I’m petrified. I have this awful multiple choice exam that I’m on my way to. To calm my nerves I try to think of happy things, such as my family’s dog having a great time, playing in the snow
Tag Archives: school
Mandatory Philosophy Ain`t no fun
Student loan Pros; do they exist?
Yes, at least in Norway they do. Though debt is never a positive thing, student debt is one of the few debts in life that I have accepted. I think of it as an investment in my future, as nowadays, higher education is a requirement for most well-paid jobs. Of course, I know that these conditions that I`ve written about in this post might not apply to student loans in other countries, so it would be great if you`d comment on how things work where you live. Here`s a list of the positive aspects of Norwegian student debt.
- First and foremost it makes education available for more people, which is something I love. Higher education is practically free in Norway. Tuition is about 180$, though costs of curricula is high; usually between 900-1000$ a year, depending on what classes you take. Student loans are mainly to cover accommodation, food, curricula and transportation.
- Both interests and part of your debt will be deleted if you have a long term illness and have to quit school or work, receive social benefits or low wages (12 months interests deleted if annual income is less than 40.000$). When I got sick and had to quit school twice in a year, I lived on student loans for a long time, because my social benefits application got lost (!!!), which means that debt was accumulating rather quickly. Luckily, after I finally got my social benefits, I applied for debt deletion, and it got accepted! 11.600$ was deleted of my current debt. The day I received the letter telling me about this was a very joyous day.
- Debt cannot be inherited. If I was to die young (heaven forbid), neither parents nor future husband, will be stuck with my debt.
- Due to population decrease in certain parts of Northern Norway, the government has decided to do something about it. Up to 4.500$ of debt will be deleted per year, IF you live and work in certain areas of Northern Norway. It`s a great opportunity for those who might be from that area, or just want to experience something else and doesnt have any commitments elsewhere.
- Certain teacher education programs qualify for debt deletion. If you study science or foreign languages at bachelor and master level + 1 year of teacher education program, up to 9.000$ can be deleted of the student debt. This is what I hopefully will qualify for.
- You can receive a travel grant; I`m registered in another part of the country, so I receive 625$ a year for travel expenses.
- And best of all; 40% of your student loan per year is converted to a grant if you pass all of your exams. This makes it really encouraging to pass every exam and graduate. So if you take maximum student loans for 5 years; about 90.000$, 36.000$ of them will be deleted automatically as long as you pass your exams.
make sure to keep updated, l`ll be writing a post about the cons of student loans anyday now, and one covering how I plan to minimize debt.
Brace yourself, Winter is coming
Woke up to find a not so nice weather outside. Not that it’s a big deal, as I’ll be stuck inside all day, studying for my phonetic & phonology exam. And if you’re wondering about the title, yes; I’m a very big game of thrones fan! Though, I never thought I would be, until my BF persuaded me to watch a couple of episodes and that was it. Now I can’t wait for season 3. Show me an intriguing story with a great backdrop, and I’m sold.
I’d like to apologize beforehand for the horrible picture, but it’s taken from the inside, because I’m not stepping outside today!
Exam finished!
This is how I feel today. Happy. The End.