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That is all I can think about lately!
When I’m miserable, I’m also mentally coming up with a list of things I am looking forward to doing when i’m done.
- Ice skating outdoors somewhere in LA area.
- Wine bar happy hour near our apartment
- Ugly Sweater Party (in which I am plotting to look not ugly, but still go with the spirit — I’m thinking over sized sweater fashioned into a dress. It might go about as well as my duct tape Halloween costume idea, but I’m going to try!)
- Flying back to the Midwest to see the family!!!
- Looking at cakes and stuff to appease T’s mom (they are tasting cake in his home town for the midwest reception, apparently.)
- Christmas shopping
- Holiday baking (?)
- Doing something really nice for my amazingly supportive T!
- Running a 5K? Maybe. Or a hike. Something.
Between now and then I have plenty of work, but I’ve reached a somewhat zen state and accepted my projects are going to be however good they are going to be and it really isn’t going to impact my life in a significant way. (Somewhat zen. Not very zen at all, if you were to ask T’s opinion!)
In 24 days, I’m supposed to have everything done. I’m supposed to keep up on my 4 hours of lecture a week and go to work, but the big stress is my two large projects.
One of them is smaller — 40% or something of my grade — and I’m not really sold on the concept I came up with, but I’m going to go with it and call it good enough.
The other one is larger and the concept is fine, but making progress and results is tough. It is only a 10 page (minimum) paper (not a thesis or anything!) but I’ve been spending a lot of time on it. And I”ll be spending a lot of time on it.
I have 24 days left. Of those, 8 are non-work days, and of those 8, 1 is Thanksgiving. On work days, I can usually get 2-4 hours in. Unless I have a lecture to watch. Or if I feel dead. Which I usually do.
Oh, my budget sucks lately and I don’t want to talk about it. But I promise we’ll talk about it eventually, along with some 2010 goals.
Christmas travel costs:
- $47.50 – Fee to change ticket from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday night. Worth it, because it means I don’t have to go into work next Sunday (after spending all day Saturday taking finals). But, if I so feel motivated, I can work Sunday and save vacation hours. (already paid)
- $10 – frequent flier mile ticket (already paid)
- $13 – Cab ride from my apartment to the airport (this is what it cost last time)
- $15 – to check my bag one way. (My fare class is different on the way home, and I won’t be charged. I don’t think.)
- $20 – Cab ride to my sister’s since I’m getting in at about midnight (estimated)
- $22 – Cab ride from LAX to my apartment. It is more expensive to go FROM the airport because they tack on fees. Might take the bus.
I’ve had my nose burried in my school notes all morning, and I need to keep going with that, but I am really really excited to go home and relax for awhile…. By the way, I have SIX hours of final exams next Saturday, so please pity me. Thanks!
We finally have a real plan for me moving. I’ll move as soon as my lease is up (adjusting for availability) to a place where the rent for a 1 bdrm or a glorified studio will range from $950 to $1100. This will be in January-March, and will save me at least $325/month immediately. Though moving is an expense on its own and it’ll probably be a wash at first. T will move in June or sooner (TBD). At that point, we’ll split the rent. Maybe 50/50, maybe some other way considering income… I’m really not concerned about that part. His rent is currently about $1000, so combined, we’ll be saving a ton. I like having a plan. 
After living in the Midwest and paying $475 for a quite nice newly renovated one bedroom to myself, it took months before I could write out an LA style rent check without cringing. Now I don’t cringe, but there is still some amount of awe in handing over an amount equivalent to my parent’s mortgage. Last month, I handed them the check and they told me to wait while they looked up my rent. Apparently I had been paying 2 cents too little ever since March, and they wanted to be sure to get every penny they were owed. Ha.
Moving is a pain… but I’m still excited about it!
Other news:
- My grad school has accepted 1 of the 2 classes I requested to transfer from my previous graduate university. I think there was miscommunication on the second one, so I’m going to talk to someone. I took 3 legitimate graduate courses while working in Iowa, and if two of them can’t be applied towards my degree, I’m going to be annoyed. UPDATE: Still being a pain, but I’m not yet giving up!
- My student loan in-school deferment wasn’t processed before they took my money for November. I called them, and they said it will be done this week. I’m watching them! (They have screwed up so many times!)
- I voted!!! I was worried I hadn’t registered in time, but it turns out i had (even though the internet “are you registered?” site had no record of me). I’m excited to see what happens in the next few years. I hope Obama lives up to all the hope so many Americans have placed in him. I’m hopeful, and excited!
- It’s getting cold and I’m thinking I need (ok, want) some running pants. I’m thinking of adding a small “Fitness” category to my budget to cover shoes and other things I might need.
- I hate Open Enrollment. It is confusing! Too many choices!
I joined that a second class for my MS degree Friday and did the first homework Friday night. (T helped a lot. Thanks!) I’m about six lectures (two weeks) behind and the next homework is already due Wednesday. Eeek! I wish I would have signed up for both right away, but I didn’t know it was allowed until mid-week last week. Many full time students only take two courses a quarter (and do research), but one of mine is really quite basic.
Regardless, I’m going need to be strict with my time management to get through the semester. Can you believe I just joined a class last week, and I’ll be taking the final December 13th? My job is also going to be stressful through at least December, because I’m doing things I just don’t know how to do (yet). My mode of operation for the past month has been “survive”, but I need to start moving towards “thrive”.
Here’s my new ideal schedule for maximum productivity:
Monday through Fridays:
6:15 -Get up (without hitting snooze!)
7:15 – Out the door
7:30 – Arrive at work (about 30 minutes earlier than my schedule has been lately)
12:00 – Half hour for lunch
4:00 – Leave work (work late as needed)
4:15 – Arrive home, run, shower (Mon, Tues, Thurs), drive to T’s (Wednesday), watch a lecture (Friday)
5:30 – Dinner (plus prepare extra for lunch)
6:00 – 9/9:30 Watch lectures, homework as needed (mon-thurs)
9/9:30 – 10:00 Relax, get ready for bed (watch Grey’s Anatomy…)
10:00 – Bed!
Saturday:
9:00 – Run, Shower
10:00 – 4:00 Homework (get next week’s assignments as complete as possible)
Sunday:
9:00 – 1:00 Homework, studying, lecture
Afternoon: Groceries, cooking, etc.
I’ve been visiting T a couple times a week the past few weeks, but that doesn’t seem possible for the next few weeks. I’ll still visit on Wednesdays, but I expect both of us to be working for the evening. He’ll come over on Fridays, as usual. He plans on having a busy semester too, so we’ll both be working.
This doesn’t really allow for stupid errands (such as going to the DMV before work and discovering it is closed for Columbus day). Blogging is usually done over lunch break or before bed, so we’ll see. I was posting pretty much daily in the summer, but now it’s more sporadic (and I credit my use of the word sporadic to the movie Clueless). I often read blogs and blog before work, but maybe that is not a good habit.
I left Sunday afternoon open (I do think grocery shopping is kind of fun!), but it would also be fine to take the morning off and work Sunday night. During really busy weeks, maybe relaxing will have to be cut! I can also cut Tuesday’s run and still get in 3 times a week. That sounds ridiculously boring, but at least it is only for 2 months.
Of course, this is flexible, and I’m really hoping that there is more free time than this ideal schedule implies. At least I won’t have time to spend any money!
Considering Another Class
I’m considering taking two classes this quarter instead of one. I have two days to decide. I’d complete my degree 4 months earlier, and the class I’m in is pretty easy. (It is pretty much an undergrad class that I’ve taken, but if they want to count it for my graduate degree, I’m all for it.) The teacher’s style seems quite straightforward. The homeworks should be pretty easy (though time consuming), though the exams will require some effort.
I’m hesitant because of the time commitment. Either way, I will finish my MS sometime in 2010. I doubt I’ll have the bandwidth to take two classes at once again, so maybe now is the time to seize that chance.
The side job thing isn’t really going anywhere. Given the market, I doubt start-ups are able to get much (any) venture capital right now, so I don’t anticipate my talents being needed. On the other hand, I’ve had a bad month or so and have been feeling pretty stressed/tired. Do I want to take on more work? And wasn’t I going to fill out the transfer credit paperwork? Or check on my student ID? Gah.
Why I do distance education in the first place
1. I can go to good schools, no matter where I live
I wanted to talk about online/distance education in a more general sense. I recently told some “real grad students” (full-time) I was getting my Masters degree online. Someone joked about the University of Phoenix Online and said online degrees are a big business these days. Yes, online education is big business these days, but no, it isn’t University of Phoenix! In fact, I’m going to your school! They scoffed at me for coming to the new graduate student picnic, but hey, I was invited! A lot of top universities are offering online programs, in part because they are quite cheap to run.
2. It is a good financial deal in my industry
They asked the price per a class, did some calculations and said I was really getting ripped off. “Nah, not really. My company pays for it all.” Up front, as well as my textbooks. And they pay me a real salary while I’m doing it, and some stock options when I finish. I’m not getting ripped off one bit! I didn’t brag to that extent, but I did want to be clear I was getting a great deal. Plus, you don’t have to survive on a stipend, can save for retirement, and get some perspective on the real world. While details may vary, almost all big companies in my industry will pay for your education.
3. For my career path, it is as good as a “regular” degree
I’ve also heard claims that the value of an online degree isn’t the same as their “real” degree. In my industry, it is nearly equivalent, as long as it from a real university (the kind that also has a respected regular program). In academia, they probably have more of a point. You probably wouldn’t go for an online degree if a PhD or research career is your calling. I know my opinion is skewed, but I really don’t see why anyone in my field would go full-time just for the MS (unless they got a fellowship, but those are often reserved for the PhDs).
4. I’m disciplined and basically awesome (or, I don’t mind having no life little free time)
There are downsides, of course–coursework eats into your spare time and you have to be self-disciplined. If you don’t do the work, you won’t pass, and your company won’t pay. You don’t get to live the student lifestyle (however, you also avoid campus outbreaks), and you will spend a lot of weekends catching up. Also, it takes longer than usual. In my case I’ve completed roughly 7 months, and I still have 1.5-2 years left. This doesn’t count my 9 month break I took when I moved to California. While I know “full-time” graduate students that stretch their M.S. over almost 2 years, T whipped through his in a academic year (9 months). While all my degree will cost me is time, I can see how that isn’t worth it to some people.
So, are they real degrees? Well, it depends, but usually, yes. What do you think? Are online degrees respected in your field? Would your employer pay for part or all of yours?
Have you heard of the College Money Network? A group of college students and recent grads have banded together to provide YOU with helpful posts. They are running a sweet contest, asking bloggers (and blog readers) to share their best money management ideas for students. Check out the various members of the network for more ways to get extra entries. I am feeling lucky, and would really love a new Ipod Nano, so here is what I think every college student needs to hear to help your finances long term
The most important thing you can do while you are in school is make yourself employable for graduation. Don’t spend four years of their life (and who knows how much money) with nothing to show for it but friendships and photos (which are invaluable, but won’t pay your rent). Here are my tips for preparing for life after graduation. Feel free to add your own tips in the comments!
Make a resume as soon as you can. I didn’t make one until I was at least a sophomore. My boyfriend made one when he was a freshman. Because of that, he scored an internship after his freshman year, something that few people in our major are able to do. Take advantage of your career center and helpful friends and family members who have done a resume before.
Join some extracurriculars that interest you. Sample many activities, but you’ll likely end up spending most of your time on one or two. Look within your own department, there can be good networking opportunities there.
Get to know your professors, if possible. Some schools are good for this, and more, some classes. You may not have luck in a lecture class with 300 freshman, but in your major classes you should have better luck. Through chatting with my professors and doing well in school, I got the chance to be a paid lab researcher for a semester, a paid lab teaching assistant for another, and some nice letters of recommendation when I applied to graduate school.
Keep your grades up. I had a lot of classmates say that employers prefer well rounded students to high GPAs to justify less studying. This may be true, depending on where you are applying. However, there is no rule that says you can’t have a high GPA and be well-rounded! Find the methods of studying that work best for you. Sometimes it helps to study in groups (other times it is distracting, at least it was with my friends!), sometimes it helps to redo all the homework problems, and sometimes it is brute memorization. Don’t be afraid to use the professors office hours, and not just the day before the exam.
Study abroad. This isn’t for everyone, but I highly recommend everyone at least consider it. Think you can’t afford it? It is likely your school has exchange programs that make it almost equivalent. You may even be able to get a scholarship. Not only will this give you something interesting to talk about in your job interviews, it will be the time of your life.
Consider working part time, if you can, particularly if you can find something in your field (see “get to know your professors”). Not only will this provide extra spending money, it’ll force you to organize your time, and it demonstrates to a future employer you’ve got your stuff together. During my first interview for an internship, they commented not only on my school work, but the fact that I worked as a waitress and was used to dealing with, well, pretty much anyone. Don’t do this if your grades, activities, or happiness will suffer too much, but I knew a lot of people who were able to pull off part time jobs.
Are they “good debt”? Is there such thing? I will provide you with the definitive answer! (Ok, it is just my opinion, as is everything here.) I still get excited when someone links to me. Someone recently (not SO recent, since this post has been hanging in draft state for awhile) linked to an older post of mine, where I argued that the federal government’s investment in my education was a good thing, for me and for them. She is considering student loans, and asking the important question: How much is reasonable? How much is too much? Everyone should ask these questions before borrowing, but unfortunately, not all do.
College students are typically young and not financially savvy, and commercials (used to) abound offering you “Up to $40k a year!” for school. It makes me sick when I see those. That is rarely going to turn out to be good debt. If you can go to college without student loans, that is quite obviously the optimal solution. If you can’t, (I think) student loan debt can be a great investment if and only if (iff for math geeks):
- It is a reasonable amount for the degree and expected salary.
- It has a reasonable interest rate (this typically excludes private loans). Canada also doesn’t seem to offer as nice rates.
- It was needed to pay for college, not to fund an extravagant lifestyle while in college.
- Disclosure: I took an undetermined amount of extra student loans to help fund my amazing study abroad experience. I did get a $5000 scholarship, but I’m sure I spent more than that. I’m not apologizing for that extravagance, even thought it doesn’t meet my own criteria. It was worth every last red cent!
- Other options were exhausted: Savings, part time jobs, scholarships and grants.
Much traditional federal student loan debt really should be viewed on a different level than credit card debt (though current rate offerings are almost 7%, a little high). However, private loan companies jumped into the game and really mucked things up. If you have $100k in 12% interest loans for a degree that commands a low salary, it is hard to say that was a good investment (individual exceptions may apply, as well as non-financial benefits of college). If you have $10k in loans at 2.0% tax deductible interest (some people do have those crazy low rates) for a degree in almost anything, it probably was a good choice.
If you have student loan debt and it doesn’t seem to fit the bill of “good debt” (and you are a pf blogger or reader), you probably are paying it off quickly if you can (go FB!). If you have “good” student loan debt, such as Well-Heeled’s zero precent interest, forever loan, you probably are not (unless you do it for the emotional payoff, which is fair). Mine is more good than bad, but not as good as others. It is at 4.5% (tax-deductible) for about $20k, commanding me almost $70k early on in my career (inflated due to high cost of living city), and more later. If I had extra money, I might pay it down, but I use my money for other priorities. I’m maxing out my 401k before I’ll pay extra on that loan. (It also will be at 0% from this September for about two years.)
I’ve heard anti-debt militants people argue that you should save up, pay as you go, and take extra time to graduate. That is certainly an option, for those of you that it suits. Financially, I doubt I would have come out ahead doing this (how much could I make with no degree?), and personally, it would have (to put it eloquently) sucked. It is an option, but not one that I was interested in.
Some other student loan information:
- From Get Rich Slowly, A rough guide to Student Loan repayment, guest post by me, geared towards those who just graduated and don’t know what to do (one year old). I wrote this because it is the info I wish I had the year before.
- Check out finaid.org: My favorite resource for federal loans.
- If you are considering consolidation of older variable rate Stafford loans, the rate has reset! Current rates for those longer out of school is 4.21%, and in the grace period, a nice 3.61%. Consolidate now to lock in those rates!
- For balance, a post on why student loans aren’t good and advocates paying as you go, even if it takes you 6 or more years.
- There are a lot of different ways to get a degree. Here is an interesting article about someone getting a technical certification to earn more while they pursue a degree.
I finally got official word that I was accepted to the graduate program I applied to! It is somewhat anti-climatic. Since my employer is paying I wasn’t hoping for funding, so I sort of expected to get in.
What does this mean for my finances? Not a whole lot, actually. It’s a part time program, so I’ll continue to work. I’ll be considered a half time student so my student loans will go into deferment. Since they are subsidized, the rate will be 0%. That’ll free up $141 each month for savings, but I think I’ll continue to put $70 into my student loan payoff account. (This month, only $65 of my $141 payment went to principal!)
Long term, a M.S. degree in my field translates to roughly $10k-$15k more than a B.S. with similar experience. It’ll increase my expertise and help me advance more quickly. It’ll open more doors to have a top school on my resume. All good things!
T thinks I should take the next step and apply for a full time Ph.D for Fall 2009. I don’t even really want to go for my Ph.D., but I’m laid off in January and the economy is still poor, it is a reasonable back-up plan. Obviously, I wouldn’t go without funding. I know that graduate school should be a passion, not a back up plan. While I may be able to pull off a Ph.D. acceptance, I’m less confident about funding.
I suppose I have until fall to think about it. I have my GRE’s, my professors have electronic letters of recommendation that could be revived easily. No need to decide today.
Instead I’ll relish in my acceptance and enjoy my summer before my free time dwindles to zero!
P.S. – If I hadn’t banned myself from the grocery store, I would make Fettuccine with red pepper feta sauce, complete with homemade whole wheat pasta. The only ingredients I’m missing are chicken stock, eggs, and red peppers. It sounds like a meal T would enjoy as much as I would. He sometimes thinks my ideas of a good recipe to try are odd. I suppose it can wait a few weekends!
P.P.S – Sorry if all the food talk is too much. I am not talented enough to start a food blog, so I just sneak my food thoughts into my personal finance blog!
I have been learning how to sail! I have some pipe dreams of cruising around the world on a sailboat, though at this point in my life, that isn’t really an option. I don’t spend a lot of money on entertainment, going out, or gym memberships, so I selected sailing as my newest hobby. It is a bit more expensive than I anticipated, but to be honest, I didn’t think much about it. It sounded fun, so I signed up.
First there are the lessons. They cost $385, but I was able to pay about $150 instead of full price. This includes 3 lectures of 3 hours each, and six on the water days of 3+ hours each. I can now take the second round, which is the same price but more advanced topics. There are also some fees to get “certified”, which I was not originally aware of. It is about $95 for a written exam and on the water exam, plus another $30 or so for a log book. I think there is one of these certifications for each of the first 2 classes, so I’d have to pay the fees two times. If I want to go further, the next step would be $445 (!) for a weekend trip that certifies me to charter my own boat.
Then there is the “gear”. I didn’t go overboard and buy a bunch of actual sailing gear, but I did purchase a $50 windbreaker, $20 sunglasses, and $20 white soled deck shoes. I could have just wore regular sneakers, but mine had black soles. If I were to get really into sailing, I might have to get “foul weather gear” but I haven’t found the need.
Between the classes and the gear (mainly the classes) I could easily spend $1000 this year learning how to sail. Then what? What am I going to do with my knowledge? T is going to take the class I just took, and we could take boats on little trips around here. However, sailing seems to be expensive and time consuming and neither one of us has a lot of time or money right now. Purchasing a sail boat is only realistic if I intend to live on it, which sounds a bit romantic but is a little to extreme for this point in my life.
I can’t afford to regularly rent boats, I really can’t afford to go out and buy a boat. Is sailing a wealthy person’s hobby? It seems like there is a mix of wealthy people and people who are free spirited. My sailing teacher has given up his life in the “rat race”, as he said. After spending a year cruising with his family, he has taken to making a living by writing on the weekdays and teaching sailing on the weekends. Not a bad life, if I don’t say so myself. (This is helped by the fact he sold a home in the L.A. area at the peak of the real estate bubble. I wish I did that.)
I don’t know what to do from here. I could continue taking classes, but I have no real goal for my sailing hobby, other than fun. It is apparent I won’t be buying a yacht or chartering a cruise to South America anytime soon. I could call my $200 spent so far a fun entertainment/educational expense, and put my sailing career on hold. I could pay $150 more for another session of six lessons. I could pay another $200 on top of that to get fully certified. But for what purpose? I can afford to learn to sail, but I can’t afford to sail on a regular basis after that. It would be kind of like how T, two summers ago when making decent money, learned how to fly private small planes for perhaps $3000 or so. He loved it, but he hasn’t been up in over a year because it is too expensive for a grad student to keep up. (I hated it. I got airsick and small planes are actually pretty dangerous.)
After moving and putting my degree on hold, I found myself with a lot more free time than I was used to, so learning to sail was one thing I chose to explore. Next fall, I’m going to be continuing my M.S. degree and I won’t have time for these hobbies. I still have a whole summer left to explore other interests, and now is the time to decide if I want to continue sailing or spend my time doing something else.
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