Rules are Silly

In this case, for once, I'm not talking about the common sense ethical rules we're all required to know....by which I mean, be generally familiar with. No, in this case, I'm referring to residency status requirements.

Let me start off by making one thing plain: yes, I am one of those lucky bastards you all love to hate, who will be exiting law school with no loans. I have accepted this. I also recognize that this limits me less so than my peers. All of that being said, can we please all jointly recognize the absurdity of the cost of College and Graduate level education in the United States? Yes? Good.

Now, my family may qualify as "upper-middle-class," but we are by no means rich. I don't know any trust fund babies, I'm not one, and both my parents grew up in a gang-infested neighborhood and somehow made good. So, all pretension aside, they did as any loving parent would do, and saved up a shit load of money for their kid to have all of the opportunities they didn't. This meant that by the time I got to college, and got accepted to an outrageously expensive private school, they had the money. Yes, they paid for all four years of my undergrad (granted, I worked part time for my own spending money), which included graduating with both a bachelor's and a master's. And they paid out of state tuition. That, my friends, is brutal. Private colleges cost enough, but to add in out-of-state tuition, and not qualifying for need-based scholarships or loans, is just cruel. So, when it came around to law school (and i packed up for the 11th time in 5 years) and moved to a different state which offered students the opportunity to qualify as in-state residents after a year, my parents were overjoyed. Though they had to pay out of state tuition for a year, there was the potential to save (over the course of two years) $40k. That's no small chunk of change and nothing to laugh at. So, this summer, I started filling out the rather extensive paperwork.

Lo and behold, after a year in law school, I was able to spot the problem with this wonderous opportunity within 10 minutes. You only qualified to become "in-state" if you were either completely independent of your parents (e.g. were either independently wealthy off of some entrepreneurial scheme or in loans and grants up to your eyeballs), or if you were dependent but your parents were domiciled in the state. UGH. Now, for those of you not familiar with "domiciled", it is an actual legal term. Essentially, there are many factors taken into account, but for the most part it points to the place you actually live most of the time and does NOT apply to any place you happen to own property. To be clear, my parents do own one piece of property in this state - my apartment. It's a lovely mortgage that I inherit upon completion of law school. Long story short, because I don't clearly fit in either of those boxes delineated by the school, I get the joyous opportunity to continue paying more than most of my classmates for the rest of law school. FML.

Don't get me wrong, I completely understand the need to make such delineations legally, administratively and economically. I know that some people have to be charged more for graduate schools that offer these sorts of programs in order for the school to survive. It doesn't mean I have to like it. Really, it doesn't meant that anyone has to actively like it. It's kind of like taxes. We know they're necessary for governments to make money to pay off debts and fund infrastructural improvements and whatnot, but it doesn't mean that we have to LIKE seeing a large chunk of our paycheck disappear.

I'm also not sure what the answer is. I know most of the EU and other countries in general have adopted the method of paying higher taxes, while offering much lower cost public educational institutions, BUT I also know that it might cause Civil War II if the US tried that method. That is, in spite of the fact that the US has one of the most costly higher education systems in the world, and in spite of the fact that hundreds upon hundreds upon thousands of people complain about it and/or can't afford it. So, I guess this is just me complaining then. I enjoy the EU model of less costly public higher education, but I'm also cognizant of the fact that it won't fly.

For now, I just consider myself deeply in debt to my parents. To the tune of more money than I'd like to think about, likely for the rest of my life. Needless to say, if they ever need to be put in a home, they'll be going to the Ritz of retirement homes. That is, assuming I get a job.