confusedlady wrote:Hello there everyone
I'm not sure where I am supposed to post this so I hope this is the right forum. I really just need to tell someone about whats bothering me and get it all of my chest.
I am a student studying for a degree in Psychology and am in my final year. I am worried about the amount of debt I am accumulating: student loans, credit cards etc. Is anyone else here in the same situation? How do you feel about it all ? Any advise you can give me?
I am not employed at the moment. I quit my job the middle of last year to concentrate on my studies at university. For the first year I continued to work and study at university, and I got decent grades. The grades I received last year were for when I wasnt working and I was amazed at the difference. Theres a eight point difference which could mean getting a high second or a first class degree. So I have decided to not work in my final year of study and try and go for a first.
Its important to me that I get a good degree and I am the first one in my family too go to university so they are all counting on me too do well as well. I will never get a chance to do this again. I dont want to mess it up by working. However the pressure and constant reminders in the post are making me depressed. Pretty soon I will have to make a decison.
Do I leave university for a year work for abit to ease the pressure and then go back? The only problem with this avenue of escape is that I am worried that once I am out there working full-time again and getting a decent wage I will prefer the money over my studies. I would like to stay and continue to the finish line.
Any other students suffering the same agonies ?
I know this was posted some time ago, but I hope this is still of use.
I would finish my studies if I were you since you are so close--unless you will really be financially disrupted right after college, which I do not think will be any more worse since again you are so close to finishing up.
Do well and get your degree. It will empower you to have a higher salary.
Then go and work for the next two-three years. You can pay off yoru debt slowly and if you decide to continue to go on to graduate school can get a deferment but at the cost of a higher interest later on.
In the long run, playing off your debt slowly is better over say four to five years, as it bills credit. So if you work 2-3 years before going back to college, than you will have a good CV with work experience, a college degree, money earned, and nice credit and a good chuck of yoru debt taken off you back.
Then in graduate school, you can get the deferment and still pay a little bit here and there at your own pace, which will be deducted from your debt. By the time you get out of graduate school, you will be close to if not totally debt free, unless you go into some other profession like medicine or law, in which case you have to pay.
In psychology and any other science or engineering field and math, they pay you a stipend, albeit it a modest one, and there is a full tuition waiver. If you live on the cheap, you can actually save a couple thousand dollars a year, add it to your savings from yoru work earnings and compile the interest each term. Believe me it adds up and you will come out on top at the end.
So think long term, not at the big fat debt you have now! It is hard when you are in your 20's and I know it was hard for me as well, but this is what I did and I came out well.
The thing that most grads do is live stupid. They don't shop and cook, but instead go out and eat, buy things that they really do not need. They need the best cell phone, an ipod, a top of the line computer, the fastest internet.
Reconsider options. Why not become an RA and get free housing, in which the dorms often provide a T2 free internet line? Instead of a top of the line cell phone, go an get the cheapest ones that you can use a phone card that will last longer. But a second hand comput for a few hundreds to do the work you need at your dorm and the higher end stuff at computer labs, that have the best computers money can buy and which most likely as a grad you will not--unless you have rich parents that are willing to tow the bill for you (which I would not recommend at any rate, as getting as independent as possible is the best, rewardling experience of life you can have).
You can have a wonderful experience, a great education, work experience and a robust CV and money at the end waiting for you, growing, and even be completely debt free, and all with a graduate degree that will command a high salary and offord you opportunities otherwise not as readily attainable.
So go out there and take life by the balls! And don't let anyone discourage you from your dreams or ambitions.
I wish you the best!
P.S. Loose the credit cards! You do not need them and they are the biggest debt collecting little devils out there.
