18 January 2008 169 views 2 Comments Print This Post  Email This Post

Yesterday, I got my first tuition bill for grad school. I was so excited that I almost jumped up and down.

I’m not excited about spending money, of course, but I am very happy that I’m able to pay this semester’s tuition in full, today. I’m not taking out a single loan, or anything like that. I’ve saved the necessary funds and can just turn around and cut a check.

This is a real milestone for me. Scholarships paid for most of my undergraduate studies, but there was always some amount that I had to come up with. I remember being worried about every statement from the university’s business office, because I never knew exactly what would be in it. I don’t think I even knew what the official tuition at my school was, so I never was entirely clear on how much of my tuition my scholarships covered, and whether I’d be able to pay it myself.

I relied on the financial aid office to take care of me, no matter what. I did pay some of those extra amounts, muddling through a few payment plans, but everything I did was entirely last minute and not planned out at all. I wound up with some student loans that, if I had planned things better, I wouldn’t have needed. I’m still in much less debt than most students wind up in, but I know I planned things poorly.

Looking back, at best I consider my approach silly. I made things unnecessarily hard on myself. I know I wound up paying late fees, and there are plenty of places I could have saved money.

For graduate school, I’m doing everything differently. I’m going to come out of my Master’s program with no additional debt, even if I don’t receive any scholarships. This first bill made it clear that I was capable of doing so — that I don’t have to worry about accomplishing this goal, as long as I keep working at it.

I think this is the first time I feel like I’ve met one of my personal financial goals in a big way. I’ve saved for little stuff, paid off parts of my debt. But, up until now, I haven’t really been able to tell how much my goals were moving forward. Of course, this does mean that I’m going to move my goals upwards.

This semester, I paid for one class essentially out of pocket. Next semester, I’m trying for two.