I received an email today from Amherst College regarding a new financial aid policy. This policy is only in place at two other schools in the nation according to the message. Quote: “beginning in the 2008-09 academic year, Amherst College will replace all loans with scholarships in its financial aid packages.” Like…wow. 7 or 8 years ago, Amherst already eliminated loans for low income students at a certain threshold –  which possibly would have allowed me to go to college loan free.

What pleased me most about this email, in a sort of weird way I admit, is this statement:  “This should be especially helpful to students from middle-income families, who too often have had to take on significant debt in order to ensure access to an outstanding education, and who too often graduate feeling that their career choices are constrained by that debt.”

Right on, man. I can say with absolute clarity that I made career choices back in the day specifically because I was terrified of debt. Particularly in the early days when I was trying to be a rock star. It would have been lovely to have a minimum wage job, blow off responsibilities, and put every ounce of energy into my music, but now I see that I never did that. At the time I thought I was committed, but seriously, until you have two kids that never sleep more than 3 hours at a stretch for the first year of their respective lives, you have no idea what “tired” really means. So, yeah, I could have done even more back then, for what it’s worth. Point is, I couldn’t give up the day job because I had those loans. I wouldn’t even consider it. Damn that sense of responsibility Grandma instilled in me. Would I be a rock star today if I hadn’t had to worry about those monthly payments? No, probably not, but my cumulative stress level would probably be lower, and I’d certainly have a few more bucks in the bank.

I am not complaining. I have been very lucky in a lot of ways, and my education has helped me to be successful. And, as I have proudly said many times in the last 15 years, it was cheaper for me to go to Amherst than any other school that accepted me. Even back in the early 90s, the admissions folks worked hard to make sure every student who was accepted (and remember, this was and continues to be need-blind admissions) would be able to attend. Rock on Amherst. Lord Jeff may have been a shitbag (he wiped out thousands of Native Americans when he gave them small pox infected blankets), but the school that bears his name is certainly trying to do right.