Strube, why aren't they paying you anymore? Did your R.A. or T.A. position expire?
Well, the GA was supposed to expire in August and I was preparing to do 3 months without pay, but I didn't get a deposit this month so I went in and found out that "oh by the way, they decided to change the terms as they are allowed to do per the GA 'contract' and are using the remaining funds to cover tuition and fees previously paid out, which were originally separate from the monthly stipend." Also there is no chance of extension.
I have been stewing about it greatly since I found out yesterday. I am going to try and sell a bunch of DVDs and music to start, then I may have to start selling other stuff (hopefully not any of my AV gear, but I will do what I have to do, I suppose) so I can pay rent, utilities, and dog and people food expenses. I just don't want to get bound up and not make it to the job which will start as soon as I get a thesis written and defend it and get moved down to the desert. My new wife still gets a stipend, but it is much smaller than mine was and we can almost exactly pay rent with it.
What I need is a couple of HT design jobs like I have had in the past to pay for my gear, but it seems people have backed off on that kind of thing altogether and/or since the local audio store started doing installs they stopped throwing word-of-mouth my way because I am now their competition...
Nothing beats getting screwed. I thought I was somewhat immune to all of this as a student - how naive.