Monday, February 8, 2010

F*ing Student Loans

Last summer, my student loan lender told me it was time to start paying them back. In the months since, I've been dumping hundreds of dollars in their lap and making a teeny-tiny dent in the total amount due. It sucks.

The worst part is having a job that pays pennies, and a job that is neither full time nor permanent (ah, the joy of adjuncting). The cherry on top is that the job market's in the tank right now, so being an adjunct is the best I've been able to manage. I keep searching the classifieds and various job websites, but all the openings I find are openings I'm not qualified for. These past couple of weeks I've been cursing my stupidity for majoring in English instead of the vastly more marketable field of medicine, especially nursing. If I was a nurse, I'd have my pick of jobs right now.

Part of the shtick our undergrads get fed is, "Do what you love, the money will follow." Um... yeah. About that...

But, there's not much I can do right now about changing the direction my undergrad and graduate studies went. No, now I've got to make the best out of what I've got. Even if what I've got is student loan repayment and an income that hovers on the border of poverty level. Since I'm not having much luck with job hunting, I'm buckling down on my spending.

This year, I've resolved to really focus on how much I stimulate the local economy with my hard-earned moolah. I've never been a really big spender, but now I'm cutting back even more. It's a blast, lemme tell ya.

One of these days, I'm going to get me a real job, one where I'll earn enough money that buying a plane ticket to see my brother over spring break isn't an expense I can't justify.

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