I'll try to keep this brief, as a grad student I have a yearly stipend, but it's basically below the poverty line and I lose about a 3rd of it to tuition each year. I've got about 16 months left on my degree.
I had a previous roommate and it was actually awful. I'm a pretty tolerant person but it got to a point where I had to temporarily move at some peoples recommendation. I'm looking for a new place now and trying to decide if I should get my own place or live with my buddy. Basically I believe mentally I'll be better off and less stressed than I already am to finish my degree living alone, but financially I don't know if this is wise. I'm also not entirely sure if my buddy and I will mesh together as roommates anyways.
I've done the math from how I've been living for a while now and depending on how much the place costs (I know what places around here cost just depends which place I can get) I'll probably incur a monthly debt of around $50-$100 for this 16 months. I don't think I'll actually end up with debt at the end and here's why. I can sign up for extra proctoring which I do ($200-$300 a term), my tax returns for this year and next year should cover more than the debt I'll incur and I'll net a small amount from it. Even if I do, I guess what I'm asking is do you think the possibility of $2000-$3000 (probably less or none) debt is worth it for peace of mind to finish a really tough grad program? Bear in mind I currently hold 0 debt to begin with so I don't think that total is a very scary number considering how fast I should be able to pay it off. I think I'm more of a reclusive person at home anyways but I do enjoy being social outside of my house. Living with my buddy I'll probably only net a very small amount, maybe $50-$100 extra per month. Is this worth it to save the very small amount I will or better off having the peace of mind?
March 27, 2017 at 01:16AM
