently she had good enough grades to be a cheerleader, though we never see it, because Buffy criticizes the time she tried to be head cheerleader. Speaking of athletics that require grades, if Xander were a D student he couldn't have joined the swim tea,

 

[famicommander]

Sure he had WIllow tutor him. Did that do nothing? Is she a lousy tutor

The show overstated lck of intelligence sometimes. Harmony is treated as a particularly stupid stump most of the time. But apparently she had good enough grades to be a cheerleader, though we never see it, because Buffy criticizes the time she tried to be head cheerleader. Speaking of athletics that require grades, if Xander were a D student he couldn't have joined the swim tea,

Snyder asks Willow to give the kid a D so he can participate in athletics. So yes, D students are eligible athletes at Sunnydale.

 

[NotASlayer]

There is an assumption that Xander needed to go to college; some people just don't do well in an academic setting. This doesn't mean they are stupid. I doubt traditional college would have helped Xander particularly; he might have been able to muddle through to get a degree he had no use for and a whole heap of debt.

On the other hand, get rid of the demons, vampires and Hellmouth, and I think Xander, once he found his way in S5 and seen especially in S7, would have been one of the most successful of his year, beating most of those predicted to be "most likely to succeed" (which often seems to mean pretty or sporty), running his own multi million dollar construction business by the time he was 30.

He slowly got more confident over the years, but, imo, it's not until the end of season 6 that he managed to make large strides on that front.

Actually, I would say that it was after The Replacement that he changed. If you watch S5 after that, bar a momentary bobble in Out Of My Mind, after that episode Xander is dressing better, is self confident and is personally and professionally successful. So much so that S6 Xander looks like the real Xander has been abducted by aliens and replaced with a pod person who has lost seven seasons of character development and growth.

 

[Btvs fan]

How would season 4 be different if Xander was at college too?

Joss wasnt interested in his character. I remember Jane Espenson said he was the character fun to humiliate. They saw as a joke side character at best.

Now I know they considered making him gay instead of Willow but Lesbians are always easier to have on screen than gay men (they're fun to watch)

 

[silvermoon]

Xander was heading up a construction crew pretty quickly and living in the swankiest place . So unrealistic.