This search seems to be a common one - college students and suicides over debt. People find their way to All Education Matters when doing a search using those words.
If you are a college student and feeling suicidal over your student loan debt, I want you to know you're not alone. I also urge you to reach out to those you trust, and talk to them about how you're feeling. If feel you are a true threat to yourself, call 911 immediately. There are also these options:
National Suicide Prevention Line: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
Suicide Hotlines by State
Again, you are not alone. There are millions of student loan debtors who are struggling to make it. Many of them have defaulted and feel alone. But we're not alone. We must band together, and we must come up with a solution to the crisis. It's our future that's at stake. Don't check out - you, you deserve to live.
A non-profit organization dedicated to the eradication of all student loan debt through activism, education, and legislation; because student loan debt is dangerous to the US economy and to the health and well-being of individual Americans and their families. CRYN JOHANNSEN, Founder & Executive Director
9 comments:
http://lifesmockery.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/attorneys-and-law-students-commit-suicide-all-over-the-world/
Check out these links from scamblogger author of Life's Mockery.
I don't know. If I recall right, there was something in the Japanese tradition/culture that says it is better to die that to live in shame and dishonor.
Madam Butterfly killed herself for that reason I believe.
And what greater shame and dishonor is there than to have gone through Higher Ed. and have done everything right and then to wind up a disgraceful burden on the US taxpayer that is now paying your defaulted student loan debt and interest?
It is an absolutely impossible situation. A check mate and the student loan debtors lose absolutely and are steamrollered over and with no consumer bankruptcy protections against the banks, and no end in sight ever.
@JDPainter Guy - student loan debtors are not a disgrace. What's a disgrace? That we have stopped investing in higher education. That's a disgrace. As for your reference to suicide in Japanese culture . . . it's problematic for the Japanese, and there have been recent pieces about that fact. And if we accept that there are indeed cultural differences for why they commit suicide and how it is perceived, that's really beside the point. People shouldn't be led down this path. That's why the system needs to be changed, and we need to tend to current borrowers and those in default.
Speaking as one individual: the shame of debt can never be dispelled.
And the absence of bankruptcy rights with respect to student loans, and the cast in stone and/or adamant refusal to grant bankruptcy protections by Congress, who at the same time implicitly support the piling on of huge interest means that I as an individual student loan debtor have done something very, very wrong with my default and do not deserve a second chance.
It is very shameful and has been a long haul already, and I do not know how many more days, weeks or months or years of this I can take.
It is a psychological burden that one has to live through to understand.
I meant no harm to the tax paying public when I enrolled in Law School.
I thought I would be an asset to society, and instead I am an interest accruing burden.
Honest to God. I meant no harm to the taxpaying public when I started out in Law School.
And now I am a burden on the taxpayer.
I graduated from law school with $190,000 in student debt. I also didn't plan to be a burden on the taxpayer, or a scumbag, or deadbeat. I believed that my school employed over 95% of their graduates (that what they said, even during the downturn, they were still employing most of their graduates). I planned to drop out after the first year if I wasn't in the top half of the class, but I did fairly well. I was on a "lesser" law review, an editor, and published a note. I graduated just outside the top 30% of at top-30 school (acording to US News). I am unemployed, and I think of suicide every day. I even dream about hanging myself. I try to hold on, and I keep praying that any moment someone will give me a chance, but it is hard. I often think that maybe, if I commit suicide in a bombastic way, it will draw attention to the problem and my death (and life) will have meaning. And I know I am not alone.
@Anonymous 3:14 PM - thanks for sharing with us. I am concerned that you are seriously considering suicide, because you mention an actual method of carrying out the plan.
I urge you to reach out to people you trust, and talk to them about how you feel. There are also hotlines you can call if you don't feel comfortable speaking to friends or family.
The National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255 in the U.S.
You may be buried in student loan debt, but you're not the only one.
I am working to come up with solutions that policymakers will consider and implement. The crisis WILL be solved. It MUST be solved. You deserve better than this, and I certainly don't think you're a burden on the taxpayer. You didn't realize the scam this has become - most people don't realize that until it's too late.
It's a systemic crisis, and that is why millions of people are struggling to pay back these loans. It was rigged so a few corporations and individuals, like Albert Lord, could make profits. In fact, they want most to STAY in debt. So, don't blame yourself.
I, too, am finding that I am increasingly more depressed over the situation and feel completely alone. I went to a public law school, got $180,000 in debt and am currently facing defaulting on my student loans. I went to law school because I come from a low-income family that wasn't low-income enough, and I wanted to provide a better life for my future children,While I do have a job, almost half, if not more, of my net income is eaten up by student loans. I can barely buy groceries. I will never have a wedding, buy a house, or even get a decent car. I cannot, with good conscience, ever have a baby. My life is over and I am only 26
I am also 25 and have a Master's in International Relations with an emphasis on foreign policy and global security. I have over 180,000 in debt and most of that is private loan debt. I am vastly underemployed and work as a phone repairman. I make only 15 an hour. I have over 2,000 in payments a month just for my private loans. I was promised a high paying federal job and student loan forgiveness. Those jobs disappeared thanks to budget cutting. I have moved back in with my parents in the rural Midwest from Washington DC (Woodley Park). I speak four languages but no one is hiring. I'm lost and my life is over. Worst of all my parents are cosigners so if I default they lose everything. The burden is unimaginable. Never thought at the age of 25 i'd have this much in debt. I come from a low income family and we didnt understand how student loans worked. We do now.:..
Post a Comment