#i'm so lucky my loans are as low as they are but my family is very low income ;;

[ghoooooooooooooooost]

right now i'm still unemployed but i have 2 financial goals:

pay off my student loans (fluctuating around $12k currently)

get a new pc

there's also moving out but erm not sure when that'll be feasible

if you want to + can help here's a list of places to support me other than comms:

ko-fi

patreon

itchio

[charminglyantiquated]

9/25 update on the Nautilus, for anyone curious. Details below (long), but in summary: the damage is more expensive than we'd hoped. We will have to buy Nautilus back as salvage and repair her mostly out of pocket. We still do intend to repair her, but it seems now it will be over a timeline of several years. The fundraiser for her repairs has been raised to reflect the new estimate, and will remain up as long as we're working on her, for anyone who wishes to contribute. I'm so unbelievably, profoundly grateful to all of you who have helped us so far. Thank you so, so much.

Damage: a joint survey was conducted Tuesday between surveyors from our insurance and that of the other vessel. It will be another 3-4 weeks before we have the official paperwork, but the consensus was that the damage approaches twice Nautilus' value. In addition to the mast and all the attached rigging, sails, hardware, etc., the teak deck would have to come up in order to address the damage to the deck and hull. This means that rather than pay for repairs, our insurance company is almost certainly going to write her off as a total loss.

I am waiting for formal documentation before sharing any exact numbers. Once we have them I will be more precise. But the general process as I understand it right now is below, for anyone curious about how everything shakes out.

What a loss means with insurance: my understanding is that repair damages are only covered by insurance up to the point a vessel is totaled. Since the damages almost certainly surpass her value then she would be totaled instead. In this scenario, our insurance would give us the value the Nautilus was insured for, and then pursue the other vessel's insurance for their own reimbursement. Additionally the other insurance might give us the income we lost over the remainder of the season, but whether that will happen and what amount that would be is up in the air, with the three different attorneys we consulted agreeing that we'd be fortunate to get any amount. Anything beyond that is apparently unlikely, any other legal pursuit would possibly lose us more money that we might hope to gain.

On our end: we took out a loan to buy Nautilus in April, and still owe the majority of it. By the terms of the loan, with a total loss we would have to pay back the full loan immediately. Then, because this is essentially our insurance 'buying' Nautilus from us, we would have to buy her back as salvage. The salvage price would be determined by the salvageable parts of her, and the surveyor. Hopefully it would be less than five figures, but it depends heavily on which insurance company actually ends up with her, and how exhaustively they tally up the pieces of her that they could sell. The surveyors could not tell us at the time of the survey who would end up with her or what they would charge. For the next month or two Nautilus is in a kind of purgatory where we do still technically own her, but only until insurance gets through the paperwork, which makes it difficult to begin any work right now.

Financially: when the dust settles, once the loan is paid and we own Nautilus once more as salvage, I think that based on the current estimates we may have some funds remaining. But even in the best case scenario - low salvage price, and we do receive lost income - it wouldn't be enough to finance all the needed repairs. My partner and I will be keeping the fundraiser up for as long as we are working on her, for anyone who wishes to contribute to her repair fund. Any help from anyone who would like to see her sailing again will always be deeply appreciated, but we're both aware it's an absurd number. If we fail to meet it, we're both keenly aware it's not through any lack of generosity - I cannot possibly express how grateful we are for the help we have received already, and what a massive difference it has made over the last month as we deal with the immediate and long-term fallout, covering her haul-out and towing and bills over the months it will likely take to resolve all this.

Fixing Nautilus: my partner and I are still committed to repairing her, despite the cost and the time involved. The thought of letting her be cut up for salvage is too heartbreaking to bear. But at the pace things are progressing and with the resources we have, it's obvious now that it's not feasible to fix her fully over the winter; it will instead be over the course of several years. However, my partner and I hope that by doing as much of the work ourselves as we are qualified for, we can bring down the overall cost of repairs by a fair amount. Additionally, the broken mast was built only a few years ago by a gentleman who still has the plans for it and is willing to guide us through the process of building a replacement. There is a possibility we can connect with a local boat building school's fledgling restoration program. And a great many people have offered their time, advice, expertise, and contacts. The timeline has changed, but we are not giving up on her.

In the meantime: with the survey done, we now have at least a general idea of what the future will look like. Since working nonstop to get Nautilus sailing again by June is not on the table any longer, my partner and I are currently figuring out a long-term plan for ourselves, our little company, and the Nautilus herself. We have discussed a few ideas, which I'll share more about once we settle on anything concrete. Nautilus herself is finally clear of wreckage, with the pieces of her mast on sawhorses beside her, her deck swept clean, solar panel plugged in, and a tarp over the worst of the damage. She's as safe as we can make her for now; there's nothing else we can do except wait for the wheels to turn.

Lastly: thank you all, more than I can say. I have been trying not to miserypost, but I have been having a very hard time dealing with this, as has my partner. It took us ten years to save the money we put into Nautilus, and the few months we were able to spend sailing her together were the happiest and proudest I have been in my life. We have lost the future we'd imagined, and regardless of how this resolves, we are never getting that time back. We are determined not to lose the Nautilus as well, but it has honestly been difficult some days to push through the grief. The one consistent silver lining has been the kindness and sympathy and outrage from everyone who has taken the time to reach out to us. I have been floored, over and over, by how many people we have rooting for us. I am never, ever going to be able to express my full gratitude to all of you. Without exaggeration, you have kept me going.

I will share more once we know more - exact numbers, exact damage, exact plans for repairs and the next steps. Until then, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

[the-weaving-cryptid]

The word "luck" doesn't appear in the English language until the 1480s, likely borrowed from the Middle High German word "gelücke". Luck as an English word was likely brought into the language as a gambling term but has since developed into a superstitious belief and supernatural phenomenon that various cultures believe in.

What Luck Is (And Isn't)

Luck can be broken down into two things: the belief that defines the experience of improbable events by chance and an attribute of a person or object. Luck isn't something that is usually measured. It's simply good or bad, and it just is. While luck isn't usually measured, there are superstitious beliefs regarding what may attract good and bad luck. There are also various practices in folk magic that are said to protect, benefit, and ruin one's luck.

The thing about luck that makes it unpredictable is that it doesn't care how good of a person you are (or how good you think you are). Bad luck comes for everybody, whether by improbable chance or by consequence of your own actions. It doesn't judge you or anybody else. You could be one of the most generous and kind individuals out there, and bad luck would still find a way to you.

It is important to mention that there are no universal rules or "correct" beliefs regarding luck. Many cultures believe in the concept of luck but have different beliefs regarding what is lucky and unlucky. One example of this is how many Christian-influenced cultures believe that 7 is a lucky number. At the same time, some Asian cultures believe the number 7 is unlucky.

Another important point to mention is luck is not karma, so avoid treating it like karma. Karma is a doctrine from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Luck is a superstitious belief and supernatural phenomenon that many people, regardless of their religon or lack of, believe in. I won't get into the details of karma here because that would derail the entire post. Find a Hindu, Buddhist, or Jain to talk to. Research it on your own time.

The Importance of Luck in Folk Belief

You have to consider how the times were prior to today's conveniences; those conveniences being the internet, cell phones, fast transportation, and many other technologies. For many rural communities, the nearest doctor could easily be a day-long trip or longer away on horseback. If one person had an infected wound or got sick, it could mean death. If the man of the house lost his job, it could mean the entire family starves. If the family didn't starve, the bank may take the house due to them failing to pay their taxes or failing to pay off their loans.

The smallest mistake could come with a heavy price back then. Due to this, people sought to preserve their good luck however they could. As long as their luck was good, they could at least get by.

While we have many conveniences in today's age (I'll admit, conveniences that are often privileges), you still never really know when things are going to go sour. There are still many rural communities and low-income communities where people are living paycheck-to-paycheck. Many of these people have vehicles that are hanging on by a thread because they can't afford anything too new. Many can't afford health insurance or an emergency hospital bill. I could list a number of things, but you get my point. For many people, despite today's conveniences, life is still full of struggle for many. This goes back to what I said earlier- many people still believe that as long as they can keep their luck good, they can at least get by.

Common Superstitions

I will give the disclaimer now: I'm speaking from the perspective of a person raised in the deep south and currently living in rural appalachia. Some of these are superstitions I grew up with, and some are ones I learned as I grew older. You may be from a place where the beliefs are the opposite of what I have listed here. That's okay. Sometimes, things are different based on location and culture. Take that into account as you read from here.

• Hang horseshoes above the front door facing upwards to keep the good luck from running out.

• Sprinkle cornmeal at the bottom of your savings jar to keep your coins and cash off the hard bottom, that way you'll be kept off hard times.

• If you find a penny facing heads-up, put it in your right shoe for good luck.

• Never burn pine, cedar, dogwood, or sassafras inside. It brings bad luck. (Also, pine will spit like none other so just don't burn it inside so you won't burn your house down.)

• Always exit a building the same way you entered, otherwise you will attract bad luck.

• When you move into a new house, leave your old broom behind. Otherwise you will bring all the negativity from the old house with you.

• Carrying a rabbit's foot attracts good luck.

[netflixofficial]

What do you consider to be "comfortably middle class" and what was the first treat you got for yourself when you finally reached feeling financially comfortable ?

(Un)fortunately I am unable to answer anything about class without a full rant and essay so: short version is I don't remember. Long version of my financial life context and many thoughts about how much capitalism and classism suck are below the cut.

I did include a couple notes on treats I bought along the way of getting out of poverty though.

Okay first I just need to make sure people understand that when I say I grew up extremely poor, I mean that literally. Maybe most people here are capable of taking me at my word, but I once had an ex look me in the eye and say "You probably weren't actually poor, you were most likely lower middle class and just didn't realize it." ... We had been dating for several YEARS at that point and I was too taken aback to respond. Honestly should've dumped the asshole then and there, but I digress. Point is I've had people think I was exaggerating every time I mentioned being/having been poor for well over two decades now and I'm sick of it.

So let's do the math. Growing up my stepdad was disabled and didn't contribute (this isn't a knock on disabled people just him, that's a therapy session on its own). That left my mother trying to raise three kids at home with a part time job. She tried doing online college to get a better paying job, but suffice it to say the economy and job market struck her out regardless. She only ever made slightly above minimum wage and hours were inconsistent, but let's be generous and say she made $10/hour and got 32 hours a week. Again, pretty sure it was less than that. She had trouble keeping places because anytime my stepdad was in the hospital there was no childcare for the youngest, and she'd have to call in or other scenarios like that. I may have issues with my mom, but she did try. The system isn't built to get out of. There are documentaries on that I can refer people to if they're interested. I'm giving a very high level version of my progress getting out, but am glossing over many things and unfortunately I truly am the exception not the rule. Anyways:

$10/hour * 32hours * 52weeks = $16,640 a year

Below are the federal poverty guidelines from a random year I was in highschool. Unfortunately the government doesn't care that different cities can have dramatically different costs of living and moving to a cheaper place requires having enough money to move. I think theses cutoffs are ridiculously low and whoever sets them has never tried actually living because you couldn't even pay rent in my current city at these levels, but either way my family was well below the threshold. We only made it by through welfare and even with that there were bad months where I didn't know if the electric would be shut off.

Again two adults (though you can exclude my stepdad if you want idfc) and three kids at home.

I think that sufficiently sets a baseline. When I went to college I was able to get a ton of financial aid (grants, scholarships, and federal student loans), and while I know a ton of people talk about being a "poor college kid" for me that was the first time I didn't have to set every cent I had aside in order to afford necessities for the next year. I used the college's meal program and was able to get whatever I wanted instead of only cereals that were WIC approved. I worked a few different jobs throughout college and was happy. (Note: I'm lucky I never needed major medical care in that time because it put me in the space between state healthcare and being able to afford any commercial plans).

I think the first purchase I remember in that time frame of going from extreme poverty to college kid finances was some fun heals from Kmart. They were red with bows on the toe and I only wore them a couple times but they were super cute and not something I would've even been able to consider spending $20 on before.

Classim tangent: college professors make a ton of assumptions about who is in their class and never seem to expect that their students could possibly have a different financial background than them. Like sure I know I was beating the stats by making it in and not dropping out, but having a professor tell a class of aspiring teachers that they "think poor people make bad financial decisions" was a serious slap in the face. They have no idea what they're talking about.

Anyways, eventually I switched majors and added in IT. I had an internship my last summer before my December graduation and started making $19/hour and that's when I count myself as truly first entering lower middle class. I kept to the same college living style at that point so I could pay off my debts quicker since as it turns out poverty is kinda traumatizing and I wanted to reduce any risk of ending up there again. On graduating I got a job offer at the same company of $66k a year with benefits. Again I mostly kept the same lifestyle but after close to a year I *did* upgrade from my old beater car to a used mini cooper. Six years later I still have that same mini and love it so much.

Not to brag, but also fuck it I think I can be proud of my accomplishments, I'm really fucking good at my job. I've continuously gotten good raises over the years, and quickly paid off all my debts. A couple years ago I made the leap to homeownership and moving to a bigger city. So I have a mortgage now but that is somehow less scary than other debts and after down payment is actually cheaper than renting here (which is ridiculous and another way the system isn't built for people to easily get out of).

My lifestyle has changed a little bit, but not severely. Really my biggest treat to myself is literal treats. I love food and hate cooking, so while I try to be somewhat responsible I do order out quite a bit. I'm also thankful I can do that because when my depression gets bad it's really hard to motivate myself to make food even though I know I need it. I'm able to save for retirement??? That was a foreign concept growing up. Something people did on TV not IRL. I don't take any of it for granted. I do want to plan a real vacation sometime soon and visit another country, but that big of a trip is a bit daunting so one thing at a time.

Classim tangent #2: oh. my. goddds? People who work in companies that pay nice middle class wages with all their middle class coworkers have some serious disconnect sometimes. I mean don't get me wrong everyone has their own situations and could have serious expenses I don't know about like sick relatives, but sometimes things will come out of their mouths that just make me go "damn, you've never actually struggled financially have you?". I listened to a coworker complain about how much taxes were and that it made it hard to get by then twenty seconds later talk about going on their yearly cruise. Like I'm sorry, but I'm still trying to convince myself it's okay to take real vacations. Paying taxes is a fucking privilege. I may disagree with proportions of government spending but goddamn if I'm not proud to be contributing towards public infrastructure and supporting families like the one I grew up in. That conversation wasn't a one off either, it's a common theme that seems like nobody can understand until they've been so poor that the government looks at them and says "What taxes? You literally have nothing to take. But also you still have to prove how poor you are to get any benefits and we will spit on you in the process."

I guess that all brings me to my current financial situation. There's not as straightforward a cutoff like federal poverty line, but the top few articles I've found link to the pews research calculator or census bureau data which I'll link below. Both indicate I'm not just comfortably middle class, I'm upper middle class to low upper which is something I'm struggling to fully process right now. I had a couple very large raises the last two years which put me at $120k. Uncomfortably close to the top 10%. I do have recurring donations set up for various charities and should probably increase them. I have been thinking a lot lately about how there should be a maximum wage and considering what one I want to set for myself. Anything over that would go to charity in addition to my existing donations. Definitely less than 200k which seems impossibly high but also isn't outside the realm of possibility with my current career trajectory and that's a bit crazy.

Going back to (upper) middle class being delusional - this cannot be the same 120k that both my ex and a different former friend somehow had financial stress while making. Like borrowing money from parents to have a financial cushion just in case level stress. At the time I didn't want to shit talk because I cared about them, but I was still a bit confused and now that I'm further removed from those situations I'm honestly pissed. It's one thing for people with kids or other major life expenses, those I get. But the people I'm talking about were more similar to my current finances than not, they just didn't have the same frame of reference from being poor or apparently any financial literacy. Hell I'm not even financially literate but I have enough basics to know I'm in a good position. The fact that this income class can shit on the poor for making "bad decisions" (granted it was different people who said that) and then turn around and complain about their own finances dumbfounds me every time.

Also since I've written an entire essay anyways, it's insane that I make this much in IT working a basic 40hours (and rare on-call to fix things if they break at night) while people working intensive manual labor or emotionally draining jobs make so much less. It's insane that the 1% make 4x or more, and the .1% insanely higher. The economic situation of the USA is fundamentally broken, and Congress's frame of reference is their own salaries which put them in the top 10%. The federal minimum wage hasn't been raised in 15 years while inflation continues to increase. As someone who made it from poverty to upper middle class, I think I'm qualified to say that this shit isn't working and something needs to change. You can't claim to be one of the greatest countries while there are homeless people starving in the streets and billionaires throwing whatever the fuck kind of party billionaires throw. The income gap just gets worse year after year and they keep throwing the same lines out over and over as if it will fix itself. Literally the definition of insanity and it needs to stop. We need to do better.

[tododeku-or-bust]

A vent: I'm frustrated.

My brother's home from school, right? He didn't make it through the first year. Classic signs of severe depression, plus some other things. I'm sure being the Zoom generation took its toll, and everybody don't need to go to college anyway- shit, save some money. Now the thing is, I've spent the past year convincing/begging my parents to take him back in, even though they were furious that he basically took thousands in loans in their name and didn't go to class (they told him it was okay to drop out, but literally anything was better than going into debt for nothing earned). Like i really sat my mom down for multiple conversations that stressed me out (hooray to my own therapy and self help making it easier for me to do so) bc i wanted to be a good older sibling and be a support system that i didn't have when i was that age.

But now I'm started to get a bit annoyed bc he refuses to communicate unless he wants something. Point blank. He moved back in, he's not being charged anything for it, and my mom's been trying to convince him into counseling (she obv doesn't wanna force him into a hospital). I've tried to talk to him, reach out and check in, offer the resources that helped me or at least find out what he thinks he needs to help himself. Offered my bf, who has literally gone through what he's gone through. Refuses to talk. But if he needs money or a favor, here he is- and part of that is on me, i don't want my brother, a young Black man, out here looking rough bc this world already doesn't care to give him a chance.

It's just really frustrating bc I've had multiple conversations where he essentially feels entitled to telling them they need to support him or else they're bad parents (some aggressive to a point where i swear he's lucky my Black mom is on meds and my Black dad is trying to parent more emotionally mature now bc 😣 but don't mind me) and it's like, ik we're family but my guy you DON'T communicate your needs nor are you willing to go to someone to do so. I don't think we're in the wrong for at least asking for him to do something to rehabilitate himself.

Part of me feels vindicated bc i told my folks they were spoiling him when we were growing up, but i never wanted him to suffer or anything. And now we worry he's gonna off himself if we don't keep an eye on him, but if he doesn't say what he needs to feel better, we're all just gonna stay in this stressed state and that's not healthy for any of us. My parents are also trying to downsize due to low income, so that's gonna be a problem soon. I just hope things get better and he starts to feel safer bc rn I'm starting to feel like i shouldn't have gone out of my way. Some days i just wanna drop it altogether. But I love my brother and I still feel like I'd be abandoning him. Hell he can even stay with me. But this can't last fr.

[nerves-nebula]

Oh wow, that sounds really cool that you're in such a prestigious school! Especially since they paid you to go too, that's really great. If I could help with research I would, I love learning new things :]

If this isn't too odd/big an ask (and if it is, don't worry about answering!) how do you get to a point where a school would pay you to go?

I'd love to go to college or university, but I have to work rn to try and save up and something like that might be the difference between going broke or not. Alas I haven't anyone that'd cover the charges, I've been encouraged not to go to school actually. I graduated high school with a (grade 12) 96% average if that means anything?

most of my projects aren't super research heavy, except for a history class, where I've gotta research a Japanese designer called Tadanori Yokoo. But I'm focusing on other stuff right now. Got a lotta poster presketches and drafts due next week.

I'm from the USA, so this might not be any help at all if you're outside of it. Which you might be, since you called it "grade 12" and I don't think I've heard anyone in the states call it that.

Anyway, here's my wayyy too long ramble about it:

short answer to how I personally got money from art schools is that I had a good portfolio and got accepted. But really, it ultimately depended on the schools financial aid budget.

I got accepted to every art school I applied too, and most offered me some money, whether that be a scholarship or in the form of financial aid. But like I said before, none were enough for me to actually go, since my family is kinda poor.

BUT the school I'm going to right now is rich enough to basically give any students who are poor but got accepted a huge discount on tuition. Or just completely drop tuition entirely and only charge us for room and board, as well as some other fees like health insurance or w/e.

But you also have to take out student loans, because the school doesn't just wanna give you money for FREE.

And that all depends on how much money you or the person supporting you makes. And even then, they expected my mom to be able to contribute way more than she was able to.

Actually, I don't think she helped pay for my first year at all. That's why I worked at McDonalds for a while before school started, so I'd have at least the first few payments ready. I ended up having to ask my dad for money (he doesn't give my mom money to spend on us anymore cause she can't be trusted LMAO), as well as using all $2,000 of an outside scholarship I won exclusively on monthly payments. So "expected" contribution is still a pretty rough estimate on the schools part.

this is all to say it was a really annoying process and I'm currently racking up a ton of debt. Which I might not have to worry about cause my girlfriend gets paid a lot and said with her salary she could probably pay it off in no time.

So let it be known that despite my struggles I am in an extremely privileged position by having someone who I can reliably have help me with college payments.

and that's not even touching on non-art focused colleges. I have NO idea how they decide who gets what money. As far as free/low cost college goes, I think most people's only chance is to get some kind of scholarship, take out a lot of loans and commit yourself to debt, or see if your states community college has more affordable tuition. I mean, if your lucky your state might even have FREE community college.

[tybunnythehellmoose]

I'm my 30s, in Halifax, NS. I got lucky. Not in the family inheritance way, because there isn't anything to inherit. But I went to community college after years of working good service, got a government sponsorship that paid half my expenses and put me on EI while I was school, got a job as a medical admin and what passes for a cheap apartment in a city with a massive housing crisis. Filed a consumer proposal so my debt payments are 200 a month for 5 years, and then my only debt will be about 5000 in student loans.

I have enough to survive, and to have occasional small treats. I have insanely good benefits from work that allow me to access vision, dental, prescriptions, therapy, physio, etc. I don't drive and live in a very walkable neighbourhood, so no car expenses and very low transit needs.

I'm comfortable. Coming from a traumatic childhood, a decade of alcohol abuse, and then another 5 years of deep depression, before I ever got to college, and managed to crawl out of the pit my life had been... maybe this isn't 'living comfortably' to some people, but from my perspective, this is the best I've ever managed and may be the best I ever do manage.

And I'll never afford a house. I don't like to say I'll never afford a house, because I don't know what the future holds, but as things stand now, my only shot is a perfectly timed housing market crash in ten years when both I and my roommate have managed to pay down our debts and then had years to save.

Do you feel the Canadian dream is still attainable?

Of course “dream is subjective” . But most Canadians would like to own a home and have something set aside for their kids and retirement? Is this dream still attainable for someone in their 20’s or 30’s?

I'm 36, have basically no savings, no career, and if I didn't have my parents I'd be homeless. There's no way I can ever own a home.

I have 7 years of post secondary education and I'm forced to work at a grocery store to make any money, because no one in my field will hire anyone without 2-10 years experience. I also am $40k in debt so couldn't even go back to school if I wanted to, and no job outside of what I went to university for will pay enough for me to pay off my loans in any near future.

The Canadian/American dream is dead, and has been for a long time. My generation and Gen Z were lied to about everything by boomers, who reaped all the benefits of society but are not willing to do the same for us.

[qqueenofhades]

Hi there. I've been scrolling through your "school stuff" tag but thought I'd ask directly - how did you find the transition to actually moving outside of the U.S. for your PhD? I'm looking at something similar and I'm wondering about your experience with the logistics (finding somewhere to live, visa, etc!). Thanks in advance, and congrats on being a doctor!

Oh lord. Why would you do that to yourself? I feel like that tag is mostly just intense kvetching, bogglingly obscure nitpicking complaints, and existential despair, and/or yelling at various institutions and/or people who could not do their god damn jobs. If you have read that and still actually want my advice, I salute you. I’m presuming you’re asking in regard to the UK, since it’s the only experience I can speak on, so hopefully that’s applicable?

In my case, I studied in the UK for a year as an undergraduate, at Oxford, so I was already familiar with the process (at least somewhat) when it came time to do it again for the PhD. Upfront, we must acknowledge the ugly deformed rabid elephant in the room that is Brexit, and the idiotic reform of UK immigration policy currently ongoing. Long story short, they seem to think they can function without low-skilled migration, that the domestic UK workforce will just happily lark off to do the jobs that working-class EU migrants have been doing, that this won’t totally bomb-crater the NHS, that they can run a country by basically only allowing in PhDs in STEM making over £30,000 a year, etc… so yes, this is a complete joke of an immigration policy and it’s what happens when you elect floppy haired xenophobic douchewads and their nightmare party as prime minister! ANYWAY, they’re introducing a points-based system from 2021, which may not affect you for an application under Tier 4, but UK immigration policy is going to have a lot of very stupid reforms and you’ll want to keep on top of those. If you have an offer in hand from a UK university, it is made somewhat easier, but you’ll still need to budget for processing costs, an NHS subsidy paid in for every year you will be there (something like $300/year), and a trip to a UK visa office to have your fingerprints and biometric information taken. If you don’t live near one, that will be travel expenses and so forth. You then have a temporary visa issued for first entry into the country, and a Biometric Residence Permit which you pick up at your university.

That, at least, was the process the last time I applied for a student visa, and it may all have changed by the time you do it. As noted, there are a lot of upfront visa costs, so you’ll want to be aware of those. You need a number of supporting documents, including offer of study, proof of income or ability to financially support yourself (since most Tier 4 visas either don’t let you work or only work a limited number of hours), proof of English proficiency (as a native English speaker/person from an English-speaking country, you won’t need this), and so on. You can’t start the process before you have the offer, but you’ll want to start it as soon as possible afterward, because it can take several months, and obviously needs to be done before you can travel. You will also want to open a UK bank account as soon as you arrive, which can be done once you have your residential address and a certificate from the student services office at your university verifying that you are in fact a student there. It’s pretty difficult to pay out of non-UK accounts, at least for monthly/recurring transactions, and there are international fees. You will also want a UK phone. I still have my UK phone/phone number despite my current hiatus in America, since most carriers offer free or low-cost roaming in Europe (though subject to change with EU trade negotiations), which is nice. I pay only a little extra to have Global Roaming in North America, so I can still use my phone as if I’m in the UK. If you’re planning to be traveling, this is a nice perk to have.

As far as finding programs goes, I’m sure I don’t need to give you advice on what you’re interested in and where you’re looking. Obviously, universities in the UK are grouped as “Oxford and Cambridge” and “everyone else,” though there are also rankings within those. I have been at both of these; Oxford as an undergrad, and then I did my PhD at a large public university in the North that ranks within the top 10 in the UK. The North will be much lower, living-cost wise (actually, if you can swing it, just… don’t do it in London, the cost of living in London is out of control. Of course, if the program you really have your heart set on is in London, then go for it, but just be aware of what you’re getting into). It’s also a rule of thumb that you don’t go anywhere for a PhD unless they’re paying you. Don’t self-fund a PhD, it’s just too expensive, and any decent university will give you some kind of financial stipend. I had a scholarship that covered three years of full tuition at international rate, which was good, though I had to take out some living-cost loans. So if you’re trying to decide between two programs that have both accepted you, a situation I was also lucky enough to be in, it sounds crass, but: take the money. One university had already offered me the tuition/scholarship, while the other had accepted me but wasn’t sure about funding. So I took the one that paid the scholarship. You need every penny you can get. You will be comically, absurdly, unbelievably broke as a graduate student. I was looking back on it like “wow I really lived for four years on BUTTFUCK NOTHING.” It is not for the faint of heart; you will have financial stress along with academic pressure, and while I was lucky enough to have generous friends and family contributing to my living costs, I still barely scraped through. It is something you should be aware of.

I don’t know if you’ve studied in the UK system before (I’m assuming not), but the structure for a PhD is much less determined than in the American system. It will also vary from university to university, so it’s worth establishing contact with a potential faculty supervisor to ask questions and refine your project proposal. I made contact with my eventual supervisor at my PhD university before I actually applied there; I gave him my (much too broad and pretty unrefined) project proposal and what I was interested in, and he helped me tailor it into something that could be done in a feasible time frame and which would make use of his expertise and contribute to the field. Whatever you’re thinking about pitching as a thesis topic, you probably need to make it more specific. I don’t know what field you’re in; I’m a humanities/history person, obviously, so the rule always seems to be WRITE MORE, INFIDEL. But the point is, the UK system has much less structured time, and basically relies on you to have the self-motivation to go out and conduct the research and write it up, and if you’re someone more used to rigid requirements and classes and so forth, you might find it a little hands-off. If you’re like me and can just be set loose in your field of interest and do your own thing, you’ll like it. I feel like anyone who is serious enough about their subject to want to do a PhD has to be primarily self-motivating, but some people function better with clear guidelines, and those are not always forthcoming. I can’t count the number of times I wished my supervisors would just TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK TO DO, but they usually highlighted something and had me work to figure out how exactly to fix it. They weren’t negligent or uncaring or unsupportive, and the project became much better as a result, but yes, it’s on you to do, and it can again be frustrating.

As far as living, I didn’t try to rent a flat from afar, sight unseen, in my first year. I just registered for postgraduate campus housing, and lived with four predictably horribly messy roommates (why???!) before I managed to escape and rent a private flat for the next three years. You will need a guarantor with a UK address (i.e. not your parents in America) to sign on the lease agreement, especially if you fall below a certain income threshold, and go through the usual background checking and approval. If you want to have the place to yourself, it will be, as noted, much cheaper to find something you can afford in the North and not-London in general, though southern England and the London commuter belt will all be expensive. If you’re okay living with roommates, or you make friends during your program, it might work to room together and share costs, but I am a pathological introvert and don’t like people, so I lived by myself. 

Anyway. Right now, I am in the second round of applications for a Big Deal UK postdoctoral award, which would be for three years starting this fall if I got it, at another high-ranking large public university in the south of England. (So yes, everything that I just said about how much it costs to live in London/London suburbs is me playing myself). I would be applying for a Tier 2 visa (i.e. the permanent/settlement track/full-time work visa) if I got this, which would be another barrel of laughs and different requirements from a Tier 4. That is definitely unhatched chickens which we can’t count yet, as this is a highly competitive/prestigious award and there is absolutely no guarantee that I would get it, but it would mean that I would go through the international moving/visa application process for a third time, so I would once again become too unfortunately familiar with whatever bullshittery is happening now. Le sigh.

I don’t know if any of that is helpful; hopefully so. Let me know if you have more questions, and good luck.

[deadinsidedressage]

Examples of my Classism & Elitism

Just helping @waywardequestrian back up her claims.

1) My accommodations for my horses growing up. My family had enough money to keep our horses on our property which consisted of dirt floor stalls so warped be repeated cleaning of wet spots over the years that I horrifically sprained my ankle in 2015 taking a misstep into one of the craters. Whenever I asked my parents about getting stall mats I was told that was too expensive and we couldn't afford it. I also had issues every year with the horses getting thrush and weak hooves from the foot-deep mud that made up about a 1/4 of the pasture (and was right outside the stalls) that existed about 1/2 the year since we live where it rains a lot. The two times my parents had enough money to buy me a truckload of gravel to try and fix it; it hardly made a dent and I was told they could only afford the one load.

2) My "arena" growing up. It's an empty grass lot that's wider but shorter than a small dressage ring. It also was horrifically rocky. Whenever I asked if we could put sand down and I offered to do it myself if they just bought it for me I was told we could not afford that. I did my best trying to clear out the large rocks, diligently taking a big fence post pry bar out there to remove the big ones every few weeks, filling in with dirt and hoping that by doing that I was reducing the risk of my horse taking a bad step and being hurt. I was lucky though that my neighbor would periodically run his riding lawn mower through it to keep the grass low. I tried a few times to keep a temporary fence up but ultimately the blackberries would just eat it up anyway so over the years I lost more length and width to that. My horses learned uberstreichen from me ducking to avoid tree branches I was in a constant battle with.

3) My parents couldn't afford to buy us (I have a sister who rode for a while) our own horses, so for the first few years we were given our cousin's pony to learn on and share. Then my mom careleased an old retired WP horse for a bit before having to send her away because she had eye problems and we couldn't afford the medication. For 3 years we shared an Arab pony who was 4 when my mom bought her for less than $500. Eventually we landed with two careleased Arabs, one who was 21 when we started leasing her and one was 7 when we started leasing him. After looking after the gelding for 7 years, his owners announced they wanted to sell him. We couldn't afford what they asked and he was ripped from our family after 7 years of an spoken agreement that he would be ours permanently.

4) Our first year in USPC we couldn't take our horses to any of the lessons because our parents couldn't afford a horse trailer. When we did finally get a trailer it was so ancient that the tackroom floor was rotting out. I lived in constant fear my shitty little saddle would fall through and be lost forever during one of our trips to the twice monthly USPC lessons we went to.

5) When my parents finally were able to buy me a horse, our budget wasn't supposed to be over $1500, but my mom got an extra $500 by selling some of her personal tack for the Arab mare she bought 1 year before becoming pregnant with me. She'd bought that mare for $700 dollars and she had to ask my grandfather to loan her the money so she could buy her. Mia was $2,500 but my mom had fallen in love with her personality so she negotiated to pay for her monthly. She paid $150 a month for her and they only agreed because she was a broodmare they had sold to riding home, had to rescue her from it, resold her to another riding home and then had to rescue her from that, and they were trying to get her off the property to make room for the valuable horses.

6) This or some variation of this was what I looked like the majority of the time I was growing up. My boots were an extra wide calf because my dad had actually bought them for my mom. I'm a regular calf. I wore them until they literally came apart, took them to a cobbler to get a repair that lasted a bit, and then wore them completely through again. Whenever I had to walk on foot somewhere with them my socks would get soaked from the holes in them. My show coat was a boys sport's jacket we got at Goodwill. My saddle was a shitty and ancient Steuben that did not fit my horse, actively caused saddle sores, and which forced my leg so forward I battled a chair seat. But my mom got it for $100 and it's called an all-purpose so can't you just do dressage in it? I also didn't have access to private lessons. I got my twice a month group Pony Club lessons.

7) When I was 13/14 I got really serious about horses and wanting to progress. I had to beg my mom for about a year to get private lessons and the deal was that I could only have two a month on the opposite weeks of Pony Club. My sister had pretty much stopped riding by then so it was a lot more doable financially and my mom was finally working full-time. As it became obvious I didn't have the right saddle, the right arena at home, the right clothes; I had to work to get access to those things. I luckily had a knack for braiding and lived close to a prominent show ground; I worked the shows and made enough money to get a dressage saddle, to get boots, to even get as basic of things as stable wraps for my horse.

8) As a 15-16 year old I worked as a WS for a hunter/jumper trainer in order to get weekly lessons. She wasn't against me for not having a TB or a WB, she honestly put in a lot to make things work for us and really liked my horse--- she did however exlcude me from opportunities I couldn't afford. I couldn't afford to do the rated shows, so I didn't. The year she thought I could take the school horse for one show she passed me over for the girl whose mom would pay her. I would've worked it off but that wasn't good enough.

9) This is the horse I competed for 10 years. She's standing on a hill so you don't get the best picture of her confo and this as all I could drag up. Long backed, downhill, weak hocks. Not exactly the perfect dressage or jumping prospect. Between ages of 14-16, I developed a lot as a rider. One of my trainers through Pony Club saw this development as a great time to try and rip me from this sub-optimal mount and stick me on one of his horses I could lease because I wouldn't progress on this horse. He didn't want to work with a downhill, long backed APHA that was deeply under conditioned and not professionally trained for where I was starting to head. The emotional abuse I sustained from that trainer-student relationship still effects me. But how could I tell Mr. Watson that not only did I love this horse, but that we couldn't afford a different horse.

10) 14-16 were tough years for me mentally as an equestrian. While I had one supportive trainer I actually worked for and lessoned with; the presence of the other who continually rubbed it in my face that my horse wasn't meant for dressage and jumping made me fall into that "I'm an underdog" toxic mentality that I've been talking about on this blog for years. For as much fuel as deeply hating someone tellimg me what I couldn't do there was a greater presence of a "woe is me the world is biased against us" attitude. Any bad scores were "because the judge hates non-Warmbloods" and not because I had a horse that struggled with being on the forehand. Not placing well in jumping was because "I don't have as much money as they do" and not because my equitation was mediocre at best and I chipped-in to every fence.

11) I went about 6-9 months without professional training at all because I was so disillusioned with it (again, despite having had a trainer who was trying to work with me and my horse) and managed to sort some things out on my own given the foundation I'd received from the h/j trainer.

12) I took the very strong foundation that the one trainer who was there for me throughout that period gave me and took my embittered 17 year old self off to an "unconventional" "morally superior" trainer who would turn out to be an opioid addict with more bravado than talent. Thinking I was such a supremely talented but underrated rider, I didn't develop as much as I could have and I wasted a lot of money where I shouldn't have. I wanted to do rated shows (and actually the opioid addict wasn't the worst dressage trainer) but was actively discouraged because "they won't score you what you deserve it's a waste of money"--- not true. My opioid addict trainer also wanted to take credit for the development of my horse's canter (she used to cross-fire and be so strung out) but literally couldn't get that canter out of her when on her. Realistically, given the right opportunities falling into place I could have probably knocked out my Bronze and part of my Silver on that horse in high school.

13) I was only guaranteed my horse at college with me for one quarter at age 18 (even though board actually broke down to be way cheaper than keeping her at home). I worked a lot my initial stint at undergrad to get more opportunities with my horse. Too bad I was being abused, tried to kill myself, and had to drop out of college.

14) At 18 it's not illogical to expect you'll have to field all your horse's costs yourself. My mom had always said she'd take care of Mia until she passed though--- so she'd always have food and shelter. I did have to retire her early though because I couldn't afford hock injections. My lucky break was that my mom had purchased a horse for herself my sophomore year of high school who I had in high school been putting time into (spitefully not much because she wasn't suitable for my mother, but when I thought I might be able to convince my mom to sell her right before I left with my horse to college I put in a lot more effort and took her to schooling shows) who was sitting doing nothing but certainly sound.

15) This blog documents part of 5 years in which Chevy was my primary horse, an even less suitable APHA, and my struggles with not being able to afford lessons, clinics, shows. You'll find a lot of me working that horse in that shitty little grass arena because I couldn't afford to haul-in as regularly.

16) This blog also documents the extremely emotional traumatic ups and downs of my mom wanting to sell Chevy because she realized she was never going to ride her and me coming to grips with the fact that even if I could manage to afford to board her myself I would continue to be stuck making no progress. I desperately and fiercely love that horse and she was desperately and fiercely very wrong for me.

17) That's who I am. I'm the bobo backyard rider whose horses went years without floating their teeth or getting vaccines because we couldn't afford it. The girl whose horse was always tripping when we first got her because we couldn't afford a farrier who knew what they were doing, we could afford Rich who charged $60 for all three horses. The girl whose mom had to sell her own tack in order to buy me a horse. I'm not speaking from a place of privilege. I'm speaking from a place of knowledge, of experience, and of protection for all the other little girls who just want a pair of boots that fit them right.

Don't you dare fucking presume to know me.

[lol-jackles]

I've been low-key stalking your blog this past week, I think you're the only one here who doesn't believe they're humping each other nor that they have this beautiful healthy and totally normal friendship. I used to be a tinhatter, but thanks to you, I'm not anymore. I wonder though, how Jensen convinced Danneel to move to Austin (that must've been an awkward conversation). Do you think Jared and Danneel get along? She must feel at least a bit jealous/threatened by their close friendship.

Just as Americans go where the jobs are, so too wives go where their working husbands go.  It’s called the “trailing wife”, a term coined by Thomas Cooke, a human geographer at the University of Connecticut.  It doesn’t matter if the wife has a higher level job, the wives usually follow their husband to a new location for his career.  This is not the case for Danneel, she’s an out of work actress in an industry with 97% unemployment rate.

I’m more interested in how Danneel told Jensen that her brother was coming too.Jensen: You’ll love Austin, Sandra Bullock and Terrance Malick lives there.  If we’re lucky Matthew McConaughey will have another bongo incident.  

Danneel: That’s great, I bet Gino and Matthew would get along.

Jensen: Uh sure.  I’m sure that will happen.  Wait, why do you think can happen?

Danneel: He’s family.

Jensen: Yeah, and your family is in Louisiana

Dannel: You know that my parents are old and that Gino is very serious about making a go with the home brewery business.

Jensen:  Your brother is moving to Austin isn’t he.

Danneel: He’s not moving in with us, silly!  He’s going to live with his girlfriend who happens to live in Austin.  She’s a nurse, and you know how underpaid nurses are.

Jensen:   Yeah, so how is she going to support him?

Danneel:  She can’t, you silly!  Which is why banks won’t grant them a business loan for the brewery.

Jensen:  Wait, Gino is planning to have a brewery in Austin where you can’t throw a rock without hitting a brewery?

Danneel:  I know, competition is going to be fierce and I don’t know if Gino can make it work.  He and his future wife will have to live with us, like, indefinitely.

This sounds like a joke but its a very common con, especially in mail-order brides from eastern Europe. The wife will somehow manage to move her “brother” in and just leech off the husband as long as possible and then take him to the cleaners in the inevitable divorceMaybe Jensen should visit the Modern Manner Guy site on dealing withfreeloaders.

Do you think Jared and Danneel get along? She must feel at least a bit jealous/threatened by their close friendship. 

I think Jared and Danneel are civilly friendly with one another.  If one needs help, the other is immediately there to help.  Once the help is no longerneeded, the friend quckly fades from the scene.  Jensen spending most of his free time with Jared and his family is why I think Danneel enables her freeloading brother because then he’ll have even less incentive to leave and strike out on his own.

[dgcatanisiri]

My hangup is that... The Templars, organizationally, resemble the US military, which actively preys on low income people, has built up a pipeline of these people into the meat grinder.

Cuz see, I went to high school during the W Bush era. I got coldcalled by recruiters who would still launch into a spiel after I said I was not interested. And I was lucky enough to have an alternative in being eligible for loans and scholarships, and I wasn't the primary source of income for my family, that meant that I didn't have to consider turning to the military just to feed my family. A lot of those who join the Templars don't have that - remember Keran and Macha in DA2, the recruit who sent his stipend to his sister, who, if he is not proven to not be possessed by a demon, loses that stipend and Macha is left uncertain of how to pay for what she needs? That's the situation for probably more Templars than we know.

Or there's the Alistair scenario - he was given to the Chantry, was unsuited for the life of the cloth, so he was given to the Templars, not given another choice of life until Duncan came along, taking him into the Wardens. Had Duncan not done that, Alistair would have been made a Templar.

Individually, the Templars are people who were taken in and systemically abused into thinking that they need to addict themselves to a mind-destroying substance, to "protect" people from "dangerous" mages. They've been lied to and abused, much like the mages themselves have been.

I always come back to this metaphor: A parent is abusing one of their children. The child's sibling realizes that their parent is doing this. The sibling follows their parent's example and also joins in the abuse, because if they don't, they make themselves a target. The solution in this scenario is not to just remove the abused child from the abuse, but to remove BOTH. Because BOTH have been abused. The parent's whipping boy is obviously harmed by the abuse, but the abuse has been normalized to the other child, and they need to be taught that their behavior was wrong and should not be repeated. They did what they thought they needed to in order to survive the situation, but that situation is no longer the case, and they now need to be taught the better behavior.

That's not to say there aren't bad individuals in the bad organization. I'm not blind. The organization likes to promote those they see who embody the zealotry that they favor. It's how you get your Merediths, your Rylocks, your Alriks. But there are the Templars who question, and... Well, I feel like it's worth bringing up Cullen at this point: He did start out having at least some sympathetic feelings towards mages. And then went through a traumatic event... And the Templars decide to send him to a place that would actively and repeatedly hit that trauma trigger for him. That, rather than encourage healing and recovery, the Templars put him in a place that justified that trauma response.

The Templar Order, as an institution, is beyond redemption. But the Templars, the individuals, they could be saved. It's just a matter that would honestly take a lot of work. Which, granted, that is work that the Inquisition probably couldn't focus on at the time of the game, and particularly at that decision point, but... That doesn't mean that the effort would be useless or wasted, though.

CONFESSION:

You know, I kinda find it satisfying to not only save the mages, but to also not save the templars. I find it very appropriate for all the templars that willingly left the chantry to “purge the mages” to in turn all be either killed or monster-ized. Even Barris isn’t against “purge the mages”, he just questions if the herald is holy or not. How much sympathy am I suppose to have for the side that chose systemic mass murder?

[kleptoprophet]

Help, my family and I are getting kicked out of our apartment next week because we couldn't afford to pay the rent and we barely been scraping by. I'm not sure I can handle living in a shelter, like my mom says we might have to. Do you know what I should do? Any experiences?

I’m sorry to hear that. Getting kicked out of the place you live is one of the worst experiences you could ever have. This is going to be a long answer so I’m going to put it under a cut.

First, check your options. Do you have any family or friends in the area that would be willing to house you for a while? Even if it’s for a month or two, it’s at least time off the streets. My mom was lucky enough to have a co-worker that would sublet to us before their lease on their house was up, and I was able to stay with my girlfriend at her mother’s place for almost half a year. 

I will stress this but DON’T TAKE OUT LARGE LOANS AND USE THE MONEY ON HOTELS/MOTELS. It sucks not having a real bed to sleep in after a while, I know, but don’t do what we did and take out a loan to fix the car and then spend the remaining money on hotel rooms. Even with third-party sites like Hotels.com, Hotwire, and Booking, it can get really expensive really quickly, especially if you miss things like microwaves and fridges which always make the room cost more.

If those options aren’t available, I would recommend finding a job (if you both don’t have one already) and putting up donation links on your tumblr or any social media site that will allow you to have an external link just as a start. Open up commissions for drawing or writing if you can. While I want to say not to rely too much on the kindness of strangers, just putting a post out there means there is still a chance at least that you’ll get something.

I will say to try an invest in a gym membership, not to stay active though that is a bonus, but to have access to a shower. We went through the YMCA but there’s other places like Planet Fitness and 24 Hour Fitness that are also good options. Believe me, depression when homeless is awful and sometimes having a shower is an instant mood lifter.

Like with the shelters, look into low income housing as soon as possible. Apply for organizations that will work with you into getting you into another apartment or house as soon as they can. The wait time on them can be tricky since some people wait over a year for a place, but that’s makes applying early all the more important. Having a guaranteed place a year from now is better than not having a place for three or four years.

Second, finding a library nearby is also a good idea to check on said links and checking job search websites like Indeed. I highly recommend Indeed since they not only show jobs around your area, but they also allow you to upload a resume directly to the website that you can use on their easy application postings.

Third, finding a shelter now before you’re evicted is a good idea because sometimes they won’t take people right away or they’ll need you to have a reservation with them. Make sure the place is clean and has a decent reputation. My family and I never had a chance to get into a shelter mainly for the reservation reason, but we did have an alternative that I’ll talk about now.

If you have a car, sleeping in it’s not as bad as you think, but that’s going to be your home until you have a spot in a shelter so you have to take the utmost care of it. Make sure you have sheets of fabric (preferably thick or dark) or towels that you can put over the windows when you sleep and plenty of blankets because, depending on how well insulated your car is, it can get cold really fast especially during the winter and fall months (At least that’s how it was for me, but then again I live near San Francisco). Find nearby rest stops on highways and get there as early as possible to ensure a spot (I cannot tell you how many times we had to find another spot to sleep when we came late). In my experience, rest stops start filling up around 5-6 pm and are full by 8-9. 

You’re going to have pretty much everything you own in the trunk of your car, so try to keep it as organized as possible so that you know where everything is. Have cans of dry shampoo (I recommend Not Your Mother’s spray on dry shampoo. They’re relatively cheap, about $2.50 to $5 depending on where you get it from) for when you can’t take a shower. When it comes to food, try to get things that you can eat in your car and throw away without much fuss. I wouldn’t recommend canned stuff since, unless you want to eat it cold, you’ll have to buy a miniature stove/hotplate and a pot for it. Dried and cured foods like jerky is good for a quick meal but those can get expensive depending on the brand. Thermoses and reusing water bottles also goes a long way since you’ll need to stay hydrated as much as you can.

I’m sorry I don’t have much advice on the shelters, but this is the best advice I can give you. If you’re confused on anything, please don’t hesitated to send another ask or send me a direct message through the chat here. Homelessness is not fun, and it helps to have someone to talk to who’s had experience. Hopefully your situation gets better sooner rather than later! 

[austinfaber]

Hello best boy! I have a question! I'm very poor and scared lol. I live in California and I've never been out of the country, let alone the state. My family and I don't have much money, and wouldn't really be supportive of me moving to Canada. But I want to go to Sheridan so bad! Do you think it's hard living/going to school in a new country? Plus any advice?

Hi there! I actually get this type of question quite a bit, so I’ll do my best to help.

For me personally, it wasn’t super difficult moving away to another country - I had already moved away from home for a short time when I did the Disney College Program and I was kinda sick of being in my hometown anyway. So, going across the country wasn’t a huge deal for me, but that’s just my experience. Also Canada’s not all too different than us honestly, so there wasn’t that much of a culture shock.

When I got accepted, my family wasn’t that supportive either - they wanted me to go to a cheaper school or just study something else all together. I got extremely lucky and I was able to win their support for my first year, just to get me on my feet. Right now though, I’m on loans - but Sheridan’s tuition is far more manageable than any art school in the states. 

That being said, since you’re low on funds, I would consider taking out the loans. Sheridan is about $25,000 USD for me a year (including room and board) which is about half the price of Calarts or Art Center. If you use your time at school wisely, it wont be a waste. 

My best advice for you, I guess would be to do a LOT of research on the animation field and Sheridan itself and educate yourself extensively before making a decision. You shouldn’t take out loans before you know exactly what it is you’re getting yourself into. However, if you truly want to go after doing all your homework, and if you feel like you’re ready for the school, then I would go for it! All dreams take some sort of risk I think, so work your butt off and apply and see what happens!

Also, don’t forget to share whatever information you’ve learned with your family too, so you’re all on the same page. Good luck! :D