My house costs three times my annual salary...

...and I got a steal of a deal.

I worry about money alot. I worry about debt, I micromanage the budget, I deny myself dinners out and new shoes more often than I used to. This article in Globe and Mail explains why I've hustled since the age of fifteen to save money for university while also trying to make a life worth living (in my eyes = travel, wedding, home ownership, time for family): it is damn expensive.

Life & tuition costs 1984 vs 2012 (Globe and Mail)

I had a big scholarship for both my degrees, and I still graduated in debt. I've recently paid off my student loan officially (no debt-punching celebrations since I cheated by consolidating the last $1000 to our home reno line of credit to simplify the budgeting/get the government off my back), six years after I graduated from my first degree paying back double what the government suggested.

This is all alarmingly relevant, as the Quebec student protests have recently swelled their ranks to encompass not just disenfranchised youth but also parents and teachers who are acutely aware of what increased debt does for life down the road. The symbol of the protestors, the little red square, represents life "in the red". I've been thinking about these protests: how peaceful they've generally been, how few media outlets are covering the unfolding events, how perpetual critics of "apathetic youth" look away (or worse, criticize the "joint-smoking, free-loading" youths) now that they are protesting in huge crowds, and how we are all basically required to get at least an undergrad degree to be competitive in a job market that doesn't pay enough to climb out of the hole in reasonable amount of time (say...less than five years).

Thank goodness I live in a cheap area of the country (for housing at least). I can't even imagine the thoughts I'd be wracked with if I lived in a city I couldn't afford in a house that cost six times my annual salary. We'd never have kids, and we would likely never vacation either. Bootstraps can only be pulled by so much force before they snap, and I've got compassion for the plight of financially drowning students everywhere. Suit up with a red square and realize that just because an older generation thinks the students are whining about bullshit doesn't mean they are.