one more summer done....

So, I finished work this afternoon. Four months of toil, then back to the grindstone. It's not that bad of a deal, really -- three classes this semester, plus an extended unit of clinical pastoral education (think of it as a hospital internship), a little homework, and that's it. sixty or so hours a week, and another $30k piece of toilet paper on my wall...and a bit more student debt. Not that bad, except that a few people seem really uptight about student debt, and really want to give me their opinion about why I need to work harder and pay for more of it out of my own pocket. And then I give them my response, which is neither anatomatically correct nor possible, but is highly entertaining.
I've always been a little touchy on the matters of student finance, particularly in the area where advice in concerned. Especially the kind usually given by people whose own education was paid for by their parents, who then feel entitled to give out their opinion to anybody, or what's worse, when they're appointed to positions of authority in an institution and then feel like it's their duty to be the gatekeeper against high levels of debt.
That really frustrates me. It frustrates me because I grew up in the lower reaches of the middle class, and busted my ass to earn what I have, and met fantastic people whe believed in me (and still do) enough to help me and my family along. It frustrates me because some people still tell stories about working for a summer, which paid for tuition -- and then througout the year. What freaking summer job (except driving, which is my first career) pays the eight grand my tuition costs? And I worked through my undergrad -- forty to fifty hours a week, thank you -- and still have debt.
But I guess the rubber really hits the road when I find so few people who have the same experience -- especially now, when the oilfield is so lucrative -- and meet so many people who still consider a University education a god-given right. It's not a right -- it's a purchase. As much as a new car, or a house, my education is a purchase that I have chosen to make, and it yields much higher dividends than any investment.
Just a little rant for now. I'll update about the Boy's birthday a little later.