when people ask me how i like grad school, the answer is always that it's great, except for the whole poverty thing. the not wearing a suit? good. the make your own hours? good. the always surrounded by interesting brilliant people? good. the poverty? not so much.

as i'm currently facing The Great Funding Crisis, i thought i'd share exactly what i mean by poverty.

The Great Funding Crisis is that i'm a 5th year student and my department only funds us for 4 years. so i've got to find my own rent money. one possibility is to teach a continuing ed class. now, teaching is a LOT of work, but at least i'd get to teach psychology of language, which is the class i'm teaching now, so it wouldn't be *quite* as much work. still a lot, but not so much that i wouldn't get *anything* else done. anyway, the pay for teaching continuting ed as a grad student is $4348. that's for the whole semester, sept-dec. in other words, $1087/month, before taxes.

now, let's take a look at my expenses:
rent: $590/month
utilities/phone: ~$100/month
health insurance (on the university's mandated plan): $292.50/month
subtracting those expenses from my $1087/month salary, and i'm left with $104.50/month. you should note that i have not yet bought any food. or gas for my car. and i guess that having a beer, or seeing a movie, or (god-forbid) continuing with my horseback riding lessons(weekly: $30) is out of the question.

sigh.

i'm seriously considering getting a waitressing job instead, because i'm pretty damn sure i could make more money at it. of course, the benefit with the teaching job is that it comes with a tuition waiver (tuition: $2272/semester). so if i waitressed, i'd have to pay that. but even so, i think i could make enough money waitressing. basically, i'd have to be making at least $1700/month for it to work out.

this whole thing is making me reconsider moving in with karl. we've talked about it, but i've been pretty firm in not wanting to do it yet. but now, with this... the savings on rent and utilities would be so great. i'll have to mention this to him. see what he thinks. i don't want to move. i have a kickass apartment that i love. i love my neighborhood. but. but i love being able to eat, too. dammit.