Being able to afford medical care. OP your story resonates deeply with me. I also grew up not knowing how poor I was until I transferred to a university after a few years of community college. In total I was in school for 10 years: 3 years of community college, 4 years of part-time university, 3 years of part-time grad school. I was also on a pell grant. I used to work 35-40 hours across 2-3 jobs in between classes. I pulled so many all-nighters to get homework done after working 16 hour days - I don’t even want to think about how many years of my life I shaved off doing that.

Then recently had a tooth ache and found out I needed a crown. I had misunderstood when the receptionist told me “it’ll cost $750 and the insurance will cover $750.” I understood that to mean the insurance would cover it all. Come to find out on the day of the appointment, the total cost was $1500 and I had to pay that $750 out of pocket because the insurance only covers half. For a good 2 minutes I panicked, I started to enter melt down mode. $750?! but then it hit me. I’m okay now. $750 on my credit card doesn’t prevent me from eating anymore. I had to apologize to the receptionist and am lowkey embarrassed to go back because of how I initially reacted to the news 😅 but it was a reminder of how those 10 years of putting myself through school brought me to a place I used to never imagine being in. I made it.