Keats Society

[Malia]

You don't EVEN want to know how deep in debt I am to Sallie Mae (our friendly academic loan lender and slave master). Suffice it to say, when I'm done with this degree, I'll be in debt double what Credo owes. Oh, the very thought of it makes me want to cry

But at least I have the comfort in knowing that if I die, all my loans will be forgiven and my family won't have to pay for them.

[Saturn]

& again.

[adonais]

Well Malia & CredoBuffa, in my experience, it'll be worth every penny.

Especially since you don't have to pay back every penny all at once (and you only live once, what have you got to loose?)

[Saturn]

Good point.

The money's there to be taken - you could be run over by a bus tomorrow. That's how I look at it.

Life is for living, not worrying.

[ironic coming from the world's biggest worrier I know but it's what I aim for]

[Credo Buffa]

But at least I have the comfort in knowing that if I die, all my loans will be forgiven and my family won't have to pay for them.

Ha ha, didn't you just love reading that part of the promisory note? Talk about uplifting thoughts.

[dks]

Oh no...let's not go there about debt and money...my graduate degree alone will cost me over 50k. That's what I get for going to a private school...

I can't think on it! No, no...happy thoughts...la la la la...happy happy happy...

[Credo Buffa]

Pink elephants.

[dks]

...kitties and puppies romping in an open field...

[Credo Buffa]

Whee!

[dks]

Whee!

[Malia]

I'm just waiting for Oprah to make my dream come true and pay all my loans
You know those "you know you're a redneck when. . ." jokes? Here's one for graduate students:

You know you're a grad student when you watch Wheel of Fortune and say to yourself, not "if I had that money, I'd take a vacation or buy a car," you say: "If I won 25,000 I could pay off 1/4 of my student loans!" I usually go further and say, "If I won that car, I'd trade it in and pay my loans" or "I'd use half the money after taxes to pay on my loans and put the rest in my retirement account." Oh what an exciting way to live!

[Credo Buffa]

It's so true! I seriously just randomly had that very thought today as I was waiting to get on the bus: "Dude, if I won the lottery, I could pay off my student loan debt!"

[Saturn]

Your stories make my puny debt seem like peanuts which it is compared to what you guys owe, but I still worry about even a couple of grand unpaid.

Will it all be worth it do you think people?

Are you guaranteed a job after all that?

I was never under any illusions myself about the employment prospects of a history degree, i.e. zilch

[Credo Buffa]

Y'know, having a job is important, yes. Obviously you need money to live. Despite that fact, you shouldn't live by money. Too many people aspire to high-paying jobs in fields they don't care about just so they can buy a big house and car and save everything else for a rainy day that may never come, and all for what?

Would I be less stressed if I hadn't decided to go through expensive schooling in a field that might not pay me back monetarily? Probably. Would I then regret not taking the chance and always wondering what might have been? Probably. Would I felt as fulfilled if I'd stuck to the safe route? Probably not.

There's this great concept I've read about from some ethnomusicologists regarding musical and fiscal capital in which musicians might choose a gig which they find more musically satisfying over a gig which might pay them more. I sort of think that's what we're doing here. We're choosing to follow our interests and therefore become more well-rounded and informed individuals (and, I would argue, better citizens of the world) rather than choosing to be financially secure while remaining personally unfulfilled.

[Saturn]

Good point, true in your case I suppose but I certainly had no vocation or even real interest in History or personal fulfillment when I went to University.

I did virtually no work, scraped through my exams and thoroughly hated the whole experience so my degree is worthless to me really, not just financially but personally it cost me a lot in the health and happiness quota.

I was too young and immature and socially isolated and incompetent at eighteen to jump into that whole student life and I struggled badly, was intensely frustrated and full of anger that I'd gotten myself into an impossible situation to get out of

However I don't regret it, you can't regret, even the bad decisions because somehow they all make sense in time, with [yes that dreaded word] hindsight.

Although the six years since I left University have by no means ever been a picnic the things I've done and the people I've met over the past three years I would never have experienced if I hadn't taken the wrong path all those years ago.

I really admire all of you, Credo, Denise, Malia, all you students out there who really work so hard and sacrifice so much to gain an education primarily as a thing in itself.

It's an admirable and noble thing and I wish you all the luck in your endeavours.

As for me, I'm content to learn what I can myself, in my own time and at my own pace, not under the immense and dangerous pressure of formal education.