Journal Fiver-rah's Journal: Feb. Lessig, and thoughts about money 1
Total for TJP:
- $10 to rockbox, a really cool opensource firm ware for the Archos jukebox.
- $5 for a slashdot subscription.
For those of you who are curious how it is that I've gone two months without buying CDs, seeing movies, renting videos, or otherwise propping up the entertainment megapoly, it's really quite simple. Law school is expensive; the poorer I appear to be, the more grant aid I get. Since I had to fill out all the forms in January, I deliberately made myself as poor as possible. This means I made a few large (but necessary) purchases ahead of time (for instance, I bought a laptop). My machinations were effective; according to the federal government, my EFC is $0. Hell yeah, baby! Unfortunately, my machinations were effective, and I really am lacking in ready cash at the moment. Plus I'm probably going to have to move across the country in about six months. So there's a good reason I'm not spending money. First of all, I don't have any. And secondly, any money that I might make between now and when I have to move is getting saved so I can afford to move.
This whole financial aid thing is screwy. When I was an undergraduate student, my parents wouldn't help with college. But the government and any schools I attended assumed they'd be helping me, and since my parents are upper-middle class, I got nothing. Result: I worked multiple jobs throughout undergrad and went to a state school, since I couldn't afford anything else.
But now it turns out that since the government was nice enough to give me a fellowship to get a graduate degree in Chemistry, and since they don't count fellowship income for financial aid purposes, I both get paid more than my fellow students (in chemistry) and can simultaneously expect a nicer financial aid package from law schools. And since my parents shafted me as an undergrad, I've been independent from them for eight years, which means almost everywhere I'm applying won't expect them to contribute to my law school education.
I've never been happier about not getting money from my parents before.
our education system could use an overhaul (Score:1)
A couple years ago, my SO was waiting tables while going through college. She made (before taxes) ~$22,000. Not bad, if you like to put cheese on your Ramen.
The government denied every request she put in for grants.
She didn't come from a middle class family, in fact they were quite poor.
So, I am baffled why her grants were denied.
Anyway, all this did was reinforce to her that you either have to be extremely poor (well below the poverty line) to get any aide. It also reinforced in her (rightly or wrongly) the fact that working and making good oney is more important than trying to honestly work your way through college while depending on grants.
I, on the other hand, am lucky. I have the GI Bill and my company is also chipping in for tuition. However, read a few journals back for my seperate but similar trials I have had with them.
Keep your head up and good luck!
We could use some good people in the system.