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25 years old and deep in debt

Started by CountDeMoney, September 10, 2012, 10:43:12 PM

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CountDeMoney

So I'm reading the Cincinnati paper, to see what their take was on tonight's FlaccoRape, and I trip over this "My Experience" piece.

I sooo want to hear what Languish has to say about this one.

Quote25 and deep in debt
MY EXPERIENCE

I am honored to be a daughter of Cincinnati and am humbled to have grown up in such a wonderful community. I attended St. Margaret of York grade school and then matriculated from the reputable Ursuline Academy. After high school, I earned degrees from Miami and Xavier universities. Because of my local education, Cincinnati is more than my hometown – she is the mother who raised me into the woman I am now. I am Cincinnati.

My pursuit in excellent education is rooted in a value system that promotes progressive thought for the betterment of the individual as well as society. Education is a core tenet and vested interest of the functioning democratic society. Upon that basic assumption and principle, I am overwhelmingly incensed by the silent epidemic of crippling student debt.

At 25 years old, I have $188,307.22 in student debt, all of which is my sole financial responsibility.

That exorbitant number was abetted by easy lending with a co-signer, negligence and lack of awareness, over-borrowing and the exponential growth of tuition.

I work both a full-time and part-time job, and abide by a strict budget. Yet, I still sleep in my parent's basement and am dependent for food, gas and health insurance.

I am told I am not alone.

However, this particularly sensitive conversation is being ignored by our mainstream consciousness. Perhaps I should be ashamed for buying such an unaffordable education and internalize my debts as personal failures. Perhaps my mistakes warrant pained silence. But silence breeds apathy, and in regard to the welfare of the American economy, I want to humanize the numbers and give voice to this reprehensible problem.

Due to reckless neglect, student debt will be the financial ruin of my generation, and there is an incredible need for a public discourse addressing this reality and its grave consequences.

I want answers and clarity as to why this happened. How did I arrive at this position in life so financially handicapped and disenfranchised? I followed societal expectations, earned an education and am employed. I will gladly repay my debts within the comfortable reason of affordability. Yet, my wants and needs are disproportionate, and I can barely afford a PB&J sandwich, let alone the peace of mind to sleep at night.

There is great irony in pursuing freedom through education only to be shackled by crushing debt. My current financial situation prohibits any fantasies of owning a home, getting married or starting a family.

My future and dreams are six feet under, and I am still digging my grave. I want to fight and reclaim my American and Cincinnatian identity, even if the only thing I can afford is the sound of my voice and tears.

I am owed answers simply because I have the right to pursue happiness. And since I am not alone in this debilitating epidemic, my peers deserve their voice as well.

Oh, and the "comments" section is priceless.

Eddie Teach

Should have gone to public school. Jesus.
To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

Scipio

Well, one thing I notice is that she can't be bothered to tell us what her degree is in.

Not that that matters.

She's owed answers?  Really?

Wow.
What I speak out of my mouth is the truth.  It burns like fire.
-Jose Canseco

There you go, giving a fuck when it ain't your turn to give a fuck.
-Every cop, The Wire

"It is always good to be known for one's Krapp."
-John Hurt

Scipio

I will say that I hope she uses birth control.  Because if I am any judge of humanity, her end of the gene pool is fucking shallow.
What I speak out of my mouth is the truth.  It burns like fire.
-Jose Canseco

There you go, giving a fuck when it ain't your turn to give a fuck.
-Every cop, The Wire

"It is always good to be known for one's Krapp."
-John Hurt

Habbaku

Quote from: Scipio on September 10, 2012, 10:48:34 PM
Well, one thing I notice is that she can't be bothered to tell us what her degree is in.

Creative Writing.
The medievals were only too right in taking nolo episcopari as the best reason a man could give to others for making him a bishop. Give me a king whose chief interest in life is stamps, railways, or race-horses; and who has the power to sack his Vizier (or whatever you care to call him) if he does not like the cut of his trousers.

Government is an abstract noun meaning the art and process of governing and it should be an offence to write it with a capital G or so as to refer to people.

-J. R. R. Tolkien

Habbaku

QuoteMy current financial situation prohibits any fantasies of...getting married...

:lol:
The medievals were only too right in taking nolo episcopari as the best reason a man could give to others for making him a bishop. Give me a king whose chief interest in life is stamps, railways, or race-horses; and who has the power to sack his Vizier (or whatever you care to call him) if he does not like the cut of his trousers.

Government is an abstract noun meaning the art and process of governing and it should be an offence to write it with a capital G or so as to refer to people.

-J. R. R. Tolkien

garbon

Maybe she shouldn't have gone to two universities? :huh:

That said, it definitely is terrible the amount of debt one can accumulate in one's 20s because of school...especially during a decade of life where people almost expect you to goof off. :D
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

katmai

Quote from: garbon on September 10, 2012, 11:03:26 PM
Maybe she shouldn't have gone to two universities? :huh:
:D
Damn Republican anti-intellectualism. <_<
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son

garbon

Quote from: katmai on September 10, 2012, 11:07:22 PM
Quote from: garbon on September 10, 2012, 11:03:26 PM
Maybe she shouldn't have gone to two universities? :huh:
:D
Damn Republican anti-intellectualism. <_<

Really though - taking loans enough for two degrees at non-elite universities that add up to nearly 200,000? Someone along the way should have stopped her or at least given her better advice.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

katmai

Not all of us can be half Indian geniuses Garbon :weep:
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son

Scipio

Quote from: garbon on September 10, 2012, 11:12:55 PM
Quote from: katmai on September 10, 2012, 11:07:22 PM
Quote from: garbon on September 10, 2012, 11:03:26 PM
Maybe she shouldn't have gone to two universities? :huh:
:D
Damn Republican anti-intellectualism. <_<

Really though - taking loans enough for two degrees at non-elite universities that add up to nearly 200,000? Someone along the way should have stopped her or at least given her better advice.
She's a precious and unique snowflake.  Nobody tells her what to do.  After all, nobody puts baby in the corner.
What I speak out of my mouth is the truth.  It burns like fire.
-Jose Canseco

There you go, giving a fuck when it ain't your turn to give a fuck.
-Every cop, The Wire

"It is always good to be known for one's Krapp."
-John Hurt

garbon

Quote from: katmai on September 10, 2012, 11:24:30 PM
Not all of us can be half Indian geniuses Garbon :weep:

That's why I was suggesting it wasn't all her fault as a late teen/early 20-something. Adults in her life (up to including said adults that authorized a loan) should have served her better and it is a shame that they didn't.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Barrister

Quote from: garbon on September 10, 2012, 11:39:23 PM
Quote from: katmai on September 10, 2012, 11:24:30 PM
Not all of us can be half Indian geniuses Garbon :weep:

That's why I was suggesting it wasn't all her fault as a late teen/early 20-something. Adults in her life (up to including said adults that authorized a loan) should have served her better and it is a shame that they didn't.

I dunno man.  I was pretty cautious about accumulating student debt, and graduated with maybe 5% of her debt (with two degrees!).  IT not exactlt rocket science to know that owing $200k is very, very bad.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

MadImmortalMan

Quote from: Habbaku on September 10, 2012, 11:01:33 PM
QuoteMy current financial situation prohibits any fantasies of...getting married...

:lol:

Her debt isn't her only problem in that particular regard. The piece has a pic...
"Stability is destabilizing." --Hyman Minsky

"Complacency can be a self-denying prophecy."
"We have nothing to fear but lack of fear itself." --Larry Summers

Ideologue

Quote from: Scipio on September 10, 2012, 10:48:34 PM
Well, one thing I notice is that she can't be bothered to tell us what her degree is in.

Xavier?  Oh, I could hazard a guess.  And contrary to your collective gasping, if my hunch is right, it's not too far from the median debt.

Anyway, yeah, you can pile a lot of blame on recent grads' shoulders.  Hindsight being what it is, of course it was a bad idea to go to professional/graduate school for many.

So, it follows, of course, tbat it's 100% the hapless students' responsibility; lenders profiting off of government-guaranteed, nondischargeable, near-zero-risk loans on one hand and institutions engaged in naked fraud and the massive transfer of wealth based on lies and access to legally-sanctioned cartels, on the other, should bear absolutely none.

Or is your libertarian sense tingling?

Shit, dude, even I can admit that a pure free market would be better than the Soviet chandelier factories we've got instead of higher education; it's not my preferred solution, but despite my politics I still recognize that nothing can possibly be worse than what we have.  This is not, or should not be, a liberal weenie issue.  It's a market distortion of incredible magnitude, and a burgeoning catastrophe.
Kinemalogue
Current reviews: The 'Burbs (9/10); Gremlins 2: The New Batch (9/10); John Wick: Chapter 2 (9/10); A Cure For Wellness (4/10)