Summer is a lean time for graduate students.

If you make $1800 a month, when the university starts pulling out $200 for some cryptic reason in the summer (why do I need to contribute to my retirement fund in the summer, but not the rest of the year?) and you have to eat an extra $100 in rent because one of your housemates moved out, it is a hit to the funding.

Looking forward to the next paycheck though. They stop taking money out, and we’re getting a raise from $24,000 to $26,000 a year. I have 10 years of quality university education, and I get to make a third of what my younger sister makes. AWESOME.