Well, at least social workers are paid well. Wait a minute....

You know what? Grad school is frighteningly expensive, and I'm not even pursuing a legal or medical degree.

Every day or two my stepdad scans and emails me sheaves of paperwork from Penn detailing my loans, and it's hard not to begin hyperventilating when looking them over. They've also added "online loan counseling" since I last took out loans, which is a good thing if it keeps students from wildly clicking their way into lifetime debt, but also a very frightening thing as one of the steps involves using a "loan repayment calculator" to determine one's approximately post-education monthly loan payments. Despite the generous grant package Penn has given me, our government doesn't do much to help out its aspiring professionals (federal loan interest is capped at 8.5%, or that of good credit card -- thanks soooo much). Also, since I don't yet know how intensive graduate school will be, I've decided not to work my first year of studies, which means I'll need loans just to pay my basic living expenses. Considering the debt I carry from my undergraduate education, and assuming I don't work my second year of school either, I'm looking at a total debt of over $100,000.

I think this means I'll be paying upwards of $750 a month on my loans for the next 20 years.

Oh lord. But at least I'll be fulfilled, right? Right?