Now that I have been officially denied any loans or grants for the upcoming school term (January 5 to May 8), the looming total of how much I owe for student loans is final: $16,477. That would be $16,477 Canadian dollars for what amounts to be what I borrowed to cover 4 terms of school (which was 20 months of school).

$16,477, which was $823.85 a month.

To put that into perspective, this amount would be approximately 3,543 Chai tea lattes[1. from Starbucks in Canada], 659 movie dates, 275 full tanks of gas[2. for the Toyota Avalon, which takes premium], give or take 131 textbooks, or 1 nursing degree at an accredited institution in British Columbia that opens the doors for me to work pretty much anywhere in Canada, the USA, or a Commonwealth country (g’day, Australia?).

It seems like an incredibly daunting number because, hello, it is. $16,477. The only thing that I’ve ever spent more money on in my entire life was my first degree (which was shy of $25k, but I graduated with exactly $0 in debt due to working full time during summer terms). The reason that I had to take out loans was because this program just does not lend itself well to working during summers, and I honestly just didn’t want to. It was a luxury that I could afford to take because of the fact that I don’t mix school and work well.

$16,477.

That’s going to be fun to pay off… Not. Fingers crossed for finding a job as a new graduate straight away!