Junior English major
The other day, the temperature rose to 48 degrees, and I could feel my inner shopaholic awakening. Crop top season is upon us. Time to buy new wedges and dresses. Time to shop for a snazzy pair of shades. Time to blow all the money that we don’t actually have!
Whether you’re working three jobs, living off a loan or mooching cash from your parents’ pockets, college is the financial low point of our lives. We wince at the empty ramen bowls sitting on our desks and the $34 left in our savings accounts.
Yet we somehow still manage to afford fishbowls at Terrapin’s Turf or breakfast sandwiches at Bagel Place every weekend. Despite the hundreds of free XL cotton T-shirts we receive at university sporting events, we still head down to the University Shop off Knox Road to buy sick silky Under Armour tops.
Do we feel ashamed as our banks call us for a third time in one week, warning us that we overdrew once again? Do we feel guilty as we call our mothers and fathers begging for just a few bucks to be transferred into our accounts? Do we feel endless waves of disappointment when we find out that our $20 entrees will not provide us with leftovers? Yes. Yes, the struggle can be real.
But what matters most is that despite our inability to shop anywhere other than T.J. Maxx, it’s socially acceptable to be broke. College is the only time where our parents will mail us food on our birthdays or make special trips to the grocery store when we go home for spring break.
We can spend more money on Pizza Kingdom than on textbooks and still manage to keep our jobs and housing. We treat ourselves to concerts when we deserve them or trips to Washington after long exams, and the reason we do so is because this is the last time we can act selfishly.
I have no idea how different the “real world” will actually be once I graduate, but I do know that I won’t have the time or money to go run a Tough Mudder race or get a henna tattoo on my forehead as a practical joke, or eat Chick-fil-A every Thursday even though I know it’s awful for me. Right now is the only time we can afford to treat ourselves. No mortgage. No kids. No commitments.
But of course, my college debt is rapidly increasing every time I buy a Metro pass or a new pair of state flag socks. The day I graduate will be the day I‘m slammed with bills and interest fees, but I’m hoping my future career will take care of that. I’m determined to make it.
Right now, however, I’m allowing my minimum-wage paychecks to carry me as far as I can go. I want to run Color Runs before my legs give out. I want to eat fried chicken and donuts before my metabolism shuts down. And I want to travel to weird places before I’m stuck at a desk. I’m simply willing to spend my nonexistent income on new experiences while I can.
And while this debt piles up, there are only two things we can do: enjoy life and give our parents ginormous hugs. My parents have been so generous to dish out the money they think I need to truly experience my youth but wise enough to make me finance poor decisions on my own.
Mom and Dad, I promise I will pay you back one day. As for now, I have one year left to make poor financial decisions. So, who wants to go shopping?
Katie Stuller is a junior English major. She can be reached at kstullerdbk@gmail.com.
