Visa - Keeping me where I want to be.

Last week I said that if I really wanted a social life, I would have to make it a top priority. Well when it comes to finances, graduate school IS my top priority. It goes without saying that pursuing a master’s degree is expensive and I, like most people, don’t have $30,000 lieing around. But where there is a will, there is a way. My way was going to be to sell my house in Florida, pay off any debts, bank some of the money and use the rest for school.

What I didn’t build into the equation were all the unknown variables - and Murphy's Law has revealed a few. It turns out the decision to go to graduate school is costing me a lot more than $30,000. What are the extra costs?

First I quit a very good paying job in Florida to move to the D.C. area to attend school. My plan was to find a job here with education benefits to help defray the cost of school. What I didn’t count on was that I would still be job-hunting a few months later.

Next the sale of the house has not gone as planned and I’m paying for my apartment here and the house in Florida. Ouch!

So how have I survived? First thank God for a savings account. I'm down to fumes but I’m holding out. Next, thank God for plastic. Visa’s tagline is “Everywhere you want to be.” Well I’m adding “Keeping me where I want to be.”

The financial challenge of graduate school goes beyond just paying for classes. It’s forcing me to pay for an adventure, but it’s still my top priority. No regrets.

Millicent

Balancing good fortune and the unknown

“They” say money doesn’t fall from trees. However comma, thank the Lord, money has been falling from the Department of State’s training budget tree and right into my school account. One of the perks of working for Uncle Sam is his gracious willingness to help his employees better themselves through education. Of course, the catch is this self-improvement has to be directly related to the employee’s job. Luckily for me, public communication relates to my job as a writer/editor. I’d like to think it also has something to do with my somewhat exceptional persuasion skills, both oral and written—a significant part of the stack of paperwork I have to fill out for each course involves justifying how the class relates to my job and convincing the powers that be that there’s a strong element of WIFM (what’s in it for me) for the organization.

But like “they” also say, all good things must come to an end. The department’s fiscal year 2009 budget hasn’t been approved yet, so we can’t spend more than we did last year this time. We’re on a “continuing resolution” until March or April. That’s going to be next to impossible considering we just hired a slew of new employees. Unless training money can only be spent on training, I will have to find another tree to shake to pay for grad school. Welcome to reality, right? Oh, and did I mention the new policy that came out last week places a $3,000 per fiscal year cap on tuition assistance? Needless to say, I'm already maxed out for the year! Regardless of what happens, I’m extremely grateful for the help I’ve gotten so far, and any debts I rack up from now on will be worth it.
-Misha-