3 Ways Low Student Debt Helped Me Preserve Memory In Grad School

Don’t you hate that feeling every year as more fees and living expenses stack up… and it always seems like job prospects are plummeting? 

If you’re nodding yes, let me tell you:

I’ve been there. 

I remember one day during the depths of my deepest depressions receiving an ominous letter. It said that my loans were coming due much earlier than expected. 

The loan people didn’t care that I had a documented history with mental illness and even won some scholarships just for people with medical issues like mine.

They didn’t care that they were sending the letter at the worst possible time as I my exam dates were drawing ever nearer during the dark of winter.

The Debt Collectors Don’t Care About The Stress On Your Memory

And they certainly didn’t give a damn that my doctoral supervisor had recently given me a soul crushing reality-check speech. While on a walk, he told me how it was very unlikely that anyone graduating during my year was ever going get the job of their dreams. 

Well, even though this letter hit me hard when I received it, I at least had one thing going for me that most of my fellow students did not. And this special strategy ensured that I had a high return on investment, even while going into debt. 

Let me tell you all about it, along with a few other strategies that helped me keep my debt low that ANY student can put in place right now. I’m also including a powerful fact about student debt at the end you’re not going to want to miss.

The Tips Are For University Students, And Good

For Anyone Struggling With Debt

None of what I’m about to share with you is meant to make you think I’m an arrogant braggart.

Far from it.

I’ve just had a low tolerance for risk all my life. That’s a good thing. It’s made me productive and reduced a lot of problems. My hope is that these tips will help any student stop risking so much so you can focus on the lovely adventure of life without so much strain and pain.

Plus, I’ve made sure these tips will help anyone struggling with any kind of debt. You don’t need the stress on your memory.

The best part?

Low stress helps you preserve memory ability, the number one asset we all need to cherish and protect above anything else.

So here’s the first thing I want to share that helped keep my student debt incredibly low while making sure that my jobs weren’t a waste of time:

1. Get The Best Possible Jobs

I always worked during university, and with a few rare exceptions, I found jobs that either directly supplemented my education or kept my mind free for contemplation. 

The first institute of higher learning I attended and worked at.

In this first case, I worked in three libraries:

The Okanagan University College library on the Salmon Arm campus, the Prince George Public Library and as an assistant to the head research librarian at York University. 

The Prince George Public Library is a great Memory Palace and workplace.

These jobs were great for one simple reason:

In each position, I could either listen to audiobooks while replacing books and shelf-reading, or do my own research while learning from a master. 

Being able to spend time on my own goals while sharpening my skills helped reduce stress as well because these roles wasted barely a minute of precious time. Nothing bugged me more then, and nothing bothers me more to this day, than frittering away time on work that builds someone else’s dreams with out also developing my own. 

Were these hugely well-paying jobs? On one level, no, but every penny helped me borrow less on my student loans. And each paid off incredibly well in terms of what I learned and how I could perform double-duty.

Plus, I would always find unexpected information that accelerated learning and memory techniques helped me rapidly remember and connect with my own projects. 

My Secret Strategy For Getting Expensive Books For Free

Even better, I was able to directly request these libraries order books I needed, and most of the time they would, and even speed up the process because it was an internal request. This simple benefit saved oodles of money in the long run. 

Finally, library staff are usually very knowledgeable people, if not scholars themselves. That makes librarians a pleasure to be around.

Overall, these jobs were golden, so if you’ve never thought about working for either a university or public library, I highly recommend both. 

The Public Film “Library” That Gave Me Heaps Of Memory Exercise

Along these lines, I also worked for the legendary Queen Video in Toronto.

I worked at the Queen Street and Bloor Street stores. This one was my favorite.

Since Film Studies were a huge part of all my degrees, it was amazing to have direct access to what was then considered the biggest collection of VHS and DVDs in North America.

Although much busier than some of my library jobs, the endless questions about movies from the patrons kept me on my toes. Plus, the constant requests exercised my memory all day long. 

And it really was all day because my shifts were from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. with only three breaks!

The Neighborhood Debt Reducer

More grueling jobs included my own little business of mowing lawns and shoveling snow across East York, or when I worked to assist the elderly in their homes through Community Care East York.

But I kept my eyes and ears open during this time and gathered dozens of Memory Palaces.

More importantly, I heard many stories about life from the senior citizens of our neighborhood. Their autobiographies were priceless because every time I went to work, I had multi-perspectives from stories of war and economic depression that helped me remember just how good I had things, even if my clinical depression legitimately felt like the hell it was.

Personally knowing many survivors of equally, albeit differently tough times was one of the greatest medicines. 

Plus, if you ever find yourself working in the homes of the elderly, you might just find yourself getting fed. I don’t have exact stats on how much money I saved during those years, but it was impossible getting out of those places without being invited to dinner or leaving with a bounty of fruit and vegetables from the gardens I helped tend.

Gardening Advantages Beyond A Quick Buck

And gardening not only reduces stress, but also gives you a skill set you can use for life. Tending tomatoes, mowing lawns and shoveling snow not only made me lots of money, but came with ample tips made from the currency of high quality homemade food. I was too stupid at the time to feed myself properly, so without these wonderful people, I probably would have died from malnutrition. 

I have many more stories of the jobs I held, but in sum, if you can’t find a decent job to help keep your loans and spending down, make one.

There’s no magic to it. I just knocked on the doors in my neighborhood, the same strategy that ultimately led to me getting a major research grant after I graduated, a story for another time.

As an additional tip, you can explore the advantages of bilingualism by helping families that speak a language you’re learning. The extra exposure and practice will help your fluency and make you a more attractive candidate for hire in the future. 

2. Budget and Monitor Your Expenses

Even as I was accumulating student debt that drove me bonkers with stress, I followed a budget and allocated resources for the things I needed. 

For example, I couldn’t concentrate during my depressions, so I had to buy a lot of audiobooks.

Back then there was no such thing as Audible, the library wasn’t able to get some of the exact programs I wanted, and in this case, there were crazy amounts of shipping.

But because I budgeted for learning materials, I was able to get what I needed and then sometimes resell the programs after siphoning the information into my mind. 

I could do this because, except for wasting too much money on the booze I used to self-medicate my depression (never realizing it was actually worsening it), I walked or rode my bike everywhere I could.

Also, I figured out a few ways to reduce the trips I needed to take to campus. For example, a few times I arranged to be write additional research papers in lieu of attendance grades.

One course in particular had 20% of the grade weighted just on showing up.

How Negotiating Better Class Attendance Saves Cash On Commuting

I told the professor I loved him and loved attending his course, but really needed an alternative arrangement. We agreed upon the length and depth of the additional work I would do, and bang presto, I completed the entire course without having to travel to the campus again from that day on.

And he really had no hard feelings. In fact, years later, he wound up sitting on my dissertation defense committee. This arrangement saved not only time, but also the transit fees.

The Zen Of Walking And Biking Towards Knowledge

Likewise, I took two directed reading courses in grad school.

In both cases, I arranged to meet the professors in cafes I could reach by bike or foot. On the one hand, a directed reading course can be more intense and feel like more work.

To be honest, it also lays more scrutiny on the work you produce because the professor isn’t forced to split attention to other students. But this is ultimately a good thing because it sharpens you for the career yet to come. 

Saving Tips From An Academic Monagamist

Also, this next one might seem like a weird tip, but I found it useful for many reasons:

Have a steady romantic partner and treat it like a marriage. 

All throughout university, I saw people driving themselves crazy with romantic pursuits instead of focusing on their studies.

Enjoying an inexpensive and soulful date in an amazing cafe that is also a powerful Memory Palace.

Look, I’m flesh and blood too, but dating is not only financially draining, but the many emotions drain energy too.

So I gave up the endless chase of the dating buffet for the less exotic, but ultimately more satisfying long-term game, even if I knew these relationships would ultimately not last.

I’m not really the best person to be giving relationship advice. But when it comes to everything that went into getting my PhD, purely through the observation of others (many of whom never made it to the finish line), I really do feel I spared myself a lot of drama and expense.

I circumvented a ton of pain by cultivating long-term romances, keeping them deep, but simple. And since they were usually with other university students, they were largely intellectual. Other than books and beverages, talking philosophy for hours on end is free and easy review and hardly costs a thing. 

3. Use Memory Techniques

The beauty of using memory techniques effectively and well is that you never fail exams. Absolute success means you never have to take courses over again or stack on additional years to complete your degree.

I saw many people fail courses and extend their stay at university, which ultimately stacks on more debt. The sooner and more directly you graduate, the less your education costs.

My first and second Master degrees, for example, were both two year programs and in each case, I completed them in just one, saving significant fees.

I also completed my PhD program ahead of and was even found eligible to pause the fees for an entire year while I waited for the dissertation defense committee to find a date for the great intellectual grilling.

This pause in paying tuition helped me leave Toronto, live in Manhattan and I even found a teaching gig over in New Jersey (at Rutgers) during this time. 

In other words, you not only save tons of time you can direct at other activities when you can learn faster and remember more.

You can also find other jobs that pave the path to a better future. For example, it helped a lot that I had Rutgers on my CV and a great reference when I knocked on the door of a director’s office in Germany. But if I’d been learning like a slow-poke, I wouldn’t have had the time to accumulate more practical experience in my field. 

So if you need to know how I memorized so much info so quickly, get started now:

You’ll love how it helps you strategize a full Memory Palace Network you can use to gobble down knowledge and keep it in your brain for when you need it. 

About that fact I mentioned at the beginning, there is an interesting study showing that student loan debt is negatively influencing how often people get married.

This research suggests that if you want to have a better marriage, or even get married at all, keep your debt as low as possible. Student debt may also cause people to have fewer kids too, so keep that in mind if you dream about having a family one day. 

Next, I suggest you watch these videos, hit the thumbs up, get subscribed if you aren’t already and keep the conversation going below. Thanks as always for the view, and until next time, keep yourself Magnetic! 

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