The New York Times Loves the Obvious

I get so many letters and phone calls from so many companies about my student loan debt that I have begun to consider myself an evasion expert. Today, my school called me to discuss my repayment options. I thought about telling them that they should be paying me more for the clerical work at my liberal arts college that my liberal arts degree prepared me for.

Today, NYT's college supplement highlighted some enlightening information: students graduating from for-profit private institutions who did not receive financial help from their parents graduate with the highest amount of debt.

A clever commenter, Rudiger in Jersey, considered the plus side of what I often refer to as my soul-crushing debt. Those of us who took out loans to fund our education, tended to finish in less time than those who did not have years of monthly payments in their future. This could be a blessing or a curse. I barrelled through school at full speed because I was working 50+ hours a week towards the end and thought that the completion of my education would bring a welcome relief. Also, if I reduced my course load, I would render myself ineligible for various forms of financial aid and if I dropped out, I would be forced to begin the repayment process. This left little time to think about moving forward or to take the time to rethink what I was going to school to do.

Rudiger also noted that students graduating with debt were forced to be more realistic about work opportunities and financial situations in general. This is very true and I have found myself very fortunate in some ways since graduating. I have found work and continue to find it. I have no illusions about supporting myself as an artist or writer or going on to become an academic. But isn't it sad that I took out loans to be able to go to school and pursue my dreams and that these loans sometimes hinder me in that pursuit?



At 18, I wish my parents had been more honest with me about our financial situation. We were experiencing a downward class shift that would eventually lead my father to live in a trailer in Nebraska. I would have bitched and moaned if they instructed me to forgo my private education and my Brooklyn loft life. I may not have listened, but I might have if they told me how much money I would have saved by going to state school and living with one of them.

And maybe I wouldn't have listened at first, but perhaps I would have come around after having negative bank account balances, living in a condemned building, and subsisting on rice and beans for a few months. Or maybe I wouldn't have.

But conversations about planning your life and dealing with debt need to be an ongoing discussion between parents and children, educators and students. And the conversation needs to happen well before a loan exit interview once college is over.