Estimated time till debt free: Unclear  From a purely financial standpoint, my grandmother’s death is probably the best thing that has happened to me in my adult life.  My grandmother came from overseas to live with my mother and me when I was in high school, as the ravages of Alzheimer’s left her unable to care for herself. This was a difficult situation for everyone and money became tight. But I did enjoy getting to spend time with my grandmother, who I seldom got to visit while growing up. Some of the fondest memories I have of her are from this time. We would sit together on the sofa and watch her favorite television show – Jeopardy! – even if she wasn’t exactly sure who I was.  I did well in high school and chose to attend a prestigious (and expensive) private university, far away from home. I had won some scholarship money for my academic merits. Although the amount of debt I would have after graduating was apparent up front, I did not fully understand it. That large figure seemed so abstract at the time, and I refused to let it dampen my excitement about going to college.  I set out to earn more than one degree, which cost me more money. Significant surcharges were added to my tuition for taking excessive credit hours, and even larger fees were incurred when enrolling in summer classes I had to take in order to keep up. Thus the waters of debt started to flood higher than they were supposed to.  I delivered pizzas, worked at the library, tutored and worked an array of other part-time jobs. This did nothing to abate these rising floodwaters, although the extra money did help me manage the several credit card accounts I was forced to open during this time to pay for food, gas, rent and utilities.  I graduated in 4.5 years with two bachelor of science degrees and two minors, along with nearly a quarter of a million dollars in cumulative debt, mostly from student loans. I wouldn’t change any part of my journey. I met some amazing, lifelong friends in college. I received a world-class education from truly inspirational professors. And I had the opportunity to work in a laboratory and contribute to meaningful scientific research studying Alzheimer’s disease.  I strongly desired to go to graduate school. I wanted to pursue scientific research in the field of neurodegenerative diseases. Unfortunately, this was unfeasible in light of my debt. Graduate students do not typically earn attractive incomes.  It was around this time that my grandmother passed due to complications following her long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. To be sure it was a sad event, as it always is when a loved one dies. But my grandmother had become chronically bedridden, a frail shell of a human being, unable even to recognize her own daughter – my mother – toward the end.  The coming of death was, I think, a merciful one: it seems that we should pity the living, not the dead. After it happened, my mother looked as though a weight had fallen off her shoulders. She wasn’t the only one whose burden would be lessened by the loss. After her death, my grandmother’s finances, assets and properties were entrusted to my mother. She liquidated nearly all of it, deciding that the best way of putting it to use was by helping me repay my student loan debt.  This was a massive relief from a suffocating situation. My remaining $20,000 in credit card debt is manageable, although I do not know when I will be completely free of it. I shudder to think of how my situation would be were it not for my grandmother’s “contribution”.  I now work three jobs – one full-time and two part-time – in order to manage the remaining debt, along with the expense of living in a major metropolitan area. Despite my two degrees and prior work in scientific research, I earn just above minimum wage working full-time in a laboratory at a highly-regarded, multi-million dollar biomedical research institution.  The pay could be better, but I consider myself very fortunate to still be able to work doing scientific research related to neurodegenerative diseases, a field I remain passionate about for obvious reasons. Which is all a bit ironic considering that Alzheimer’s disease is, indirectly, the only reason I’m not utterly drowning right now.
I work three jobs – one of which is in biomedical research – but I am only coping financially because of my inheritance