[Jiggly]

A. Man I can totally agree with your statement. Though you are so lucky that you didn’t have a lot of test’s. The hardest test I’ve done so far is my political science class. I mean, at the end its history, but government is so mixed & mashed together their’s so much… If you don’t mind me asking, how much did you pay or owe for your school education?

I am lucky, I have a defective memory at best, and struggled in exams. I went for more coursework based courses for that reason. That, and I love art.

No worries - I don't mind sharing. Although, this is a more complex answer than you may be expecting:
My undergrad fine art education was in the UK. As a British citizen in England at the time, it only cost £21,000 (approx $28,000 at the time of writing) in total for tuition for a 3 year university course (average in the UK as courses are more specialised/streamlined and there are no common core classes). In other words, £9,000 ($12,000) per year for tuition. As an English person going to University in England, you can get a loan & grants from the government that will cover the full cost (depending on family income). At the time of my education - you only needed to start paying this back once you started earning over £21,000 a year, and once you hit that threshold, you only needed to pay 9% of total earnings. After 30 years, any debt unpaid is wiped (threshold and time before the wipe changes if you move abroad). My Uni also gave me 1,000 a year towards living due to my low income family. My living costs were mostly covered.

My Masters in the US was only for 2 years at a grand total of $38,000 for tuition alone ($9,500 per semester). As an international student, I also had to pay for mandatory health insurance at another $1,000 per semester, making it a required cost of $42,000. This also doesn't include the cost of books or living/transport as I didn't live on campus. I think in real terms, that Masters cost closer to $50,000-55,000.

Tl;dr
UK Undergrad for 3 years as citizen - $28,000 + living/school materials
US Masters for 2 years as international student - $42,000 + living/school materials

Complicated yes, big numbers…yes, did I understand it? In some ways I did! To be honest, schools need to be cheaper, and its good you got people supporting you. A nice sister to help out, plus your able to get some grant from gov. I had planned to attend UC Davis, didn’t cut it cuz I planned L8, but it would’ve been more expensive anyway. Plus, I know going that way means dealing with tickets and cops. Plus huge traffic headed toward bay area. So I know attend another college that is taught by UC Davis graduates…lol. After all, they read from the same book.

So far I think I spent: 5-13k (my minds so busy rn…this price is way off…yet close in some ways)
As for books: I try to find them online.

A nice sister?

That makes sense. At the time of applying for my masters I didn't realise the deadlines for applications were several months earlier than UK deadlines. I actually ended up taking a different course because of this. I am glad I did in the end though, as my course was great.

How far in are you?

I just bought used books from Amazon. Way cheaper and you can just sell them again afterwards. I hate reading on a screen for some reason xD

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Never been to college myself

I didn't even finish high school/secondary school, let alone attend college.

I had no Interest whatsoever, so I prematurely dropped out of school via my own volition.

I'd argue you're a prime example of "not everyone needs a traditional education and college degree". Hell, plenty of people go to college "because that's the next step" and not for any other reason. I ONLY went to college because the preferred careers options require degrees as standard, minimum requirements. I wouldn't have done it otherwise.