I decided to wrap up 2011 with some financial planning, and discovered that I absolutely do not have enough money to continue with the job I have, finish my college degree, and do my Midwifery program. Granted I don't really want to continue with my job for years to come anyway, but it sucks that it's not even an option; even just staying until the summer, an appealing option as it would allow me to have a 3-day-weekend in February to go to a Con and give me a chance to visit my grandmother in April or May, would have me hemorrhaging money. To top it all off, I decided to check my progress toward my degree and discovered that neither my Anatomy class nor my Statistics class fulfill my Math or Science requirement, meaning I have 14 classes left to take. Once I start my Midwifery program I will only have time for 1-2 classes a semester, and once I'm a year or so into the program I will be apprenticing and even 1 class at a time will be difficult, which means that if I really push myself I'll have 3.5 years left, on a 2 year degree that I've already been working toward for 3.5 years. And of course I won't actually have the money to do things that quickly (unless I take loans) since I've taken too long to qualify for financial aid, so realistically I'll have to take a few semesters off while finishing the Midwifery program, then at some point when I have a little savings again I can go back, which means it will probably be 6-9 years until I actually finish. And I'll still be broke that whole time, which means I'm looking at a decade or more until I can afford to have kids, and I've already been desperate to be a mom for years. Of course, if I switch to a different job I will probably have more money, but not a lot more, and I would definitely have less time, which would mean even finding time for the Midwifery program would be difficult, much less taking classes on top of that.
So basically... I'm fucked. And trying to remember why I thought getting an education was important.
