It's no secret that college students get a bad rep. I mean what's not to hate? We're no doubt the bazookas infiltrating your quiet neighborhood at 2am, driving around in our fresh off the press Porsche we never spent a dime on, the best of us working low-effort part-time jobs for the extra spending money while still forgetting to tip our quick to smile server.
Admittedly these attributes are nothing short of aggravating and insensitive. But, as a student currently living the much romanticized college experience, I can truthfully say that it is the minority that has drawn the most attention and that today's average student is not living anything close to the golden years so commonly advertised.
So, why blog? My hopes for Bubble Baths and Rat Poison is not only to prepare future students for realities we are not taught to handle in school, but to also shed light on the much buried subject of the broken school and economic system by sharing my own experience.
Which leads to the "why now?" I'm sure to some of you, the current outbreak of memes about expensive text books and broke students sound a lot like complaining and lack of effort. But to us, it's an ooh-rah of "you're not alone" and inter-web protest. Let me throw some cold-hard statistics on this b, there is not a single state in this glorious country that you can afford your own one bedroom apartment working 40 hours a week on minimum wage. Yet colleges suggest a maximum of 20 hours per week to focus on what's really important: an education. Issue with this is, for a full time student, tuition is EASILY 3,000 dollars PER TERM. And sure, there are grants, scholarships, and even financial aid, but none of this helps enough to prevent the thousands of dollars of debt we face from the get go. How are we going to be an intelligent country if education costs an arm, and a leg, and every valuable organ in your body?
Setting statistics aside, let me tell you my story. I am a 20 year old sophomore studying History and Journalism in the state of Oregon. I live in a three bedroom apartment with two other roommates I found on Craigslist, I pay roughly 400 a month in rent (not including utilities), splurge with a bubble bath once a week, and have a massive rat infestation in the walls of our fairly clean apartment ( We reported this a week ago to property management, still waiting for action but I'm sure this must be top priority). Hence the title, Bubble Baths and Rat Poison. I go to school part time so I don't effect my GPA with my 30 hour work week, my tuition this upcoming term is just over 1,000 dollars and at this rate it will take another 4 years for me to complete my associates. I thought I was being smart, working and doing my best to not drown myself in debt. But it takes too much time to graduate at the pace I'm going, eventually I'm going to have to give in and work less so I can finish school at a reasonable time.
This is not how my, or any students life should be. I should be able to work 20-25 hours to afford ONE ROOM in a shared apartment, I should be able to have a well rounded education with out spending my life savings. But that's not how this world works right now, and I hope I can help both effectively describe what it's like as well as be an informative and helpful guide to any and all students just starting off.
And with that! I end our first post together!
So bubble safely, and don't let the rat babbies bite!
Sincerely yours,
Amanda Blevins
