Update:
Ok, so I have decided to wait on trading until this fall with the possiblity of having a better budget by then.
So, I took the car to a repair shop, they thought the torque converter was causing the surging problem. About a week after that I went to the tranny shop and they seem to think that is the problem. Three days later, I get car back, SURGING STILL REMAINS!! Now the problem suddenly becomes a "miss or fuel problem". I replaced the plugs, coils, & wires about 15,000 miles ago with MSD coils & wires & NGK iridium plugs. I scanned the car today and sure enough, the code was P0300 (Multiple/Random Cylinder Misfire).
Now what?
$500 in debt for something that did nothing. I could have done so much with that money that is now gone.
