A week of reflection

This week, and particularly this weekend, Patrick and I have been doing a lot of contemplation about where to go from here. Out current situation is that I am in a job I hate that I can only work in for another year. Patrick's position with the fraternity only pays him $250 a month but provides him room and board. Unfortunately, neither of our jobs pay us enough to go to afford Michigan at out of state rates (it would amount to $100,000 for three years, for each of us). The cost of living here is awful. It is really expensive-with apartments costing anywhere from $900 to $1500 a month. Since Patrick didn't get into the second career program, which would only take a year, we have found ourselves revaluating our situation here in Ann Arbor. We've started talking about moving back to Albuquerque to finish our undergraduate program at UNM (a lot cheaper and a fine education) and then when we are done, move to wherever we want for a masters degree. This would work a lot better for us because we will have a more marketable skill and will be able to work while getting our masters degrees.
We are also talking about buying a house. We figured an apartment would be more costly in the long run. We would probably be in Albuquerque for at least 3 to 5 years and when we leave to finish our masters we can rent the house out or sell it.
We still have a lot of things to work out and a final decision to make, but I think we are on the right track. Hopefully we will have a final decision by the beginning of the new year.