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This story sounds remarkably like mine:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/your-money/student-loans/29money.html
Only difference is that I got two degrees out of it, neither of which amounted to much. Because of the debt problem it took me five years to decide to get a teaching credential. Although I've gotten into the program, I'm waiting to see what my financial aid will look like to determine if I can actually attend. Honestly, if I don't get the fin aid, I don't get the credential because I can't afford it. Who really can. One of the interesting things about this article is that as Lieber dally's with the idea of assigning blame, no mention is ever made of the social quandary that is higher education in the U.S. Ideas of prestige and necessity are tangled up in the rhetoric that insists that a four year degree is required for a meaningful future. After you're all jazzed up by the idea that a)you MUST go to college and b) you must go to a GOOD (usually translating into expensive) school there is the price tag. Higher Education is out of most people's budgets but we're all led to believe that to have a future we need the degree. Of course, this article is from a strictly financial perspective, but it's no mistake that American youth are being set-up for failure. We need the degree. To get the degree, we need money. College isn't getting any cheaper and the students foot the bill to their detriment. A lot of kids, myself included, start off their bright shiny future in the hole. If by some miracle I get the financial aid I need for the teaching credential, which doesn't look very likely, to be frank, I have already picked a couple of financial planner's to help me get rid of the debt as soon as possible. There are tons of stories about people who clawed their way out of credit card debit without filing bankruptcy, so why not me and my school loans?
And there's another thing. I find it particularly ridiculous that school debt isn't dischargable in bankruptcy court, especially private school loans. I've known quite a few people who have run up credit card debt, well into five figures, just shopping. They make bad decisions and yet they are allowed an out to re-set. But for those in pursuit of higher education and a better future that didn't end well have very few options, and what options are available are limited. I just don't get it. I can gamble with money that isn't mine on anything except for my future. The future that I'm told I can only really have if I get a college degree.
Admittedly, I just don't get it. What I see is not just bad decisions on the part of students and their parents, but also by society and a system that doesn't seem to care about selling out their youth in hot pursuit of loan fees. It's all business and don't let anyone sell you on the idea that it's not. I had a lot of money thrown at me so that I could go to school and I took it thinking that I'd get the degree and then I'd get the job and then I'd pay it all back. Well, that's not quite what happened. Life kinda got in the way and I ended up caring for a terminal parent and two younger siblings. Now, as I try to scrape my way out of my financial mess while also attempting to create an actual career in which I could be happy. I don't know. I'm behind the 8 ball on this one, and scholarships aren't exactly thick on the ground for people with my background. On paper it's all great, but the reality is that I made bad decisions and things didn't work out and, well ... hind sight is always 20/20. If I had it to do all over again, I would do it very, very differently. Mostly, you don't think that things aren't going to work out when you're young. I thought that brass ring was mine.
And here's a thought, instead of offering financial literacy as part of a college program after the loan papers have been signed, how about offering it in high school so that students are really aware of what they are getting themselves into BEFORE they get into it. But that would be too easy.
Although, I have every intention of paying back my school loans, by hook or by crook, come hell or high water, you also can't get blood from a turnip.
Or at least that's what my Aunt always tells me.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/your-money/student-loans/29money.html
Only difference is that I got two degrees out of it, neither of which amounted to much. Because of the debt problem it took me five years to decide to get a teaching credential. Although I've gotten into the program, I'm waiting to see what my financial aid will look like to determine if I can actually attend. Honestly, if I don't get the fin aid, I don't get the credential because I can't afford it. Who really can. One of the interesting things about this article is that as Lieber dally's with the idea of assigning blame, no mention is ever made of the social quandary that is higher education in the U.S. Ideas of prestige and necessity are tangled up in the rhetoric that insists that a four year degree is required for a meaningful future. After you're all jazzed up by the idea that a)you MUST go to college and b) you must go to a GOOD (usually translating into expensive) school there is the price tag. Higher Education is out of most people's budgets but we're all led to believe that to have a future we need the degree. Of course, this article is from a strictly financial perspective, but it's no mistake that American youth are being set-up for failure. We need the degree. To get the degree, we need money. College isn't getting any cheaper and the students foot the bill to their detriment. A lot of kids, myself included, start off their bright shiny future in the hole. If by some miracle I get the financial aid I need for the teaching credential, which doesn't look very likely, to be frank, I have already picked a couple of financial planner's to help me get rid of the debt as soon as possible. There are tons of stories about people who clawed their way out of credit card debit without filing bankruptcy, so why not me and my school loans?
And there's another thing. I find it particularly ridiculous that school debt isn't dischargable in bankruptcy court, especially private school loans. I've known quite a few people who have run up credit card debt, well into five figures, just shopping. They make bad decisions and yet they are allowed an out to re-set. But for those in pursuit of higher education and a better future that didn't end well have very few options, and what options are available are limited. I just don't get it. I can gamble with money that isn't mine on anything except for my future. The future that I'm told I can only really have if I get a college degree.
Admittedly, I just don't get it. What I see is not just bad decisions on the part of students and their parents, but also by society and a system that doesn't seem to care about selling out their youth in hot pursuit of loan fees. It's all business and don't let anyone sell you on the idea that it's not. I had a lot of money thrown at me so that I could go to school and I took it thinking that I'd get the degree and then I'd get the job and then I'd pay it all back. Well, that's not quite what happened. Life kinda got in the way and I ended up caring for a terminal parent and two younger siblings. Now, as I try to scrape my way out of my financial mess while also attempting to create an actual career in which I could be happy. I don't know. I'm behind the 8 ball on this one, and scholarships aren't exactly thick on the ground for people with my background. On paper it's all great, but the reality is that I made bad decisions and things didn't work out and, well ... hind sight is always 20/20. If I had it to do all over again, I would do it very, very differently. Mostly, you don't think that things aren't going to work out when you're young. I thought that brass ring was mine.
And here's a thought, instead of offering financial literacy as part of a college program after the loan papers have been signed, how about offering it in high school so that students are really aware of what they are getting themselves into BEFORE they get into it. But that would be too easy.
Although, I have every intention of paying back my school loans, by hook or by crook, come hell or high water, you also can't get blood from a turnip.
Or at least that's what my Aunt always tells me.
