Winthrop

Winthrop is the college Isabel MacKenna hopes to attend, and her plans there reveal how the MacKenna family’s financial crisis reaches beyond keeping their home: it also puts her education in doubt. The sisters initially consider postponing college, but later arrange funds for Isabel’s first semester.

Isabel’s plans

Isabel is excited about going to Winthrop, which Kate regards as the right school for her. Kate also hopes that leaving home for college will help Isabel grow more independent; she observes that their mother had treated Isabel as the family’s baby. The prospect of college is therefore both an educational goal and a hoped-for step toward adulthood.

Tuition and the family crisis

When the sisters confront a stack of bills, Isabel proposes putting college off, at least for now. She reasons that Kiera, who has a full scholarship, should finish her final year of medical school, while she and Kate find jobs to help keep the family home. Her proposal makes the immediate financial pressure plain: Isabel is willing to defer her own plans as the sisters prioritize the household.

A first-semester solution

The postponement is not the final plan. When Isabel asks how her tuition will be paid, Kiera explains that the initial fees have already been covered and offers to take out a loan for the remaining tuition and expenses. Kate treats that loan as a backup, saying she believes she can cover the first semester from her business and household accounts. Winthrop thus remains within reach, though the available evidence establishes a way to fund only Isabel’s first semester, not the longer-term cost of her education.