My regular readers are aware that I am collecting testimonials for a
book about the student lending crisis - it's a tale about how the best and brightest in the U.S. have been s$%*#ed by the student lending industry and been turned into indentured educated citizens. This industry, as a result, has turned
college into a racket (they ain't no better than a bunch o' loan sharks - the only difference between these folks and other loan sharks? Their activity has been legalized).
Moreover, I am asking people (again) to share there stories here on Education Matters. So, if you are interested in being featured on Education Matters, please let me know via email (
ccrynjohannsen@gmail.com). I am particularly interested in hearing from people who are parents and either (a) trying to help their kids pay off their loans or (b) have co-signed on student loans and struggling to make ends meet as a result. In addition, I am interested in hearing from professors, attorneys, and doctors. Previous testimonials have been anonymous (you can either choose to go by your first name or just an initial - your choice).
On that note, I wish to thank those who have been brave and already shared their tales here - I know that I am not the only one who appreciates your stories and honesty. Your testimonials help others overcome their shame and talk frankly about their own struggles as an indentured educated citizen.
5 comments:
What, doctors are in the same boat too? I don't believe that for a second. I've been regretting not going to medical school for years now, nothing would please me more than finding out that I didn't screw up as bad as I think I did by going to law school.
Check out MedicineSux's blog (http://medicinesux.wordpress.com/). He covers this issue of student loan debt and becoming a doctor.
I think this is a very important topic. I think law school is particularly bad in this area. So few students know what they are getting into or know what they want to do. So few really want to be lawyers. Yet the law schools sell them on the idea of Biglaw partnerships and all that. And the lives are literally ruined. Yes, students are adults and need to take responsibility for their own lives, etc. But that does not give law schools a right to prey on all the wandering college grads out there. Before being allowed to sign up for law school, students should be required to take seminars on the true life of the average lawyer with modest job prospects at best and $120,000 in student loans. This system is a scandal. We owe it to these kids to intervene.
I started a Facebook page to express the anger and frustration I feel at the 40k student loan I took out in the mid-90s for college which has now double to almost 80k thanks to fees and interest. I have barely been able to pay on it in the past 13 years since graduating because I've never made enough money to do so (so much for the degree that was supposed to open doors for me). The student loan system is immoral and wrong. Would you give a kid a yacht and tell him he could pay for it "eventually"? I'm asking FB friends to submit their stories to studentloannightmares@gmail.com or join my Facebook page, I Went To College With A Dream...But All I Got Was A Student Loan Nightmare, and express their outrage. I am mailing the worst of the stories to politicians to help them see that the student loan system is wrong, and that the recent reforms which came about as part of the health care bill are in no way enough nor addressing the problem adequately.
So glad you posted your email. I strongly encourage all of my readers to send their stories to you and join your FB. Thanks so much for sharing here. (Are we connected via FB?)
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