That's where my student loans are sitting right now, with a total value of 3,184 dollars and a handful of cents. On the plus side, this is down from the near 10k I owed previously. On the downside, after having spent the day calling the various offices and figuring out what, if any, help I could get, the general consensus is that after so long they have little in the way of leniency for my debt, so forgiveness and/or lowered values are pretty much off the table.
There is still hope yet! Tonight/tomorrow I'll be working on the paperwork for the guvmint's loan consolidation program, and once I get THAT going I'll have a second opportunity to pursue help, if not in the form of forgiveness then at least in the form of deferment until I finish school again. It makes getting financial aid for returning to college a bit more difficult, but hey, anything worthwhile is worth fighting for: I'll just have to really push for some of the more esoteric scholarships and the like I can find in hopes of scrounging up enough.
I want to get my life in order. I want to do more than just EXIST: I want to succeed, and transition, and make what I can of my life. This is just one step on that path.
3200 dollars really isn't all that much in the grand scheme of things, even if it is pretty overwhelming when you've got less than 150 dollars in the bank and a bit over 1k in cash to your name. I'll get it taken care of, with any luck SOON, and I'll make my life what I want it to be.
It's just a matter of time and willpower. I have plenty of the former, so if I can work on the latter, there's a chance for me yet. I have a bad habit of being somewhat lazy and unmotivated, and that HAS to stop. I NEED to dedicate everything I have to making my life better, because there's nobody else who can do it for me, and if I want to be successful, to transition, to find a way to make my life WORK, then it's gonna take just that: work.
Wish me luck.
Melanie E.
Comments
Uggghhhh... Student loans
I remember paying off my student loans. I don't dance, but I did when I payed each one off.
I hope you're able to get this taken care of.
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Student Loans
Are legalized rape. College should be free through the BA
Gwen
Lots of things SHOULD be free...
Health care, water, electricity... but they aren't, and you can mostly thank the fact that "socialism" is a four-letter word to most Americans for that little joy of life. *shrug*
College isn't near as popular with people in my age bracket as mass media would have you believe specifically because of the costs, which ironically enough does little to help said costs since rather than looking at things and thinking "gee, we should lower costs and bring in more students and summarily help the entire nation's economy" the schools think "gee, we're getting less students and making less money, let's raise prices again and see if that helps!"
Education should not be a business.
Melanie E.
Everything is a business
Not aimed at you, but not everyone benefits equally from a college education and for some it is just a waste of time. Resources are limited and teachers don't work for free so that is just the way it is. A totally free education is out of the question. Also there is the choice of majors and rewards of that major vs going into debt for that major. Reasonable choices need to be made eg becoming an English major in Harvard vs a State University. Is the difference in educational quality worth the difference in cost?
And yes I paid off my student loans.
Curious
You say, "A totally free education is out of the question." Why do you say that? Seriously, it isn't that obvious of a position to take.
Forty or fifty countries around the world, both rich countries and poor ones, offer free post secondary education. Some of them are not quite totally free, and yet some of them are. A few countries even offer student stipends for spending money while studying and some offer universal free education to all comers, including non-citizens.
Finland, for example, offers free education for as high as you are prepared to study for and pass the entrance examinations. You have to pay for books and materials; tuition and meals are free for students. Housing is not free for most students but subsidized very low rates are available. You have to live in Finland but you don't have to be Finnish. Linus Torvald, the man who wrote the kernel of the Linux operating system, the most used OS on the internet, is a product of the Finnish system and so were both of his parents.
College education is not mandatory anywhere so no one has to waste their time. But many countries that offer free college also offer free vocational training for people who do not want or feel the need for college education. The benefit to everyone of a free education is the benefit to the nation itself in a more productive and more informed citizenry.
Free post-secondary education used to be a goal here in the US, I remember it and I ain't THAT old. Now we don't even have free education for veterans. Why is that?
Donna Lamb
-- Donna Lamb, ex-Flack
Some of my books and stories are sold through DopplerPress to help support BigCloset. -- Donna
Yes, I was paid cash money for studying. :-)
Not much and only if my grades were good enough. But still.
Now somebody is trying to introduce american style of education and kill scientific community here, but not quite successfully yet.
Still, every college/university is legally required to have certain number of "free" places for students. (Technically those are paid by the state).
You have to get high enough score on final school exams to get higher education for free. There is even possibility to move from paid "section" to the free one if your exam scores are good enough. On the other hand people with low scores can opt to start paying for tuition if their grades drop, instead of totally failing course.
TNSTAAFL
Some of you will recognize that term. The rest will just have to read "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" (Robert A. Heinlein) to figure it out. :) Don't sweat it, kids, it's a great read.
I won't get into why anything funded by the government isn't really free. That's a long discussion and has the potential for straying into the political arena.
You do, however, have alternatives.
Apprenticeship, while not very common these days, still exists in a fashion. If you're willing to work for peanuts for a while to learn a trade from a skilled craftsman, that's one option. This would require searching out the right person and trade, but has the benefit of not requiring huge piles of cash. Just your time and a willingness to learn.
Another, more modern alternative is the internet. Over the last several years, the number of free/low cost courses being offered on-line has grown considerably. Many colleges now offer internet classes at a reduced cost. Others offer a subset of their curriculum for free. Of course, free means you won't get a fancy piece of parchment at the end, but if you apply yourself, you will learn something. Hopefully, something that will convince someone to hire you.
Both of these methods have a cost that most people just won't pay. You need to have a direction, a goal you want to achieve. You also need to have the motivation to put in the effort to achieve that goal. Without paying those "prices", you will not advance from your current position.
For the record, I paid off my student loans (and swore I would never go that route again). Then I learned everything I could, both on and off the job. I'm now self-employed, working at a craft I never went to "school" for. But the way I see it, I "did" go to school, in that I took every opportunity to learn from others/books/internet/etc while I was working. It took me years to achieve that, but if I had never started, I wouldn't be where I am today.
Whatever you attempt, you'll have to put in the time. And the longer you put it off, the longer it will take you to get there. If you're ever going to start, start today.
- vessica b
There is good advice in one old movie.
(Setting of the movie is soviet style magic scientific facility)
"To successfully go through solid wall you have to: see the goal, believe in yourself, ignore all of the obstacles."
Ignoring obstacles in real life is hazardous so replace last with "pay just enough attention to obstacles not to hurt yourself" :-)
Good luck!