<p>Kelsmom, returning to work isn’t something I regret. It’s true that purely from an economic snapshot of our current situation, it probably isn’t a net gain for us. We get a small bump in income, we lose financial aid… once you factor in commuting costs, having to have “office clothes” and other related expenses, it’s probably not worth it. Yeah, we may come out with … I don’t know… maybe $1600 net gain. For six months of work that works out to something like $1.85/hr benefit for my efforts.</p>
<p>However, I don’t regret it. I did want to get back in a job, I like the job I have, and I hope it helps build to other even better opportunities. The job market sucks, and that fact that I have a job that I mostly enjoy with nice people is a good thing all by itself.</p>
<p>But if I was a stay-at-home mom with a newly emptied-nest right now, and our financial aid situation was stable and do-able, I would not go out and look for a job just for its own sake, and I certainly wouldn’t take on a job I didn’t like or didn’t care about because the trading off of financial aid for a very marginal income increase would just not be worth it.</p>