TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

A Student's Step Back Isn't Retreat

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 1, 2008

Like many Americans, I am experiencing my own recession.

Due to some unexpected circumstances, I recently moved back in with my parents. Many reassure me that this is a responsible adult decision. I agree, but it doesn't ease the disappointment of the little girl inside.

Despite all logic, the little girl inside can't accept how a woman (closer to 30 than she cares to admit) with an advanced degree could wind up living with her mom and dad.

She dreamed it the other way around. By this time, her parents would be living with her. It's what got her through the hard times in high school as she suffered through the draining International baccalaureate honors program and the boundaries imposed by strict immigrant parents.

The dream of having her own money, her own rules, propelled her. "Didn't we have a plan?" she cries deep within. Yes, we did. "What happened?"

It's difficult to maintain my independence in this economy. I am a perpetual student, so my primary income sources are student loans and compensation for being a teaching or research assistant. But due to budget cuts at Florida universities this year, the funding in my department has been cut back. I must now survive on my student loan of $10,000.

When I first began graduate school four years ago, interest on the government-administered Stafford loan was 2.82 percent. Today it is a horrific 6.8 percent. I have friends whose car loans have lower rates.

As rates increased, so did my expenses. Rents have soared, what with landlords passing insurance and tax increases on to renters. What I save by living in the suburbs, I spend on gas driving into the city.

The cost of food has increased, too. A gallon of milk now is as much as a gallon of gas.

And despite my student status, I've aged out of my parent's health insurance plan and university insurance is not included in tuition. I've looked for part-time work, but the jobs once afforded me as an undergraduate are no longer available to me as a doctoral student.

I had no choice. That's what I tell the little girl on the inside who's ashamed to be living with her parents. This is the same little girl who, this time last year, was eager to "buy instead of rent" like her friends. So I'll remind her again that she has to forgo some dreams to achieve others.

A financial recession does not define a personal regression, and making smart decisions in a time of crisis is part of being an adult.

Chinonye Onwunli is a doctoral student in political science.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT