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