Too many bottles of this wine we can’t pronounce
Too many bowls of that green, no lucky charms
The maids come around too much
Parents ain't around enough
Welcome to Wa$hU! Here, you will learn that Canada Goose Extreme Weather Outerwear sells for upwards of $1000, that real people actually buy these clothes, and that they actually lose them at parties. And then you will forget. You will hear stories from your Ivy League friends about secret societies for which acceptance requires buying and burning a round-trip plane ticket to Tokyo. You will consider how your family, which hasn’t been able to return to Tokyo in fifteen years to see your relatives, has dreamed of the day you’ll be able to afford just one of those tickets. And then you’ll forget. You will serve a fellow student their soy half-caf latte at your job on the loop, and gaze in pissed awe as said person pays with their parents’ credit card, refuses to tip, and then calls a taxi from Delmar to campus so as to not be late on the first day of class. And then you’ll forget.
It’s not easy to keep your cool when you are working two part-time jobs, counting your savings in between classes, or avoiding glares from the waiter when you order only water and sit waiting for your friends to finish the restaurant meals you can’t afford. You will feel rage, depression, envy, fear, guilt, shame, and confusion at the sexist-white supremacist-capitalist orgy you’ll have to navigate at WashU and beyond. You will be surrounded by students that commodify and fetishize poverty with mind-blowing nonchalance. It could be a subtle remark about the “ghetto” Shnucks near your apartment, the hi-larious stories from the homelessness-themed frat party you overhear standing in line at the DUC, or the awkward pity hug you get upon finding out that your family survives on food stamps. But all of this will not weigh you down. You will see a lot of batshit things in your time here, but you will be okay.
After all, you’ve made it this far, broke and beautiful as you are-don’t let capitalism get the better of you now.
In some ways, the WashU experience is designed for the moneyed. Navigating the system takes some work and know-how, but it is not impossible to take advantage of (most) of the opportunities WashU has to offer without sentencing yourself to thirty years of loan repayment.
Here are some conversations to have with your wallet at the least socioeconomically diverse school in the country re:
Jobs, Internships, and Career Interests: So it’s decided. You (or your financial aid$) are just not spending $50,000 a year on a major that will not bring about an adequate return on investment. If you are blessed with a genuine interest in biochemistry or have the mental strength to sacrifice your financially unreasonably liberal life passions in favor of a more practical degree, all the more power to you. We support you and know you’ll do great things. For the rest of us, pursuing a degree in the arts, social sciences, or humanities will be one of the most stressful choices we will make on this campus. We will fret, doubt, and mull over the implications of our decisions for many years after we graduate. The decision will be hard. But it will also be revolutionary. Remember: we did not ask to be poor, nor do we attend WashU in isolation of our financial realities. We knew things would be hard but we chose to come anyway because we felt passionately about the university and the opportunities it offers. Besides, you might not need a trust fund to support your career prospects. If you need to fly out for an interview or a career opportunity, Cornerstone or the Career Center may be able to help with one-time stipends. Look into the Career Center stipend for summer internships specifically. Ask your department about possibilities for funding for conferences and research. Stay on the lookout for the many summer research funding opportunities funded by WashU that become available late in the fall semester. Click here to learn about more stipend programs available to students. Pursue your passions, and never let what you (don't) have limit you.
Books: 95% of the time, the bookstore will be your most expensive option. 95% of the time, the internet (Amazon.com, Half.com, Chegg.com, Ebay.com) will get you a better deal. 95% of the time, you’ll be better off renting rather than buying your textbooks, unless the books you’re buying are popular enough year after year to warrant a good selling price after you’re done using them. You might consider, however, skipping amazon and renting altogether: borrow books from the WashU libraries, reserve books on MOBIUS and Illiad, or head over to the U City Public Library on the loop. This is an especially great option for humanities or social science majors who generally do not use textbooks. Added bonus: you don’t have piles of books that you need to sell at the end of the semester! Just be sure to schedule which books you need at which times using your syllabus and take advantage of reservation system so that you’re not left unprepared when it’s time to get books. Or, you can photocopy your books at the beginning of the semester using your printing allowance. Alternatively, ask your professor if they have a copy of the book you can loan for the semester. Check out bookzz.org and other databases for online copies of texts that you can read on your computer or print out. The Lock and Chain booksale at the beginning of each semester is a good place to buy books. The Lock and Chain book collection at the end of each semester is also a good place to sell books. Check Facebook for information disseminated about these events.
Hidden Fees: Books are not the only hidden costs of college. When preparing for a new semester, be sure to budget for lab fees, printing, or extra supplies needed for classes, especially at the art school, where the non-negotiable amounts of money you are required to spend will render your dollars almost as worthless as the pages of your Practices sketchbook. To curtail these costs, try asking your professor if there are opportunities to borrow or rent materials. Consider asking your friends in the engineering school or at other universities that provide discounted programming if you can borrow their access to free versions of Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite, CAD, and so forth. Keep in mind the extra costs of living on campus, including laundry, occasional floor or student group outings, and the price of drinks or meals from restaurants with your new friends. Also, skip buying that $80 QUIA bullshit for your French or Spanish language classes; they say it's mandatory, but the teachers will not be checking to see if you've completed the assignments. Try to get a feel for whether or not this QUIA stuff will be relevant to your grade in the first two weeks of classes, and only make your purchase after the drop deadline.
Meal Plan: Buy the cheapest one and supplement it with either groceries or buying meal points at a reduced rate from friends. Bear Bucks are a ripoff, both to you(r parents) and to the local businesses that have to pay fees to opt into the system. Take advantage of the free food on campus and opportunities to take leftovers home. Be on the lookout for a google calendar that lists all the events on campus featuring free food. Join Home Plate and get paired with an awesome family that will cook homemade meals for you a couple of times a semester and deliver baked good care packages to your door.
Student Activities: T-shirts! Mugs! Pens! It all sounds great in theory, until you realize how much the costs of supporting your favorite organizations on campus adds up. Considering Greek Life? Great! How are you paying off those dues, though? You can apply for scholarships through your sorority or frat, but there are no guarantees you will win. That said, don’t be afraid to have those conversations regarding money with student groups. Talk to the group's advisor, exec board, or a Dean to help accommodate you. If it is not accessible to you and is designed only for the rich, then fuck IT. You have every right to be here and express yourself just as much as any other student does, on your own terms. Don’t let the guap in another student’s pockets deride your own talents and waste your time.
Home Sweet Home, Part I: Find opportunities for free or reduced furniture and supplies. The trading post and their annual campus sales are great places to get free or reduced cost materials for your dorm or apartment. Join the Facebook group “Free and for Sale” and look around on Craigslist. Dumpster dive in the Skinker DeBalivere, CWE, and U City neighborhoods. Ask around at the WashU Co-Op to see if they have extra furniture in the basement they are trying to get rid of (they usually do).
Home Sweet Home, Part II (because there are ways to make a profit off of your financial aid): Off campus housing is considerably cheaper. If you apply for off campus housing, you can apply your financial aid package to rent. If you’re placed in more expensive ResLife housing, talk to your financial aid counselor about your situation. Consider bargaining with your landlord to split rooms with people. Avoid the overpriced Wash U-affiliated Quadrangle and Parallel Properties (why a "non-profit" institution like WashU is involved in real estate in the first place is beyond me), and rent from private landowners, (shoutouts to Jim Rush and Mary Gorman of the Delmar Loop). If you're willing to live a little further past Vernon Ave. north of campus, all the more savings will come into your pocket.
Extra Cash: Find opportunities for side jobs on campus. Freelance for student groups and Greek life (taking photos and videos or selling handmade goods). Get chummy with your deans and professors to find jobs babysitting, house sitting, or pet sitting. Sign up to be a note taker or a proctor with Cornerstone. Find jobs off campus. The loop is a good place to start. If you’re a freshman and can commit to long-term work over several years, you’re more likely to get hired. So get searchin’!
Social Life: Invest in conversations, not coffees. Resist bonding experiences predicated on economic exchange, i.e. lunches and shopping. As much as you’re comfortable, talk to your friends about your financial situation so they are inclusive with social opportunities. Have a list of restaurants in your head you’re comfortable paying for to suggest to friends for nights out. Keep in mind all the free activities in St. Louis or reduced price entertainment such as movies, Cardinals games, or shows at the Fox or Tivoli that are sponsored by groups like SU and CS40.
On that note, if you are reading this article and happen to be socioeconomically gifted coming into WashU, please try to be considerate of others' means in your day-to-day decisions. Please do not assume I’m of equal social standing. Please do not assume that just because I’m on a scholarship, I can afford to cover part of your tab at Kings. Please do not shy away from these conversations because you feel guilt. We money-poor as that you remember our needs and our differences when you make decisions, whether as a part of a student group, or as a friend. Acknowledge our circumstances. Acknowledge our existence.
Scholarships: If you have the time and the energy, consider applying for additional scholarship opportunities, especially the more random and/or local ones with less competition. Most frats have awards for a few students freshman year. Different departments and the library have one time scholarship opportunities you apply for.
Health: Take advantage of your nine free counseling sessions at WashU. The waits get long and it may take a few weeks for you to schedule an appointment, but nine hour-long sessions may be worth the wait. Walk in and ask for an emergency appointment if you wish to speak to a counselor immediately. Alternatively, call Uncle Joe’s for one-time-per-issue student counseling and resource referrals. Contact SARAH or Kim Webb for free specialized counseling on issues regarding sexual health and assault. Take advantage of the SHS pharmacy, which sells lower-cost generic birth control than surrounding pharmacies. Free pregnancy tests can be found in the bathrooms at the Women’s Building or SHS. The SHS pharmacy also carries Ella, which many surrounding pharmacies do not. Condoms and dental dams are provided free at the Habif Health & Wellness Center, as well as Uncle Joe’s. STI testing is offered at low or no cost on- and off-campus through SHS or the Spot. Free flu shots are given in the fall at SHS.
Work Study: different campus jobs have different pay rates. Your pay rates generally increase the longer you work in a certain position, or the older you are. Find the campus job where you can make time to do your homework while making more $$$.
Advocate for yourself and your friends: Do. Not. Let. Up. Do. Not. Be. Shy. Connect to people who know and care-upperclassmen, administrators, faculty and staff. Make your case with SFS and don't be afraid to ask for more aid. I can't speak to the success rate of students who ask for more financial help, but I do know that the office is open to those discussions, and that the people who work there are generally SFS even offers no-interest emergency loans in the case of a death of a family member, or other urgent situations that require more money than you may have on hand.
Take care of yourself: It took me four years to realize that for some on this campus, the first of the month is no different than any other day. That was a sad day. Avoid such comparisons-they are the thieves of joy. Practice gratitude for all that you do have. Yes, it is exhausting, mentally and physically, to be a student of low SES on WashU's campus. So take time for yourself, often. As hard as it is, this university doesn’t quite have the institutional structure for students of lower socioeconomic status, so you have to be your own best advocate. It's easier said than done, but do your best to ask questions, push for accommodations, and do what you need to do in order to access all WashU has to offer. And reward yourself when you do make that difficult and vulnerable leap of asking for help with some low-cost self care.
Perhaps most importantly, do not feel indebted to this university. Never. Nope. Not once. As our friends at Tufts wrote:
“Regardless of that big-ass grant that allows you to send money home to help with bills, that C+ you get in a class one semester, or that week you couldn’t find the energy to study, never feel indebted to this university. You are more capable, creative, and valuable than a capitalist, for-profit institution will ever give you credit for. The academic-industrial complex needs you to bend to its will and offer yourself up as fodder for the machine that is academe– don’t give in. The only person you owe anything to is yourself. It has been hard for some of us to remind ourselves of this once the year begins, not having seen many people ever make it to and through higher education, let alone a privilege-palace like Tufts [or WashU]. Remember: FUCK the logic that blames the victim for circumstances and systems that were never meant to embrace the historically under-served. REMEMBER this when there is a cause that you believe and you wish to act but that action pits you against the university. Many of us have come to see the university not as an ardent foe and definitely not as a trustworthy ally, but rather as a tool we are using to make change for our communities and empower and educate ourselves. REMEMBER education should be for everyone – if it is not accessible to the money-poor, it is not revolutionary.”
Finally, don't beat yourself up if you find yourself spending above your means. Living comfortably on a budget takes practice. Read up on how to keep a good credit score online, access courses on banking and financial planning, and consider asking budding entrepreneurs at the business school for advice. After all, what better place is there to learn how to get rich than at an institution with a 7.2 billion dollar endowment? Take a page out of WashU's handbook and start setting those monetary goals (talkin' matching lambos).
The author, Anastasia Sorokina, welcomes contact from students via [email protected].