No Money For You

So...I'm a graduate student. I started my first semester of courses in September, and I was given a small pittance of a Teaching Assistantship as funding. It was nice having my tuition and most of my fees waived. I even got a stipend in exchange for teaching an undergraduate course along with taking my own classes.

I just heard that there isn't enough money to go around, so in an effort to be fair to all of the graduate students, money was shifted to those who didn't get the TAship in the Fall, and I will not be getting money in the Spring.

So now, the only financial aid I have amounts to a Federal Loan, which I had last semester, but I'll never see any of that loan money, because it will be directly applied to my tuition and fees next semester.

My parents are insisting that I take a full load of courses, and they'll "help" me next semester because all they want is for me to finish on time. Frankly, I'm not sure I want to keep going.

I'm nearly $60,000 in debt from school. If I keep going, I'll just add to it, and the last thing I want to do is take help from my parents. I'm sick of being under their thumb. I'm almost 28 years old, I should be able to do this myself.

The boy is being "solution boyfriend" again. Didn't even make a single move to hug me, which is what I need. Instead, I'm being pushed to apply to another school for next year. And because it's already January, my options are limited, and I have looming deadlines. All I want to do today is veg. I don't want to be looking at other schools that might make me start over with my courses, which would make the end result more expensive.

Admittedly, applying for another school isn't a bad idea. The current one's program is very much falling apart, and it's clear that the only difference between this one and my undergrad school is the existence of an M.A. here.

I don't know what to do, I don't know if I even care. This whole education process is so stressful, and it feels like at every level I get bombarded with hints that I'm not cut out for higher education.

Maybe I should just go get a job at Wal-Mart or McDonald's...and be done with it.