Ah! student loans, we can sit here and discuss ad nauseum about getting into
our "chosen field", but if our chosen field doesn't even pay enough for us to
pay our bills, including student loans, yet these fields are demanding advanced
degrees, it seems to put us in quite a pickle.  I received a masters in fine
arts, with alot of gallery and teaching experience, and my spouse was a
post-doctoral
fellow, there was no way in *heck* I could live off a low rate museum salary.
I was forced to become a legal secretary (which paid considerably higher) to
make ends meet.  Recently, my spouse left academia to work in the private
sector, and to be honest, if he hadn't done that, I am not no sure we could
afford me working in a museum, which I am doing now.  Unfortunately, it seems
like that seems to be the solution.  Work in a museum that you love but doesn't
pay diddly and hook up with a spouse/partner/significant other that's a
doctor/lawyer/engineer type.

Lauren Friedman
[log in to unmask]
Carnegie Museum of Art

> but it allows me to
>connect once again with my community, provides an opportunity to
>volunteer, I freelance write for an art magazine and I can pay my
>bills, and I hope someday to have that great job and some day pay off
>the many thousands in student loans.

>Darlene Nickerson
>Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
>Canada