The end of each month is always the hardest time for her financially, Mitchell says, forcing her to cut back so she has enough money to buy groceries. “That’s when I don’t go out at all,” Mitchell says.
The end of the month is also when Mitchell pays off student loans that run $173.19 a month. At that rate it will take her 10 years to pay off the $19,000 she owes from her education at Hampshire College, in Amherst, Mass.
Sometimes, Mitchell’s cost cutting can put her at risk. Because she cannot come up with $180 a month to be part of her boyfriend’s health insurance plan, she goes unprotected. Similarly, she stopped using birth control pills to save $53 a month, turning to less expensive options.
A lover of clothes, Mitchell has found economical ways to be fashionable. She often borrows outfits from her two sisters. She also makes use of what she calls “hippie Christmas,” when wealthy students and professionals toss out perfectly good or sometimes even new clothes after getting a fresh haul during the holidays. Mitchell says the clothes end up at Goodwill or thrift stores – or sometimes just in the trash. She calls it “collecting.”
Can she bring it off?
I was a little taken aback when I learned what Lauren Mitchell, our profile subject, did for a living and what she aspires to do with her life. Very mature for 23, she is enthusiastic about her freelance job as a medical educator showing medical students how to give women a proper pelvic exam. But I wonder: Will that job allow her to achieve her longer-term goal of establishing herself as a doula (or counselor) for women having abortions? Her current pay is not that good and the work seems infrequent.
Yipes! Our first big test
The meeting to interview and shoot photos of Lauren at Pennsylvania Station for a class assignment was memorable because my partner, Mariel, and I would not have another opportunity to visit with Lauren before our deadline. She was leaving for a trip to Massachusetts for four days. That doesn’t sound daunting but with all of our other classes and school-related responsibilities, if we had not met up with her we would have failed our first multimedia assignment.
—Karn Dhingra
Friends say that Mitchell’s plight is typical of recent college graduates not willing to forgo their passions and ideals for a 9 to 5 job.
“What Lauren is doing is very exciting and important,” says Chelsea Miller, Mitchell’s friend and classmate from Hampshire College. Miller says their professors and educational experience encouraged them to pursue their desired careers even if they might be unconventional.
She also believes that Mitchell can cope with the financial constraints of her occupation. “She’s good at appropriating money for when and where she needs it to get by,” Miller says.
As for the economy, Mitchell doesn’t worry about recent Wall Street declines affecting her nest egg because she can’t lose what she doesn’t have. “I’m not able to save a dime,” Mitchell says.
Determined not to let her money struggles best her, Mitchell has picked up part-time work tutoring New York public school students who are at risk of dropping out of school. Because she’s a freelancer, it takes 30 days for the money to reach her. So in December her hard work will pay off when $3,000 hits her mailbox almost all at once.
“That’s going to be a great day,” Mitchell says.
