Late night thoughts/thread: Being in graduate school as a first-gen and from a family who lived under the poverty line is very interesting. As a grad student I make more money than my mom ever did. To my family it seems like I have already “made it”.

A friend of mines @ChenesiaBrown was the one to let me know most grad students are not broke, because I was constantly surprised by what my peers have/don’t worry about. I still am.

When I first started grad school in Austin, I drove back and forth about 7+ hours in my car to get all my things there. I slept on a thin yoga mat I was given and a thick blanket for over a month because I didn’t have any money yet for a bed and I couldn’t afford a UHAUL.

As I was working the Summer before grad school to pay for a down payment for a place, my peers had opportunities to vacation before school started. I worked all Summer and still had to request an advance to help me pay for my truck.

I used to always wonder how everyone was able to go home for the holidays for lengthy periods and I later learned that their parents pay for them to come home. I was shocked because I had never heard of this.

For me I will have to save up for a year to see my family for maybe a couple of weeks a year. Again to my family I have already made it so they don’t understand why they don’t see me more often.

Not getting paid for a month+ when starting grad school is very stressful because I didn’t have a safety net. Whatever money I saved from the Summer was my grocery/bill money. Some of my peers weren’t worried because they have money from their parents set aside.

If you don’t come from a poor background, it makes sense that you don’t think about these things. I’ve learned that some of my peers have their parents paying all or a good portion of their rent, they drive their parents cars/ have cars bought for them etc.

A friend of mines told me how another grad student bought a new car and paid in full for it because they live with their parents and dont pay for anything. I’ve seen my peers get brand new cars days after theirs broke down eventually like it was nothing.

It’s things that seem small to them but just still shocks me. From having their cell phone bill being paid to having car note/ insurance paid for.

People tend to become really uncomfortable when you talk about these things or even worse they try to level with you which is insulting/infuriating. Getting a loan from your parents is not the same as being actually poor. Having dial-up because you live in the middle of no where

Is not the same as not being able to afford internet in your house. It’s hard for people to sit in the fact that those around them have these struggles, so I guess it’s natural to try to relate/ change topics. It’s still annoying AF.

Everytime my mom tells me she had heavy rain my stomach drops because I’m scared the roof will get damaged and i wonder how we will fix it. Same thing when her car is having problems. I just start seeing dollar signs that I don’t have.

I guess my point is that it becomes harder to just focus on school while constantly worrying about these things. And the pressure to “make it” to financially help your family is very stressful.