Five different jobs
I'm on full financial aid, so the only thing I pay is the student income contribution. I remember getting into Yale and thinking, Wow, I get to go to Yale and only pay a few thousand dollars in total? I was so grateful. And I still am, definitely. There will always be a certain sense of indebtedness—and I think that's largely part of why my feelings about the SIC began to change. I didn't realize until probably my sophomore year that the SIC was only asked of students who received financial aid, as if we needed to be taught to value our Yale education more highly, as if contributing money was the only way we could do that. I didn't want to ask my dad for help, even though he happily would have worked more hours to pay my SIC for me. He was grateful, too.
Instead, I got a job. Every dollar I've spent since has been a dollar I earned myself. I was also a varsity athlete my freshman year. Thinking back, I'm not sure how I managed it all. I've worked five different jobs over the past four years, sometimes giving up opportunities to instead work higher-paying jobs. Last semester, I worked two jobs, on top of five classes and other extracurriculars. I try not to think about what I might have instead spent all that time doing. I probably would have still gotten a job, but there's something sad in knowing I couldn't make that choice myself. I think without the SIC, I would have been able to occupy my space at Yale more freely—and for that, I would have been even more grateful.
Instead, I got a job. Every dollar I've spent since has been a dollar I earned myself. I was also a varsity athlete my freshman year. Thinking back, I'm not sure how I managed it all. I've worked five different jobs over the past four years, sometimes giving up opportunities to instead work higher-paying jobs. Last semester, I worked two jobs, on top of five classes and other extracurriculars. I try not to think about what I might have instead spent all that time doing. I probably would have still gotten a job, but there's something sad in knowing I couldn't make that choice myself. I think without the SIC, I would have been able to occupy my space at Yale more freely—and for that, I would have been even more grateful.
