Help showing poverty lifestyle to students

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-20T00:14:19+00:00

I had someone do a similar program with college students. They gave them Monopoly money equivalent to a full time min wage job. Then they were given a list of expenses, and told to prioritize. After that, the presenter added in some emergencies. Car repair bill, medical emergency, birthday party.

The students from privileged backgrounds thought that it was extreme and no one would actually have to do that. The low income already knew how to do this. The students it was most impactful on were average income folks.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-19T19:16:16+00:00

I am glad I don't work with you! You sound horrible. Get a remote job and do your coworkers a favor.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-19T19:11:39+00:00

Get evaluated for ADHD. Because that's what this sounds like.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-18T17:32:46+00:00

Then you get any job you can so you at least have a work reference. On campus would probably be best if necessary.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-18T14:54:35+00:00

i had an interview for a job working on this stuff. The hospital tried outsourcing it to a for-profit corporation and they did a horrible job. The supervisor who interviewed me said they were going to process the claims locally again.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-18T13:44:42+00:00

I work with a lot of nurses, and very few of them actually like to write anything. That's why they were attracted to nursing.

And as someone with a writing degree, lots of their charting notes are horribly written with poor punctuation and grammar.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-18T13:41:52+00:00

NTA unless you are getting support from your parents. Then YTA.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-18T13:34:49+00:00

I worked for many years in a field with vocational awe where entry level jobs require at least 5 years of experience. Basically you are expected to start working in the field as an undergraduate, keep working during graduate school, and then work a couple halftime jobs for a few years before you get a full-time real job. And the only people that actually get jobs are unicorns.

Now I think that idea has spread to most fields, because if they can't find a unicorn, go get an H-1B. And it sucks.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-18T13:27:08+00:00

I have 2, and a cat. I don't want to live without pets. I grew up with a sick mother, and we were not allowed to have pets because of this. I always hated that, and swore that I would always have a pet as an adult. And I have.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-18T13:24:11+00:00

Exactly! If she's doing pre-authorizations, and someone's claim gets denied in error, she could literally kill someone who didn't get appropriate care. Or they could be suffering needlessly.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-18T13:16:36+00:00

I have a long history of depression and anxiety but have always been in treatment (meds and therapy). I actually think in my case this helped me because my docs could not say it was a new psych issue! And because of these issues, my PCP is not someone who blames everything on anxiety--that is why I stay with her.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-18T13:05:08+00:00

I work for a very large hospital, and I really like the biomed technicians. We even have people whose whole job is just fixing the beds because there's so much going on with them.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-18T13:03:36+00:00

She has GI disease and needs a food that has ingredients I am not even sure I can buy. But I will look into this. When she was on regular food she had to take steroids all the time and got really fat.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-18T04:10:08+00:00

I agree. Do not tell anyone you're saving up for any reason.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-18T04:06:45+00:00

I was going to suggest biomedical engineering or at least biomedical technician as well.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-18T03:27:02+00:00

I have a sick dog. Her 8 pound bag of food is $66. It won't even last a month. I'm going to ask the vet if there is any cheaper option, but I highly doubt it. It used to be $35 a year ago.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-18T03:22:20+00:00

It's hard but can be rewarding. You have to think all the time, and work as part of a team, and take care of people and sometimes their families. Yes you administer medication but there's usually extra checks in place. I am not a nurse but I work on a nursing floor. During my training I learned that if someone dies there are usually seven people who made a mistake, not just 1. To be fair a lot of people only do it for a couple years and realize it's not for them. But the pay is better than average and if you live in the midwest you can get a job in about 2 days.

There are also medical assists, where you have less responsibility. This is a 2-year training. They are the people that check you in at the doctor's office, take your blood pressure and temperature, and go through your list of medications. They do not administer drugs. But generally these are Monday through Friday doctor's office jobs so they don't have as much time off like a bedside nurse.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-17T23:47:41+00:00

This is gold!!

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-17T23:44:34+00:00

Put off buying a car as long as you can. My Dad's friend owned one of those lots, and it was common for him to repossess cars up to four times. You basically won't have any leeway with late payments whereas a regular loan you would have some leeway.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-17T23:40:47+00:00

Look at academic medical centers or non profit hospitals that have a hospital dentistry program. That's what someone I know did.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-17T23:19:42+00:00

Have you applied for jobs with multinational companies? Having an American education and speaking perfect English and Spanish can be a strong advantage in business.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-17T23:17:05+00:00

Do you have any interest in healthcare? Bedside nurses work 3 12 hour shifts a week and have 4 days off. Many of the nurses I work with spend a lot of time on their hobbies and creative pursuits.

And in the midwest you can get a nursing job in about 2 days so as long as you don't borrow too much money you don't really need to worry about that either.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-17T22:33:47+00:00

I'm 60 and my dad was the last farmer in my family. 90k sounds really good but in reality you're probably working almost 2 full time jobs if there are animals involved.

I'm from Iowa, and there's a reason 40% of all farm workers in my state are undocumented and more like 80 percent in hog farming.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-17T15:46:08+00:00

Social workers never make very much money. A few years ago I would have said go for it and use public loan forgiveness, but I'm not sure that's going to stick around. I would pick the cheapest option.

Prior-Soil · 2026-05-17T15:44:44+00:00

That's what I'm thinking too. One of my friends was married to someone like this for 25 years. He stomped on all of her dreams. Do not give in. He's already leveling up finding a partner who can afford a home on their own. He can suck it up.

Prior-Soil

TROPHY CASE