I guess grades don’t mean much for getting financial aid at Gallaudet. My first year, I got $2500 per semester. I brought no academic history with me, so that was presumably a need-based grant. I’ve been waiting for my financial aid papers to show up in the mail, but I thought I’d check the online system. Looks like I got the same as last year, $2500 per semester, even though I did so well academically last semester! This kind of sucks, in my opinion…I was hoping that working hard would be rewarded with scholarship money or something. I guess I should look into outside scholarships - not that I’m eligible for any, I suspect - but I think doing so would affect my grant. I don’t need to have grant money replaced by scholarship money, I need grant money in addition to scholarship money! Oh well, perhaps it’s not finalized yet. I can always keep my fingers crossed that when my report comes in the mail, it’ll have more attached.

Federal tax refund is $1,513. I owe Virginia $141. My Expected Family Contribution for the FAFSA is $14,316 but I forgot to tell them my current assets AFTER the hearing aids…I said $18k but in reality it will only be about $13k. Oops. Well, at least I am getting a federal tax refund and the $600 rebate!

In February 1981, my birth father purchased a $75 US Savings Bond for me. Thanks to the power of the Intarwebs, I have discovered its current value. It was originally bought for $37.50, and it is now worth $204.36 - not the thousands I might have dreamed about, but enough for a couple of textbooks. If the historical currency converter is accurate, then $204.36 today is the same as $89.62, which is a slight gain over the original $75 value. So hey, it’s money I wouldn’t have otherwise had, right? It might be a little hard to redeem though…I will have to dig up my name change affidavit, because Reed isn’t my last name anymore, and there’s an SSN on the bond but it isn’t mine.

I am stressed out right now because I have no money. I mailed $2600 worth of checks to my bank a couple of weeks ago, and they still haven’t shown up. They were mailed to an old address, but they still should have gotten there by now. There was a return address label on the envelope, so if they couldn’t be delivered they should have come back. They all had “For Deposit Only” on the back, along with my bank name and account number. I just don’t understand where they are. I’ve borrowed $2500 from A over the past couple of weeks because I have no money. I’ve overdrawn my account twice ($18 fee each time) which is something I’ve never done before. Maybe this school thing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be if I have no money. I’m trying not to touch my other account, because it’s for school tuition, but I owe A so much and it’s going to take a while to make it up. I worked last week, my office is closed next week, and I’m going to work the first week of January but then we are going to Los Angeles and then I go back to school. It’s just not enough. I could cry.

I just watched the movie Maxed Out, which is about the overwhelming debt a majority of Americans live under today. It was a disturbing movie, partly because three suicides are discussed, as are two people who are suicidal but haven’t done the deed yet, all because they’re in debt. People kill themselves over being in debt. How fucking awful is that? The movie is basically a Michael Moore-style exposé, kind of like Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me.

I want to open up the comments here to talk about debt. Are you in debt? What type of debt do you have? What steps have you taken to reduce your debt? Have you ever filed for bankruptcy? If you’re not in debt, how have you avoided it? What advice do you have for those who don’t yet have a credit history and would like to keep a clean one? Nobody is required to comment, but if you feel like sharing, please do. I’m curious to see what other real people have to say.

I wrote this on April 5, 2007. Just wanted to look back on it now.

I am so fucking scared. Today I got notification of my raise for passing the CI, which is retroactive to the date I took the test (they didn’t do that for my CT, which was 9 months before I got the results). I am making $51,500/yr. And I’m leaving it to go back to school full time.

Am I fucking insane? I must be crazy. There can be no other explanation.

I’ve agonized over this, I’ve cried over this. I’ve bawled over this. There have been honest-to-goodness real GOVERNMENT jobs for interpreters coming up on USAjobs.gov, and what am I doing? I’m going back to school. I am making $51,500/yr and I am 26 years old. And what am I doing? I’m going back to school.

In-fucking-sane. God DAMN.

And yet this is still the best decision I’ve made in my life. I am so happy now. I am elated to be in school and have friends and learn things. I’m thrilled that I might actually get my degree this time. Seeing how much I was making is still a little shocking, but all that money still couldn’t have bought me happiness. And now I am happy.

It is not a good day today…I feel edgy and I have cried twice. The first time was because of some relationship stuff and the second time was because I lost $30 cash somewhere. I’ve had cash fall out of my pocket before, in the bathroom, so I put up a sign there asking if anyone has found it. That’s what I get for shoving it in my pocket after buying a soda at the snack bar this morning. Oh, and I checked the snack bar, nobody’s turned it in there either. I could just be sick. I don’t want to go to my therapist appointment this afternoon and I don’t want to go swimming. I just want to cry.

Please excuse the whining.

Added: Somebody found my cash and saw my sign and gave it back! It turned out she had sent an e-mail to everybody in her department about it, but I’m technically under a different department even though I sit in the same area, so I didn’t know. Phew! (And it was actually $35!)

Money is becoming a big issue for me right now. Whether or not I go to Gallaudet is pretty much centering around whether I want to give up my well-paying job and work part time doing either VRS or something in the Academic Technology department. (I have a friend who wants to hook me up with a job there, but I suspect VRS will pay better.)

In addition to trying to figure out student loans and worrying about the 35-cent penalty for paying my credit cards late (okay, it was only one, and only by one month), we’re trying to decide whether we want to alter the way the mortgages work. (Well, mortgage, singular.) There’s also the issue of home insurance but I think we have that taken care of.

So I don’t know yet what I’m going to do about the financial situation. I have to give my answer to Gallaudet by March 30th. I am so close to jumping on it! But giving up things is going to be hard. For example, I’m planning a weekend trip to California, which is why I’m doing this paid post…but if I’m working part-time, I won’t have the money to do that. It’s a big change I’m looking at making here! I’m fortunate that my current accounts are in good shape, and fortunately I’m not longer in a position where I need debt advice!

I got excited when I saw this offer on PayPerPost: Compare online banking, find a savings account or checking account and earn more interest today with SavingsAccounts.com.

The site is small so far, but they point out that most consumers are making less than 1% interest with their savings account, when they could be making 5% or more by switching banks. I have my inheritance in another high-yield bank that isn’t listed here, Amboy Direct. That’s all I’m using the account for at the moment - to hold my inheritance money and build up interest over time. But SavingsAccounts.com tells you what other products are available from these high-yield savings accounts…right now HSBC seems like the best bet, with 6% interest for no minimum balance!