Let’s be fucking clear: Graduating at 21 with $46,000 in student loan debt did not make me appreciate my degree.
It made me terrified to take on any more debt. (I didn’t get a credit card until I was 25). To this day, it makes me second-guess—even for a moment—getting the damn degree in the first place.
A degree that I loved getting at an institution that I loved (then) with some of my favorite humans (still).
Student loans detract from that; they don’t reinforce it.
So when I hear shit like People won’t appreciate a free degree, I take offense.
I appreciate my degree because I fucking earned it, and I didn’t fucking earn it by making monthly payments until I’m 34.
I fucking earned it by putting in the work.
I’d also like to address how hypocritical it is for Christians to be worried about appreciating something free.
Your entire fucking religion is based on getting something for free that you would never be able to afford in your lifetime.
So either you can’t possible appreciate your salvation because you didn’t pay for it yourself OR it is, indeed, possible to appreciate something that was given to you for “free.”
“Free” because you still have to live your life according to the Bible, which takes work.
“Free” because you still have to pass all your classes to get a degree, which takes work.
“Free” because zero cost doesn’t not mean zero effort.
Mary's One Hundred 