However, as my beloved Greek 101 professor used to say, I hadn't really internalized The Financial Crisis until this week. To be frank, the most immediate change The Financial Crisis had yet made in my life was lower gas prices (to which I said, embarrassingly enough, "SCORE! Gas under $3/gallon! SWEET!" And then I got more embarrassed for saying "SCORE!"). There had been small signs along the way--a few bills had increased, Preston had been told there would be no raises at his school next year, my sixty year-old uncle was laid off, the job market for friends who are completing their dissertations this year is (essentially) completely frozen, graduate school admissions for friends who are applying to graduate school this year are way, way down...there had been signs, I know, I know. I just hadn't put them all together, or, frankly, admitted that they were actually happening. It's funny how easy that is to do when your most visited websites are food blogs and facebook. AHEM. ANYWAYS.
Last Friday, there was a meeting for the graduate students with the college's CFO. Luckily, it sounds like my fellowship for next year won't be affected--Bryn Mawr has guaranteed me funding for a generous number of years, so I don't think I'll lose my tuition money and/or stipend (operative word being "think"), but it certainly won't be increasing (usually grad students get a slight--very slight--raise each year). That being said, what the CFO had to say was not encouraging. His main points were: 1) as is the case for most small liberal arts colleges, Bryn Mawr has lost a lot of money, 2) that loss is going to impact every member of the community--lowly graduate students included, and 3) that impact is going to be felt for the foreseeable future; it will take the College a while to recover.
Ultimately, his advice was the same advice that my mother-in-law had given me over Christmas--stay in school as long as possible. I'm not making a ton of money, but I'm making some; Preston's job is (at the moment) relatively stable; our rent is cheap (for the area); we're in no debt. Yes indeed, right now, as Preston likes to say, we're living at a pretty comfortable DINK (double income no kids) level (to which I always counter that I make half of what he does, so really, we're at a OAAHINK--one and a half income no kids--level). Which is great.
Except that I don't want to be in school forever. Sure, I want my degree(s?), but there are other things on my "To Do Before I Die" list as well (at the top of that list at the moment: become a functional adult and get a real big-kid job; kids/house/world peace follow shortly thereafter). Before I seriously tackle that "To Do Before I Die" list (specifically: kids and a house), however, we've GOT to save some money. And on Friday, that really hit me. Preston and I already live pretty economically--we rarely go out to eat, neither of us drives to work, I buy all my clothes from thrift stores, Target, and Old Navy (because I am just that fancy), and Preston doesn't even BUY his clothes. He waits for his (amazingly fashion savvy) grandmother to give them to him for Christmas. (sidenote: if I waited for MY Very Conservative Southern Grandmother to supply my wardrobe, I'm pretty sure I would be wearing clothes exclusively from Talbot's and the Dillard's maternity section...JUST to make sure nothing's too tight.). But nevertheless. We're cutting back. Fancy drinks at Starbucks? No more. Trip to Europe this summer? Only if the fairies finally plant that money tree out back (fingers still crossed). Economic grocery shopping, walking instead of driving, borrowing books from the library, and depositing my paycheck straight into the savings account have never looked better. I'm only half a year behind schedule. SIGH.
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