Opportunity Costs

The subject of an angry post a while back, Harvard Medical School's cancellation of medical Spanish programs has been a heavy subject on my mind. After some thought, I've decided that it may be worthwhile to use my meager savings from the Hunger Fellowship to fund an immersion experience. (Yeah, seriously. My savings from an Americorps-level-funded Fellowship.*)

I've lived pretty frugally this semester; with only 1.5 weeks until I go home for vacation, I still have $1,500 from my educational loans left to spend for cost of living alone. In addition, my end-of-fellowship award has earned me a whopping $8.41 in interest thus far. In other words, I'm obviously rolling in it.

However, if I extrapolate the current trend lines of my social life, I don't predict any significant expenditures in my immediate future. After all, medical school has precluded my engaging in any costly activities (or perhaps just any activities, haha). Thus, if I just take out my full loan next semester and continue to live la vida estudiantil, I may be just fine.

At this point in my life, my time is money (especially considering that this is my last summer!). Forcing myself to do "Spanish immersion" in Boston (seriously suggested by the school as an four-week, unfunded option) is (1) questionably efficacious and (2) possibly just as expensive as packing up and paying an outside program to teach me Spanish in South America. And the real immersion option has the added benefit of teaching me a thing or two about the world.

*While writing this post, it has just come to my attention that the Fellowship has raised its stipend this year to $14,500. When I was a Fellow last year, the stipend was $12,500. Surprise!...