EMI
I think it was in my under graduation that I watched the film, "Valentine's day". One of the stories involves a girl working as a phone sex entertainer. An otherwise sweet and sensible girl who is trying to make it as a writer, finds herself in an impossible profession due to a huge education loan. I did not care about her circumstances for justifying her call, simply felt it was her choice. Not today.
After 4 years, I find myself trying to understand the role an education loan plays in a person's life after graduation. Today, when my sister summarized her future if she chooses to do MBA from a premier college, I felt she was right on. She did observe me struggling between my choices because of a loan for my post graduation. I think she does not want that for her despite getting an admission, which is a big deal in itself.
I started by thinking what would I do if I didn't have a monthly EMI to pay. I was overjoyed at the thought. I would have looked for opportunities in a non-profit organization and worked towards my passion, which I have found and is completely irrelevant to my education so far. I could afford traveling without worrying about deadlines. My choice of organization simply represented my love for making others happy. The best part is you could actually interpret it as your dream, which might not pay as much as you need with a loan on your head.
Now, if I recollect my memories for the past year, the major (read half) expense of my month was the interest payment. I worked in a decent company with decent pay in a city that offers cheap and best in everything. I am a person by nature impatient with shopping and fashion. I cooked most of the days and did not indulge in any pricey trips either. Yet, there was very little in my salary account at the end of the year, laughable to call as savings. The only thing that I had to worry about for leaving the job was the loan. It had actually made me think about money more than I have ever done.
I tried to think of the loan as more of a push than a burden. May be it is the reason I am finding my true potential. All I can say is it is making me look for a job with highest salary tag on it, or at least decent to pay EMI and living costs. At least. Its giving me a barrier below which I could not survive. May be I am just over-reacting. May be its not a big deal. You can always postpone the payments and banks will have the good will of your college. May be the expenses expand with disposable income and even in the absence of loan I would be left with no savings. May be I am a wrong fit for this, most of my classmates seem to do fine, either with a handsome paycheck or leaving behind preferences constrained by salary.
Truth is, it is a big deal. As life progresses, the commitments are going to only rise, leaving little chance for experimenting professionally and many other loans are going to enter the picture. Yes, I might be left with no savings without a loan but I would be spending that on building memories, either with things or places or people. I do see myself a wrong fit being a dreamer and making choices based on my interests. But I do see peers regretting things they cannot do and that is never a happy sight. As for the people who can afford to pay the loans back with no trouble, we need not discuss.
It makes absolutely no sense in discussing how education has become costly. Management or any other kind. I believe in human discretion and I guess a student needs to weigh his options in the light of a loan payment that is going to haunt for considerable time of his life going forward. College does matter in education and earns you respect from the community and job market. But the spirit of education is above the name of the college, hence it is mandatory to always keep in mind what is it that you want out of it.
I heard somewhere that you cannot expect students who earn their education with loans to work for the society. Its not far from the truth.
After 4 years, I find myself trying to understand the role an education loan plays in a person's life after graduation. Today, when my sister summarized her future if she chooses to do MBA from a premier college, I felt she was right on. She did observe me struggling between my choices because of a loan for my post graduation. I think she does not want that for her despite getting an admission, which is a big deal in itself.
I started by thinking what would I do if I didn't have a monthly EMI to pay. I was overjoyed at the thought. I would have looked for opportunities in a non-profit organization and worked towards my passion, which I have found and is completely irrelevant to my education so far. I could afford traveling without worrying about deadlines. My choice of organization simply represented my love for making others happy. The best part is you could actually interpret it as your dream, which might not pay as much as you need with a loan on your head.
Now, if I recollect my memories for the past year, the major (read half) expense of my month was the interest payment. I worked in a decent company with decent pay in a city that offers cheap and best in everything. I am a person by nature impatient with shopping and fashion. I cooked most of the days and did not indulge in any pricey trips either. Yet, there was very little in my salary account at the end of the year, laughable to call as savings. The only thing that I had to worry about for leaving the job was the loan. It had actually made me think about money more than I have ever done.
I tried to think of the loan as more of a push than a burden. May be it is the reason I am finding my true potential. All I can say is it is making me look for a job with highest salary tag on it, or at least decent to pay EMI and living costs. At least. Its giving me a barrier below which I could not survive. May be I am just over-reacting. May be its not a big deal. You can always postpone the payments and banks will have the good will of your college. May be the expenses expand with disposable income and even in the absence of loan I would be left with no savings. May be I am a wrong fit for this, most of my classmates seem to do fine, either with a handsome paycheck or leaving behind preferences constrained by salary.
Truth is, it is a big deal. As life progresses, the commitments are going to only rise, leaving little chance for experimenting professionally and many other loans are going to enter the picture. Yes, I might be left with no savings without a loan but I would be spending that on building memories, either with things or places or people. I do see myself a wrong fit being a dreamer and making choices based on my interests. But I do see peers regretting things they cannot do and that is never a happy sight. As for the people who can afford to pay the loans back with no trouble, we need not discuss.
It makes absolutely no sense in discussing how education has become costly. Management or any other kind. I believe in human discretion and I guess a student needs to weigh his options in the light of a loan payment that is going to haunt for considerable time of his life going forward. College does matter in education and earns you respect from the community and job market. But the spirit of education is above the name of the college, hence it is mandatory to always keep in mind what is it that you want out of it.
I heard somewhere that you cannot expect students who earn their education with loans to work for the society. Its not far from the truth.
Comments
Post a Comment