Here's a snippet from the article about the relationship between student loans and health issues (you can read the piece in its entirety here):
If young people are drowning in debt, their blood pressure may be on the rise and their health could suffer. A new Northwestern Medicine® study has found that high financial debt is associated with higher diastolic blood pressure and poorer self-reported general and mental health in young adults.I am sure that all of you are shocked to learn that high levels of debt can hurt you physically and mentally!
3 comments:
It's nice to see the "experts" publicly accept reality of the situation, which the student debtors have known for years or decades.
I hate to admit it, but this is very true. I can speak from personal experience--I graduated from uni in 2008, had a job for four months, and then lost it due to the economy.
Since then, for the past five years, I have worked odds and ends jobs ranging from a telemarketer to various temp positions for low-pay and no benefits.
Meanwhile, my student loans just keep growing and growing. These folks are among the most unreasonable people I've ever met. Requests for assistance due to zero income coming in--denied. I've even tried to negotiate and tell them that "It's not that I won't pay you at all, but I just need a breather" or "I can pay you, but not a grand total of $1200 a month (combined) when I'm making less than $350 a week!"
Oh no. Ironically, the ones that have been the most reasonable aren't even the ones that I have problems paying! No, Chase, AES, et al, just want their money, (come hell or high water) and have informed me to get a forbearance you have to make 9 or 12 consecutive monthly payments, and then, maybe, we'll give you a break. Amazing. But, obviously, if you don't have a job, or even if you do have one and it's such crappy pay that you can barely afford to eat, where will you get the money? It's disheartening that you can graduate 5 years ago and have not even a penny saved, let alone made a dent in SL payments.
No where else in the world do young folks find themselves in a lifetime of debt just because we chose to get a decent education.
Anyway, so as a result, my blood pressure's rising along with my debt and in fact, have been diagnosed as pre-hypertensive. Mind you, I'm not anywhere near obese, I don't smoke, drink, nor eat unhealthily. My doctor believe it's a result of just my general anxiety level being through the roof!
So, that's my long-winded story and pretty much the same boat a lot of friends and even random folks I've talked to are in currently. It's quite unfortunate, really...
I believe whole-heartedly that my struggles with major depressive disorder and general anxiety disorder are a direct result of my student loan debt. I was a happy, bubbly, fun-loving person who enjoyed life and looked forward to my future. I always smiled. I don't think I have genuinely smiled for the last 8 years since I have been dealing with this burden. I am always sick inside. I have stabbing migraines. My soul has been crushed. Where there was once a human spirit who wanted to change the world for good, there is now a person living in perpetual crisis just trying to survive. My soul had been crushed... And while the government may some day step in (let's face it, they'll have to) my youth and my healthy years are slipping away. I never believed that life would be all sunshine and rainbows, but I also never considered that the United States of America - the country where people risk their lives to enter - would allow this injustice to be bestowed upon their own natural born citizens. I believe in God and I believe that one day, those who oppress others will have a lot of explaining to do.
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