makes sense to me

Why nonlethal aid is not sufficient to help less-extremist Syrian opposition groups

("less-extremist" because, honestly, let's not pin our hopes on a "moderate" faction succeeding in a civil war).

OK, I'd been havering still...

I was still wavering about my plans for this autumn, but I've had two pieces of news today that sealed the deal.

One was a conversation with a friendly real estate agent I trust, who assured me that having a large student loan outstanding would not be a bar to getting a mortgage a year or two down the road if I want to, providing I were earning well. Apparently it's all about monthly payments, not debt vs. savings, which I had feared would be the issue. One of my friends who is a part-time realtor seconded this advice when I mentioned it to him.

The second piece of news just turned up (again, in my spambox; I need to have a word with Gmail). I got awarded a scholarship for my MSc studies that will cover almost a third of the tuition. I had not thought I'd get anything, and if it did figured it would be much less than this. This makes up a substantial portion of the difference between what I had originally calculated and the cost estimate the university sent me, enough that I'm OK with the handling the remainder.