Selling your soul for education.
SO IM ABOUT TO KEEP IT REAL WITH YALL! NOT INSTAGRAM BALLING BOSS BITCH PERSONA REAL I MEAN STRAIGHT UP POUNDLAND LOVING POT NOODLE EATING REAL!
So I'm currently studying at Central Saint Martins in London. First of all we all know that London = extortionate living costs, second of all the government apparently would only like the future entrepreneurs business owners and future talent of the world to be from a family of inherited wealth and power, with the uni fees sky rocketing and without a doubt will probably rise again in the future! (Not without the outbreak of nationwide rioting from the “unruly outspoken and authority lacking” youth of today).
I'm fully aware that not everybody who has sent their child to university has come from a wealthy family or has luckily inherited a pot of gold, but despite the promise of equal opportunity in this country the prospects for the young who fall into the “disadvantaged, underprivileged” are still a majorly unbalanced in comparison and being told and reminded of this by being labelled in this way will either motivate you to prove a point or fill you with rage. But hey it will automatically give you a story to sell if you graduate “Deprived student successfully gets a 1st class degree” because people still believe that for every pound in you or your parents bank account equals a brain cell or something and people from “deprived” backgrounds are only successful through some kind of magic fairy dust or pure luck (ROLLS EYES) - Yes these are real terms used for grants or loans with universities in the UK guessing they thought would be a great idea to rub financial situations in the faces of those trying to remove them self from the demeaning bracket by going to university in the first place.
“GET A JOB!” “YOU GET STUDENT LOAN?!” i hear some of you hollering at the computer screen. People who arnt students often look at the idea of getting a student loan like winning the lottery IT IS A LOAN...l let me just fill you in on what being a student in London on a fashion course at one of the top universities is really like. So currently in my placement year where the loan you receive drops to around a 3rd of what you receive in a full time year, i am working 40+ hours a week with one day off, 2 jobs and on a unpaid placement and using my day off to figure out ways to make more money. You may be thinking surely you must be surviving quite well all them hours at work HA. The nationwide perception of a student is a broke,drunk,messy slightly taller teenager who parties and hard and eats pot noodles for dinner. This is partially true i guess, however i struggle to find these terms funny anymore. With my 3rd year looming the stress of balancing the bank is starting to become overwhelming. In a university full of international students who do not receive financial help from the government and pay almost double the £9000 tuition fees its pretty clear who holds the financial golden tickets even students who do not fall into the governments “deprived” category, depending on parents income get paid peanuts in most cases loans dont even cover living costs in the £800+ matchbox student accommodation prison cells. So how do you fund a your 3rd year & a fashion collection without spending all your time at a dead end job whilst trying to complete your coursework and attend 10am seminars after a night shift earning just about enough money after rent and living costs, to splash out on a cheeky nandos at the end of the month to reward yourself for not going mentally insane through stress?!
1.Become a “webcam girl” (considered) I mean if someone wants to pay you £500 for squashing beans with your feet on camera, why not right?
2.Get another job,(considered) run yourself into the ground by illegally working around 1000 hours a week whilst trying to avoid the tax man. 3. Become a prostitute. (This is actually a thing google students paying for tuition with sex)
4. Sell drugs. Make shit loads of cash selling at your student raves and risk going to pen and sacrificing your whole professional career which is the reason your here in the first place.
5. Crowdfund, now whilst this seems like a good idea and has very successful projects, the idea of having to ask strangers for money for something like education doesn't sit right with me.
6. Become a vegetarian - Yes theres grants for this damn why didn't anyone tell me this in first year do your research first years!
7. Put all your loan into the stock market and pray you haven’t just made the biggest mistake of your life. (Worked for that guy)
8. Turn down your offer to go to a really good uni out of your city where the opportunities will be amazing and stay at home with your good old mum.
Is this really what it has come to, selling your soul to get a degree? All negatives aside being broke and working so hard to be independent and successful is the biggest life lesson you will ever learn and at least i know i can still look a million dollars in my £5 dress and 50% discounted work shoes (judge me bitch) whilst eating pot noodle for dinner, and that i would make an award winning actress pretending like everything is fine, whilst my brain reenacts a war with little characterised stress soldiers and bank notes with legs on a daily basis. But its hard to stay positive whilst eating your iceland 89p pizza watching a documentary about the rich kids of instagram (google it) flashing my whole 3 years tuition on a watch. The struggle is real kids! Ive managed to keep my head above water for now i may do a post about money making and saving tips in the near future. I have become savvy aunt sally these past 3 years and I'm not afraid to tell you that the pound shop is my best friend and you stush bitches out there should try it, might just change your life... no seriously, for real.
#RANTATHON OVER. #ELLFORPRIMEMINSTER #IWOULDSHAKESHITUP #JUSTKIDDING #IMAFASHIONSTUDENT
Ell’