Education, Student Loans and (F)utility

Busy Surviving, Not Thriving

2012-01-11T19:54:00.000-05:00

Like so many people burdened with intractable student loan debt I spend so much of my time surviving the debt that I can't find any time to ponder the idea of thriving. The lackluster performance in the economy reflects the pessimism of its people - we are losing hope for good reason.

I grew up in a lower middle class household where both my parents worked long days - I was an original latch key kid with my brothers. They wanted us all to go to college because that degree was the ticket to a better life. I first graduated from college with a degree in Economics in 1991 - first in my family with a college degree.

I never did land a job with that degree though or any of the other degrees I earned since. I thought taking on higher and higher education (and higher debt) was the way through it all. It wasn't. Go figure.

Today, I am the proud owner of a master's degree, a prize for being a.b.d. with a PhD., and haven't worked with that since earning it either. If you don't have a specific degree for a specific job in a low unemployment field these days - good luck finding a job to repay that investment. (The PhD. was necessary to working in my chosen field - but for financial and personal reasons I couldn't continue.)

Today I work as a union tradesman. I earn a livable wage but not something that's going to get my student loans paid back before I die. No, instead I will watch my premiums jump as I get older and watch everything I earn go to repay loans that never provided me a single benefit. The only good news - if I kick it before they are paid off - they are forgiven. Hooray for me right?! Somehow I am not jumping for joy.

I would like more out of life but how does one pick things back up when they are working a job at 43 that they are well-overqualified for and earn a wage that doesn't give them the possibility of escaping their debt before death? Ever hear of learned helplessness? Look it up on Wikipedia and you'll have a little more insight into why student loan debt is killing its debtors and causing such a malaise in the economy.

There's a simple explanation for all of this really. Our country has taken a very wrong turn in its approach to higher education and a better life. All the checks and balances are out of whack in the higher education system and that is the only reason things get to nearly $1 trillion dollars from where they should be. Yep - student loan debt is now higher than credit card debt - and it's growing at nearly $3000 a second. Wow - that factoid picked up my spirits - how about yours?

The answer to all this - we need to put common sense back into education and kick the uncommon greed of the last thirty years to the curb.

It's time we bring common sense back to our economic policies and stop using the cowboy diplomacy/mentality as the solution to all our problems.

Debt of all kinds has killed our economy and our economic supremacy but it will be our efforts as a nation and as a bright, energized thinking populace that brings that supremacy back.

We need to stop letting the talking heads at the top tell us that this can't be done. It can be done! Of course, it will take some sacrifice by all of us – by some with no blame for this problem, but in the short term we will ALL bear the benefits of these changes in the form of a reinvigorated economy.

So what should we do? Well... Some say forgive the debt. I like it .. let's do it. But that is a hard sell to the masses and even harder still to those in power who have a vested interest in keeping student loan interest flowing.

I have another idea - and if we get the masses on our side on this with a common sense approach - maybe we can push back against the powerful few.

Here is my plan. Higher education should be held accountable for what it sells "as a means to a better future" and lending institutions should bear the risk of making those loans by bringing back all rights to bankruptcy on this debt, public and private. (Details for later.)

But we shouldn't stop there.

To prevent a meltdown and a flood of bankruptcy's on student loan debt we should offer people with any student loan debt interest-free repayment terms and rebates on the principal if they pay it back sooner. In this way we save this type of debt from crashing down and we can get things going in the right direction with student loan debt, and maybe, just maybe - spur the economy on a little bit more.

I know its big and ambiguous, BUT, it's an honest correction to a terrible series of missteps created by unscrupulous lobbyists and the well-intentioned.

More on this later... but for now I wan't to leave this idea to stew in its juices.
So what do you think?

Is this thing on?

2010-12-05T19:28:00.000-05:00

I write and I write but nobody seems to be getting the message. The sky is falling and everyone just thinks this can go on indefinitely.

So here's one way of looking at the future - with outstanding student loan debt hurtling toward $1 trillion and no end in sight for this outrageous unemployment - the system will collapse under its own weight.

The logic - as it always is - finite resources and finite human capacity. The only question is - when will Americans finally get tired of this wasteful debt burden and decide it's not worth carrying anymore?

New News!

2010-09-25T15:54:00.000-04:00

Dear Diary,

In a search for new news to lighten the oppressive mental and emotional burden of my immense student loan debt I came across two stories - one about a girl in debt up to her eyeballs (not so new in terms of fresh but a new story nonetheless) and another about a rally - which looks exciting.

So here they are. The first is featured on Kiplinger.com though I actually encountered it first on Yahoo News. So here is the link to the article which is titled Digging Out of Student Debt.

Now, I must say this article is once again missing the point and therefore useless. As I have often seen the advice is to "pick a plan" with the feds to minimize payments and/or seek forgiveness by meeting some very specific federal criteria. Neither is helpful because this young lady has $92,000 in student loan debt, ($25000) public and ($68000) private. She works at a job in an orthopedic surgeon's office making $18 and is broke at the end of the week so therefore turns to credit cards to cover the difference.

So here is my reality check for news writers my Dear Diary - how in the hell does a lower payment now (which the feds have quite a high minimum) going to help her with all this?

Furthermore, the article advises talking to your private lenders to work something out. Again, reality check - these student loan firms don't give a rat's ass if you aren't making it, they will hound you into default and back again for every red cent, no matter what.

So thanks to some serious naiveté, this putz at Kiplinger.com misses the point that this young lady was scammed, bamboozled, lied to, and turned upside down and inside out when she was told "a college degree is the key to your future."

Yeah it was a key alright - a key into a prison cell made of student loan notes, courtesy of a massive fraud born out of the deception and deceit that Uncle Same and Private Joe Banker conspired to create. Was that over the top Dear Diary?

Anywho, this next piece of information is inspiring. My friends at ForgiveStudentLoanDebt.com are organizing a rally in Washington D.C. on October 30, 2010!

This is great news because I am starting to see real activism take the place of rhetoric. Let's hope we can all be there.

The only problem is how will people tell the difference between the demonstrators in need of help and the kids out to get some Halloween treats? Hmmmmmm.

Deception, Fraud, Cheating, Theft - Just What Do You Call It?

2010-09-16T20:17:00.000-04:00

According to Education Report, student loan debt currently stands at an estimated $829.6 billion, surpassing what Americans now owe on credit card debt.

What a milestone! That's fantastic right!? Er, not?

Yep - experts said consumers needed to spend more money to stimulate the economy so many students tried to help out obviously. The problem is they may not have done so with all the facts in hand.

How many of these new indentured slaves were explicitly told the degrees they were buying wouldn't land them a job - let alone one that would allow them to repay the average debt load of graduating seniors (of four year undergrad programs) tagged at somewhere around $24,000 by finaid.org.

How many of these same students were told that the loans would be with them to the grave or even beyond? How many were sold the idea that a college education is worth a million dollars more than what non-grads would earn in a lifetime?

Still incredible - how many of these students will think - as I mistakenly did - that a graduate degree must be the answer and incur more debt and find themselves in an even worse position several years from now?

Yes - it's a down economy and all that but we keep selling the scam don't we? , This is the illusion, the deception, the fraud - that says - a college degree or perhaps a second or third or even a graduate degree is the way to the promised land.

Sadly, the student loan scam continues today. As we cheat the next generation of college students out of their futures - how do our leaders live with themselves as they sit idly by as some of our brightest are tricked into unnecessary debt for the dream of a better life?

Call it what you will - but the deception in the education and student loan industries continues. This is the greatest scam I have seen to date - far larger than Bernie Madoff's little trick.

Soon the outstanding debt for student loans will tick over the one trillion dollar mark, that's $1,000,000,000,000. - that's more than 18 times Bill Gates total net worth!

Congratulations America! You have done it again and made it to number one once more. You have found a way to lock more of your student population into more than debt than any other nation on the planet!

I know what I call it - the greatest scam on earth! Maybe you are one those lucky people who think it's a wonderful milestone that every parent hopes for when they send their child off to college. Er, not?

Coming Together

2010-09-09T17:13:00.001-04:00

To anyone affected by the fraud and deception perpetrated on the American college students and their families - we must all band together and use our common voice to change the way Washington is dealing with this matter. I voted for President Obama and am so far disappointed in his work to get something significant done about student loans. And knowing that change must come while the iron is hot, I, for one, am not interested in his rhetoric anymore. It's time we force the hand of Congress and the President. We can vote against them or withhold our votes.

Before that however I suggest that we develop a common voice and stop settling for scraps at the table. We the people deserve a more perfect union where all of our rights - both economic and political are protected.

As a first I suggest that we stop arguing the minutiae and go after what we all need - RELIEF. We need ALL consumer protections returned to ALL student loans immediately. Let us leave no one behind. Let us not be divided by sham offers. In this way we can permanently change the way all future students will be treated as well.

Please - do not let your suffering silence you. Stand with me and many others to change this offense to us all. I have many links on this site to get you started so please educate yourself if you have not already done so.

At a minimum we WANT and NEED:

1. All consumer protections returned to student loans - including bankruptcy.
2. Immediate relief from our debt - particularly student loan debt forgiveness to stimulate the economy. The reason to do this is also to penalize the profiteers that have raped the American student and thus stifled the economy.
3. Sweeping reforms of Higher Education requiring all colleges and universities to guarantee each student a reasonable job to payoff accruing debt. This must also include counseling on degrees that do not yield immediate and decent paying jobs.
4. Free public college education for all who merit it - to a four year college within their home state - paid for by taxpayers as an investment in the country's greatest natural resource - its own citizens.

I can not emphasize enough that the powerful interests in the student loan and banking industries will do everything in their power to stop these changes from happening. It is the reason why we have seen nothing truly helpful to students burdened with massive debt.

It is time that the ideology of "all for 1% and the 1% for none" be put away in this country. If you don't know what I mean be this then here it is laid out for you: 1% of the people in this country now control more wealth than 95% of us at the bottom. That is absurd and wrong on every moral and logical level. And it is precisely why our leaders in Washington forget about us when so much money is shuffled in their directions.

So please get on board with this site and many others to change the way things are done in this country. Email me and post here and let me know that you are reading this blog. Spread the news of this blog to others and post about it on other sites so that the prominence of this site and the issues I am representing grow.

Please help any way that you can.

Erasing the Great American Destiny

2010-09-02T22:51:00.002-04:00

It is hard for me to explain anymore how our rights in this country have been eroded by big business and an overly capitalistic economy without sounding like a conspiracy nut. However, I will spout off anyway and take that risk given what is at stake.

The fact of the matter is that the unregulated capitalism of the last 25 years (in the United States) has created a cult of money so powerful that most Americans are drunk on the notion of making it big - despite the odds against them. This desirous intent of many American corporations and individuals to get all they can has led to a quietly, complex collusion of sorts.

At first, I am not sure that this fledgling cult had any intent. Rather, it was just an orgy like free for all that resulted in a mad grab for cash at anyone's expense. But over time, it seems, as the initial excitement waned and yielded a new 'normal' level of greed it became clear that even more money could be made if cooler heads prevailed.

If you have to ask who these or those people are simply check out the who's who in banking and insurance industries these days. They aren't the only ones by any means, but this class of financial whiz kids have managed some incredible feats in recent years.

Under their watch, homebuyers were sold homes they couldn't afford, millions of students were trapped with escapable student loan debt, and credit card debt (along with other types) was made more difficult to discharge via personal bankruptcy. The end result has been to tie up good Americans in so much debt and financial chaos that they had little time to stop the selling off of America by exercising wise voting choices. Mind you - who among us really stood up to stop the banking bailout?

Already stretched over thin financial ice most Americans have been duped by an insidious plan that is slowly turning us all in to tradable commodities rather than recognizing each of us as human beings who deserve dignity and basic economic rights.

Anyone reading this should already be aware of the statistics to prove what I am saying is true. If you have any questions on this then challenge me and let us debate them out in the open. I am being serious when I say that I welcome the challenge. Bring it if you think you can.

Suffice to say, our country has become a sham. It's once glorious future is now in question as other countries emerge as economic powerhouses and we sit in disbelief that we are anything but the greatest nation on earth.

We can no longer sit idle my voting friends. If we want our country and collective futures back we will have to rip it all back from the hands of the banks and insurance companies - who would prefer us to get sick for a very long and profitable time and then die when appointed.

The Second Bill of Rights

2010-08-26T19:47:00.001-04:00

The student loan crisis now facing the people of the United States of America is only a symptom of a much larger problem. Our democracy has been hijacked by our CHOICE of economic system.

Capitalism has been allowed to run amuck to such a degree that 1% of its people now control more wealth than the bottom 95%. That just shouldn't be so in a country that has prided itself on fairness and justice and yet it is so.

The truth is this problem has been growing for many, many years. It didn't happen overnight. There are many causes. We can point to many instances in the last 70 years or so and say it started here or there but let’s leave that discussion for another time.

Because time is of the essence it is necessary to become solution centered and fast. America needs to put the bickering aside along with all the lobbyists and sell-out politicians and reclaim its destiny as a light to the world.

Ironically, the solution to our current dilemma has already been proposed. Over 60 years ago then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proposed a Second Bill of Rights during his State of the Union Address on January 11, 1944.

He foresaw the coming problems in American society if the economic rights of all Americans were not protected. President Roosevelt's economic bill of rights would have guaranteed every American respectable employment - with a living wage, freedom from unfair competition and monopolies (foreign or domestic), adequate housing, access to medical care, education, and Social Security. All the things we struggle with today.

Sadly, President Roosevelt passed away just over a year later and these rights were never seriously entertained by Congress. The loss of these rights has devastated the lives of millions of Americans and I believe they are worth fighting for today. Our survival as a country may yet depend on it.

Now, I know there are many people reading this who just can’t wait to scream at the top of their lungs that such ideas are socialist or even communist. They will proclaim that even entertaining the notion of taking care of our citizens in this way would be un-American. And those people would be unequivocally WRONG.

Despite the fact that it took our forefathers hundreds of years to realize that all our people deserved the same rights this great country was founded with the promise of opportunity for all. All President Roosevelt sought to do was further define those rights and to protect them. The premise for his new bill of rights was to make sure that the government of the people was there to serve the people – not the other way around. Any person of sound mind must agree that such an intention is as American as apple pie.

Now that I have addressed the unabashed flag waivers concerns about socialism and communism lets deal with how we pay for such measures.

First and foremost we must choose an economic system that rewards hard work and honesty but which also does not cause us to lose sight of human dignity.

Capitalism only partly rewards hard work – so long as it is the kind that is driven by opportunism. Capitalism only rewards honesty when it can be made into a tradable commodity. Capitalism is driven be the profit motive and when unregulated will trample the dignity of anyone in its path so long as there as there is a profit to be gained.

This is the system that has served America for so long – and so well. So long as corporate profits soared and people had jobs it didn’t matter what the cost of this economic behavior was to the guy down the street or around the world. Our collective guilt is that so many of us saw benefits of this economic system in the past that we have all been willing to turn away from any crimes committed against our fellow man be it for oil, diamonds, raw materials, food, water etc.

There must be a better way – a better economic system that serves the cause of democracy and human compassion. There must be economic systems that are no less patriotic and yet more focused on human dignity.

As a patriot to our great country and a believer in the great goodness inherent in the American people I now know that purist capitalism as we now have it is no longer in the best interest of our people or the world for that matter. Capitalism is killing us and the planet because it is based on an endless consumption of all that is within our reach. I just hope we all come to realize this before it is too late.

To give credit where it is justly due please see Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story for more on this topic. Mr. Moore is credited by Wikipedia with discovering the lost video footage of President Roosevelt's speech about the aforementioned Second Bill of Rights. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Bill_of_Rights)

So America - what do you have to say for yourself now?

All Signs Lead to Economic Meltdown

2010-08-20T17:24:00.001-04:00

Well my friends I took an unscheduled break from this blog and am returning with some new perspective.

The U.S. economy remains stagnant despite soaring profits for some sectors. Why is this so?

Well for one job growth has not happened. In fact, new unemployment claims grew for three of the last four weeks. It seems that the profits we are seeing are the result of job cutting and increased worker productivity and not reinvestment in adding employees and increased sales.

This is highly relevant to any discussion of education and student loans at this time - since new student graduates with new loans coming due will find it harder than ever to find appropriate jobs to repay that debt.

So as mentioned many times here before - forgiving student loan debt and completely overhauling the finance system for higher education is necessary to stimulate the economy.

And with China now knocking on our door for the number one spot for the world's largest economy - stimulating the economy may soon become a national security issue. See here for more on that.

It's good to be back. I hope you are still reading this and many other blogs on the issue.

Young or Old, Public or Private - All Student Loan Debt Enslaves!

2010-03-08T20:56:00.000-05:00

In the last several weeks I have become more and more aware of some undertones developing in the discussion about student loan reform. I find these tones disturbing because they threaten the cohesive nature of our message to Washington.

One tone is about private versus public student loans. Some people are insisting one form is worse than another. Well folks - $120,000 in student loan debt sucks any way you slice it. If you are making $10 an hour at some dead end job - it doesn't matter how many more fees, fines or interest they tack on. If you can't make the payments now you certainly won't be able to make them two years from now - public or private - unless something substantial changes in your financial life. I have $120,000 in public loans and all my payments last year went to interest and the overall debt still grew!

So please if your loans are private don't start commenting how much worse you have it than the other guy because that is exactly what Sallie Mae and the other bucket heads in the banking industry want to happen. They seek to divide and conquer our collective voices. If they succeed the pressure on government to reform the student loan finance industry will go away. So before you post or comment - please think about the larger movement and what needs to happen to fix the larger problem.

Furthermore, it doesn't matter if you are an older student with loans or a younger one. We were all sold on the idea that college equates to more financial earning power and a better way of life. While it may seem pathetically naive to believe at 30,40 or 50 (versus the 18 yr old just out of high school) that a college degree equals money in the bank remember this fact: the age old story that college graduates earn upwards of one million dollars more in a lifetime has turned out to be an opinion based on little fact at all. Recent estimates make the actual difference more like $250,000 and that's only if your loans don't exceed the average.

In addition, with government and private industry both selling the propaganda that an investment in education is a way up and out for all - it is little wonder that just about everybody is willing to hoc their future for a college degree. Propaganda is powerful and all minds are susceptible. Age doesn't matter nor does intelligence sometimes.

So regardless if you have been snookered at 18 or 60 and find yourself now burdened with private of public loans that are destroying any life that you thought you might have keep in mind that we are all being treated like second class citizens.

Remember the truth when despair sets in - student loans are the ONLY type of loan that can NOT be discharged in bankruptcy. Student loans are the only type of loans that allow the lender to hit you with absurd fees and fines if you can't pay - which only makes the situation worse. Student loan lenders are the only type of lender incentivized by the federal government to get you into default and keep you there.

Finally - remember this - YOU are NOT ALONE! Fight back - learn and education yourself at every turn and start to develop your own voice. Until we all learn to stand up and say no more - we will all continue to suffer in our shamed silence.

Recipe for Disaster

2010-02-28T19:12:00.000-05:00

At this point in my search for solutions to the crisis in the student loan financial system I find that I can no longer avoid talking about the type of economy we have in the democracy we live in.

I will keep this simple so here goes - why do we think it's in the best interest of our democracy to let capitalism run through every aspect of our economy like a runaway train?

All the Enronesque scandals should prove that capitalism is not something that belongs in every aspect of our economy. It has ruined health care and it is quickly crippling the student loan financial system. The time has come - I hope we can all see this - to end the use of capitalism as the answer to all our economic needs.

We need to protect the future of our society from the greed and avarice that has so tainted the late 20th and early 21st century. Higher education should NOT be a system of winners and losers - a dichotomy that capitalism inherently creates. Rather - it should be a system where we efficiently and cost effectively educate our bright minds to keep us competitive in the global marketplace and human society as a whole. With such an emphasis on information and technology for the future - we are getting the higher education system so wrong that we may soon find ourselves out of the race to stay relevant - let alone competitive. Creating massive debt for our students before they are given the chance to create a better life for us all does not make sense in a sustainable economy.

I fear that we have become so blinded by the 'strong shall survive' dogma of purist capitalism that we are no longer able to see the precipice that we are headed for. We have taken some of our brightest minds and wrapped them up in so much debt to the point that their intelligence has been neutralized - leaving our greatest national treasure laid to waste.

Wake up America - student loan borrowers everywhere are living in a disaster area called their lives. And the student loan system is on the brink of collapse because of a job market that may require, according to the federal government, 2 to 5 years to improve. In the midst of all this - our leaders in Congress and the White House are silent on the issues.

Does anyone else have a different recipe for disaster?

Hitting the Mainstream

2010-02-19T19:08:00.000-05:00

Recently the Wall Street Journal online has brought some attention to the perils of student loan debt with a few articles. They can be found here: The $555,000 Student-Loan Burden, The Student Loan Effect.

This mainstream attention to the student loan crisis is a much needed shot in the arm if Congress and the White House are ever going to take notice and lend a hand. And while this spotlight may not always lead to a positive experience for student loan borrowers it is a necessary step in the right direction.

If one takes the time to read some of the comments left by readers of either of these articles, it will be quickly realized that many people have unflattering things to say about student loan borrowers. I would like to suggest to student loan borrowers everywhere that these are precisely the people we need to hear our message. These are precisely the people we need to educate and change from distracters into supporters.

In order to get people to support our cause we need to first meet the negative comments head on and challenge assertions and assumptions about student loan debt and the student loan industry. Until each and every one of us with student loan debt begins to get active in this way - those of us out here ringing the alarm bells will remain those crazy, lazy people just spouting off about their problems.

So please get active. Write your Congressmen, your Senators, your President. Write to your local newspaper. Comment on blogs and newspaper articles. Write your student loan company. Speak to whomever will listen because our collective voices can make a difference and effect a change in consciousness on this issue but WE have to make that happen.

Join me in making this happen - comment here today. And let today be the start of your own voice for relief from student loan debt.

Warmest Regards,
J. Densmore

Tis the Tax Season

2010-02-15T10:37:00.001-05:00

In preparing my taxes for fiscal year 2009 I have come to an understanding of some things I thought I might share with all of you. Forgive me if you already know this.

If your long term struggle is to pay off other debt or your student loans first then here are some tax tips.

Your student loan interest is tax deductible up to $2500 per year. This deduction taken before your itemized or standard deductions - so you get to take the deduction whether or not you itemize.

Taxes and interest on your home are only deductible if you itemize so pay your home mortgage off first - especially if your interest rate is higher on your mortgage.

Something else to keep in mind - if your student loans are federal - it is again in your best interest to pay the home of first. In this way - if you pass away - your spouse is protected from your debt - because federal loans are forgiven upon death.

If anyone has any other tips or thoughts on the issue please feel free to post your follow-up comments here.

Warmest regards,
J. Densmore

The Unforeseen Consequences of Student Debt

2010-02-06T23:05:00.000-05:00

When you set out to achieve your dreams to get the college education that your parents didn't get or couldn't have the benefit of remember this - the fairytale of the magical college diploma leaves out a few things.

When I decided to seek a graduate degree I thought it was the right thing to do for my future. I had a dream of helping people and to get there I was going to need an advanced degree and the help provided by student loans. I know now that I was so very naive - that nothing comes without a price in this world. All too late I am learning that my dream was a mirage and that student loans can be the worst thing to ever happen to you.

My wife and I are at a turning point in our lives. We are both getting older and time is running out for us to have children of our own. Complicating this picture is the fact that she is stuck in a dead end job that offers no retirement and no possibility for advancement or significant pay increases. Her current job pays modestly and provides little in the way of personal reward or intellectual stimulation either. It is deadening to the soul for her to stay there but - like so many Americans - it has kept food on the table and kept her out of debt.

So before us is the fact that I have approximately $120,000 in student loans that are choking my income - our income - and there is no real relief in sight. With the 'repayment' plan I am on, the payments will only rise over time making our financial situation only more difficult. (The new IBR plan Obama proposes offers us no hope because her income is still part of the formula). My own job will see some modest pay increases over the next few years but not in the way to make any significant disposable income available.

Before us then is a choice to have children or not OR for her to back to school or not OR for us to play it safe and not do either because of the depressed state of the economy and my student loans.

It seems that we are damned no matter what we decide. We could send her back to school but the program that she has been accepted to will cost $30,000 over the next two years. Because of the intense nature of the program she would have to quit her job. All for the 'POSSIBILITY' that she would have a better job in two years and POSSIBLY a better rate of pay and maybe a pension and maybe some personal reward to it.

And as I have urged others to be specific - her plan is to get a specific degree targeted for a specific salary at the end of a specific time period. But all of it is predicated on a bunch of 'ifs' and 'assumptions' and should anything go wrong - we would be totally, and irrevocably screwed financially. For us to lose her salary would put an immense pressure on our already strained income and modest savings. All for a dream and a bunch of assumptions.

I don't want to focus too much on the job issue because this would cause us to ignore our desire to have a family. There is little money for this however or time even left to make the decision before it is made for us.

So our lives are at a crossroads - what do we do? Do we risk a soul killing job in the hand for a dream in the bush? Do we have children right now and throw caution to the wind and assume somehow everything will be all right? Maybe the government would help us - yeah right!

How, in one of the wealthiest countries to ever exist, did we get here?

The greatest pain for me is that my student loans are at the center of all this. Without these loans she could go back to school. We could have had a child already. Money would not be at the center of every ache in our hearts if it wasn't for these loans - and for the stupid, childish decisions I made earlier in my life.

I don't mean to sound completely sour on higher education mind you. While I have benefited on an intellectual and personal level from my education however, it hasn't been worth it financially, socially or familial-y. If I had it to do over again with what I know now - I would have foregone college from the start and waited until I had the money in hand before ever thinking of a higher education.

The government's help with plentiful student loans and no protections in the event that life's inevitable missteps would occur have shackled my future to the point of choking the life out of it. It is very likely that my wife and I will not be able to afford to have children or be able to send her to college. All because I signed on the dotted the line years ago and didn't really know the true cost of those loans. But as former President Bush was quoted to have said when asked about his drug use in his youth - "When I was young and stupid I was young and stupid."

That being said - my gift to anyone starting out is a word of advice. Given the state of the economy as it currently is - unless you have an inside line on a job when you graduate or parents to pay for college and save you the debt - WAIT to go to college. Wait until you have the money because there are very real, unforeseen consequences of student debt just as there will be unforeseen happenstances in life.

The unforgiving and enslaving system of financing higher education that we currently have in place is not to be trusted. Understand this - because your entire life and your hope of finding immortality through your own children just might depend on it.

J. Densmore

Send Letters to Your Congressmen and Senators

2010-02-01T18:21:00.000-05:00

In light of President Obama's pledge to help student loan borrowers I submit the following form letter for use in contacting your own local representatives in Congress.

"Dear Senator, Congressman, Congresswoman etc.,

President Obama mentioned in his State of the Union Address that no one should have to go bankrupt to pay for an education.

Given the President's desire to help student loan borrowers I would like to know your stance on student loan borrowers' issues.

Do you support student loan forgiveness as a way to stimulate the economy? Do you support returning bankruptcy protections to all student loans - both public and private? Do you support the call to reduce the rate of interest on all student loans down to 1% - the same rate banks are allowed to borrow money at?

If you don't support any of the aforementioned proposals, just what help for over-indebted student loan borrowers do you support?

Furthermore, from what interests within the student loan industry have you accepted contributions, if at all?

I would appreciate it if you could give my inquiry its due respect and respond directly to my request - and not through the use of an assistant or intern.

Regards,
Your Name Here"

A Working Economy or Wealth Building Economy?

2010-01-28T19:47:00.000-05:00

Dated January 27, 2010 I opened an electronic communication from the Department of Education's Direct Loan Servicing Center. The purpose of the correspondence was to inform me that my annual student loan statement was now available.

Upon reviewing the statement I realized that I paid nearly $4400 on my student loans last year. One might say this was admirable.

However, despite my efforts my balance actually grew nearly $500. Anyone see something wrong with this picture?

Now, this is more than just a little depressing. It's enough to make me just want to give up and stop paying these loans altogether. Here's why: my student loan payments currently account for 20% of my monthly net income. That percentage will only grow over time and barely touch the principle in the near future.

Out of this frustration I am reminded of how things have gone so terribly wrong in this country. How did we ever get to a place where our students were so far in debt after college that the only ways of alleviating that debt in the near term were to land a very high paying job (preferable), win the lottery (unlikely), leave the country (heart breaking), or pass away (unthinkable). We all pretty much planned on the good paying job - but in this economic climate how many of us actually find it anymore?

The major point I would like to make here is that our priorities have become so twisted that our national agenda is more in line with a wealth building economy for the few than it is with a working economy for the many.

I refuse to give up and will continue fighting but I must say that President Obama's recent attempts to help students and student debtors, while admirable, falls far short of the help we really need and deserve. With over $550 billion dollars in outstanding student loans our President's best option is to reduce payments with IBR ( from 15% down to 10%) and reduce the number of years one would pay in IBR from 25 down to 20 years.

Sounds nice right? The problem is that this idea is akin to putting a band aid on a bullet wound. Yeah it will hold for a second or two but you will eventually bleed out if you don't get some real help and fast.

So to my President I say thanks but no thanks! Read my site Sir and you will find that the ideas for forgiving student loans and reducing or eliminating the interest rates on these loans will go much further to help student loan debtors and stimulate the economy than some cheap ploy to win our silence.

I for one won't be silenced! I need the President I voted for to stop being such a wimp when dealing with people across the aisle and start fighting for me and the future of this country. Working class Americans deserve more than speeches and rhetoric - we deserve results. Take of the kid gloves and start knocking some Republicans and Democrats around and get us back on track. George Bush used the bully pulpit of the presidency to do some very bad things - its time to use it for good.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

Warmest Regards,
J. Densmore

The Coalition of the Meek

2010-01-24T10:51:00.000-05:00

As I read whatever I can about the student loan dilemma my eye is occasionally caught by stories from outside this parochial sphere. While these other stories are about different industries altogether the central theme seems to be germane to the student debt industry.

Whether one has freshly returned from watching the film "Food Inc.", reading an article about utility companies involved in the setting of energy prices in California a few years back, the pharmaceutical price fixing that President Bush included with any free trade agreement he made or the ongoing collusion in the health care industry to prevent competition one thing becomes clear. The same kind of behavior persists across many industries - big companies are seeking unfair and illegal strangle holds on the American people by marginalizing their livelihoods and thus their ability to fight back and maintain their liberties.

Now - I know that sounds like a bold statement and quite honestly sounds a little too paranoid for my taste. But the fact remains that we are seeing the erosion of the American way of life under the guise of capitalism - the very same thing we espouse as almost as fundamental to America as democracy is.

Don't take my word for it though. Do some digging and learn on your own. The stories I mention above are only a few that exist out there and that in and of itself is a shame because we are quickly loosing a handle on this crisis.

So let's review for a minute the stories I mentioned above. We have a student loan industry that was developed to make student loans available to more students for the express purpose of educating the American people and making us more competitive in the Cold War and the international economic environment as a whole. Instead, today we have a system solely in place to make executives at student loan and collection companies rich and that sells education as a way out but in reality is a quick dead end road into debt for many. I think this characterization qualifies the industry for the stamp of failure. Sure the loans are available but is the American public reaping the full benefits it was supposed to? I think not if we are trapping our intellect in debt and dead end jobs.

Food Inc. - watch this movie and tell me if the treatment of farmers by large seed production companies and chicken producers is legal and or fair. In these industries - it seems that antitrust laws are being broken but the lobbyists of these firms are so powerful the markets and the government have been corrupted beyond the sight of the law. Watch it and you decide.

If anyone recalls the energy crisis in California a few years back when brownouts were common it subsequently came to light that some of the energy companies were purposely rotating their maintenance schedules to drive up the price of energy by creating the desperate situation that arose. Uh gee - let me think the last time I checked that is not capitalism or a free market system in effect - its called collusion and it is illegal.

And for anyone who was watching at the time, go back and read the Free Trade agreements that President Bush made with Canada, Australia and some South American countries. Each of those agreements has pricing statements for pharmaceuticals. These statements generally require these countries to maintain pricing on pharmaceuticals in keeping with American prices. For a free trade agreement I have to wonder how price fixing serves the American public in the slightest.

And I am sure this is not the limit of what is out there. My point is generally that each of these industries have lost their way - falling away from the competitive, free market principles that as Americans we hold dear toward serving the interests of a selective few who only care about pumping profits at the expense of the general public.

So it is with sincere encouragement and hope that I suggest the following. It is my belief that leaders of each of the activist movements in these industries start to communicate with one another. Start comparing notes and I think you will find that we have so much in common. That each of our interests and needs are in reality all of our needs. We should pool our resources, financial and intellectual, and fight together to change the way business is being conducted in this country and hence the world. By working together in one industry at a time we just might be able the get the change we all so desperately seek and need in all of them.

So today I put forth a call to everyone out there willing to join the Coalition of the Meek. Separately we might be dismissed but together our voices might finally be heard and heeded.

I hope this finds you all well.

Warmest Regards,
J. Densmore

Affordable, Attainable or Wisely Avoidable?

2010-01-19T22:07:00.000-05:00

If the purpose of bankruptcy is to allow relief from financial burdens when lasting unforeseen hardships arise or mishaps occur what does this say about students and student loans when this basic protection is not there?

Because of their educations are students being expected to be clairvoyant - are they supposed to know, with 100% certainty, that things are going to work out ahead of time? Are they supposed to be able to see and avoid every conceivable pit fall that could arise? That cannot be what our government intended when it began its involvement in the student loan business or when it wrote the first bankruptcy laws - yet here we are expecting just that from our students.

Yes, student loan borrowers took a risk that the purchase they were making (in the form of education) was going to benefit them to the degree that they could achieve a better social and economic position in life. Few, if any, took loans out with the intention to defraud anyone. The problem with education, or anything investment for that matter, is that there is no guarantee of return. What is the saying in investing - past performance is no guarantee of future return?

For students to guarantee a return on their investment they would have to know so much as to be gods. For example, just on a macroeconomic scale one would have had to know that American (and now International) banks were leveraged so poorly, that CEO's, COO,s and CFO's were cooking the books, that gasoline would reach $4 a gallon, that automakers would continue selling gas hogs beyond their utility, that wars in IRAQ and Afghanistan would be so costly, that 9/11 would occur and wreak such havoc with the financial markets, that Katrina would occur, and that the wealthiest country on the planet wouldn't be able to afford health care for its citizens. That’s expecting a little much I think.

They would also have had to know on a personal or microeconomic level that their choice of profession would continue to be in demand, that they would remain healthy, that they could handle the full pressure of the educational albatross before them (even though they have never attempted anything so demanding before), that they wouldn't experience significant familial or personal hardships so as to not be able to continue and that they would find the support they would need to successfully graduate and find employment. And the list could go on and on.

The point here is that life happens. When one purchases an education life does not stop happening. While we might hope that students are better equipped to deal with life's ups and downs because of their educations they are not, in fact made gods, because of their educations. Students still suffer the same human frailties as everyone else.

Fortunately, some students make it through the process of schooling and the concomitant hardships of life, and go on to reap the benefits of their education. That is every students dream! And we are all happy for those that make it.

But for those that don't make it or don't make it far enough to see the full return on their investment why then should the current system expect students to be any more omniscient than the average borrower? Nobody wants businesses to fall short of the desired success but they do. Nobody wants students to fall short of their desired success but they do. Life happens, mistakes get made. Every type of borrower, be it individual, small business, or corporate giant has access to basic financial protections through bankruptcy – to protect their futures if they stumble and fall. All borrowers everywhere in the United States have these protections - EXCEPT ONE - the student loan borrower.

Did our leaders really intend there to be so much risk involved when they tried to make higher education available to just about everyone? Did they really intend for students to be buried under mountains of debt with no way out?

At this point all I can say is maybe they did. They don’t seem to be in a hurry to get students out of this terrible situation nor do they seem to care. And now – it seems a generation of Americans may actually forgo college because the price has become just too high. I guess our leaders have failed to make a college education affordable and attainable after all. From what I now gather a college education is quickly becoming avoidable,and wisely so. After all, why should someone risk their entire lives - marriage, children, home - for an education that only comes with one guarantee - you will pay your loans back - even if it kills you.

My Next Move

2010-01-16T14:28:00.001-05:00

Right now I am seeking other student loan blogs and forums out there to connect to and interact with. So if anyone has any good recommendations please contact me and I will check them out as soon as I can.

At the time being I am starting to look into learning more about personal finance. If I come across something interesting and relevant I will be sure to share it here.

Since it is tax season once again don't forget that your student loan interest is tax deductible under some circumstances. Be sure to visit the IRS website to learn more.

If there are urgent issues that anyone wants me to look into or expound at length about please contact me. Otherwise, have a great weekend!

Regards,
J. Densmore

The Writing on the Wall

2010-01-13T16:15:00.004-05:00

At the present time, it appears very little is going on in any of the student loan reform movements to address the needs of student borrowers. It may be because the President and Congress have an economy in recession, a war going on, and a fight over health care before them. I get the feeling however that the same would be true without these distractions.

If I were to read the writing on the wall, more specifically the Sunday newspaper and Alan's book, then things can't be going very well for student borrowers in terms of debt and default.

The first sign was something I read in Alan Collinge's book, The Student Loan Scam, which I have translated into the following bar graph. As one can see, the use of federal student loans is growing rapidly - which in turn, by the percentages, translates into more student loans in default or struggling to tread water. The graph shows the amount of federal student loans made in 1979, 1989, 1996 and 2008 respectively. This is only for federal loans, not for any private loans that are not covered under the federal umbrella.

The steep rise in the amount of federal loans being made would indicate that students are taking on more debt to get their college degrees. Though it is certainly true that more and more students are going to college these days I don't think the growth in numbers of college students accounts for this increase alone.

To go along with this rise in student debt, the front page of the classified jobs section of The Buffalo News for Sunday January 10, 2010 had four large ads that each occupied 1/4 of the page. Two of these were ads were for collections services promising all kinds of benefits including 50% commissions, vacation pay, health insurance, paid holidays, day care and the list goes on. One of these ads was specifically seeking people with experience in student loan collections!

This is the first such time that I have seen a job ad for a collection agency seeking people with this kind of specialty. I was also shocked at the kind of benefits these places were paying. Business must be good for student loan collectors.

This can only mean its not going so well for many student loan borrowers. Furthermore, the brazen front page nature of the ad, seeking specialty in student loan collections, seems to imply that student loan borrowers are acceptable collection targets, social castaways that should have known better.

I think student loan borrowers need to work together to make our voices heard. We will continue to be the treated as the forgotten unless we make people understand why our debt deserves the same protections as every other form of debt.

Educate Yourself and Get Active

2010-01-11T06:14:00.000-05:00

I can't emphasize enough that all student loan borrowers need to become active participants in the student loan reform process. It's the only way we are going to get the changes we need to live free once again.

If you are a New Yorker then here is the contact information for your Senators:

Senator Charles E. Schumer http://schumer.senate.gov/new_website/contact.cfm
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand http://gillibrand.senate.gov/contact/

I can't recommend enough the book by Alan Collinge, entitled The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S. History - and How We Can Fight Back. I know that I have already mentioned his book, (previous story here) but after rereading it I knew it deserved mention again. Alan's book does a fantastic job of explaining why students with public or private loans are in the same situation and how Sallie Mae has, almost single handedly, twisted the student loan system into the monstrosity it is today.

Read the book and then reread it - because there is so much information in there that you may only truly know its value with a second read.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Alan and everyone at StudentLoanJustice.org for all that they have done to get this movement started and to become a voice for us all.

Regards,
J. Densmore

Bankruptcy in Context

2010-01-07T23:54:00.003-05:00

Let's begin our discussion today with a quote:

"...financial problems happen to the best of us and the fact of the matter is that once we find ourselves in trouble, bankruptcy could be the most responsible decision one could make."

This quote, taken from Blog.LegalHelpers.com, represents the reality of the financial world we live in here in the United States. Bankruptcy is a decision that must be looked at logically if the need arises. The costs and benefits of this process must be weighed carefully before a proper decision can be made. It is not something that should ever be rushed into.

Bankruptcy can be a second chance to get one's financial life straightened out. Many famous people have had to turn to bankruptcy at one time or another to reset their financial situation. Many of them went on to be very successful subsequently.

Some of these famous people include:

P.T. Barnum (1855)
H.J. Heinz (1875)
Milton Hershey (1882)
William McKinley (1893 - $130,000)
Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens,1894)
Oscar Wilde (1895)
Henry Ford (1901)
Walt Disney (1923)
Larry King (1960, 1978)
Mickey Rooney (1962)
Jerry Lee Lewis (1988)
Johnny Unitas (1991)
Wayne Newton (1992)
Donald Trump (1992, 2004)
Kim Basinger (1993)
Burt Reynolds (Chapter 11 - 1996)
MC Hammer (1996)
Debbie Reynolds (1997)
Sherman Hemsley (1999)
Mike Tyson (2003)
Sammy Kershaw (2007)
Ulysses S. Grant
Thomas Jefferson
Tony Martin
Lawrence Taylor
Abraham Lincoln

I bring this up here because somewhere in their great wisdom - our elected officials have seen fit to remove this option for student loan borrowers - without any evidence to show that student loan borrowers represent a particularly egregious subset of the population prone to cases of fraud and misrepresentation.

Ironically, students and former students are more likely to be the kind of people to learn from their mistakes and therefore stand to benefit the most from a second chance.

Read This Book - Recommend This Book Now!

2010-01-06T23:33:00.000-05:00

Dear Readers,

I will keep this post short and sweet. Go out and buy or borrow The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S. History - and How We Can Fight Back by Alan Collinge.

This book confirmed the reality of just how perverse and pervasive corruption has become in every aspect of the student loan industry - including the federal government.

Right there on page 12 was the confirmation that the collection agency that the U.S. Department of Education turned my loans over to, PIONEER CREDIT RECOVERY, was and is, in fact, a front for Sallie Mae and all its sick fraudulent games. If you recall, it was PIONEER that wouldn't let my loans out of default (full story here) until the Office of the Ombudsman intervened (contact them here if you need help).

So, please read this book. If you happen to know anyone about to go to college then recommend this book. I wouldn't let anyone in my family go until they read this book, nor should you!

READ IT! I can't say that enough.

Student Loan Bankruptcy: Where are the checks and balances?

2010-01-04T19:29:00.000-05:00

The sobering news today is that new filings for bankruptcies soared in 2009 coming in 32% higher than the previous year. So it appears that the more stringent bankruptcy codes passed in 2005, which made it more expensive and difficult to file bankruptcy, can't hide the enormous amount of economic stress that many people in this country are under.

While I hope to see more information about the specifics of these bankruptcies in the coming weeks, this steep increase does make me wonder how many of these filings are related to unaffordable student debt.

My interest in this topic was also directed somewhat by a statement that I recently came across on another site. The statement read something like this:

"Bankruptcy laws create a check on the activities of lenders."

Now I know it may sound naive but I found this to be a surprisingly novel and interesting thought. Most times when you hear about bankruptcy it is with some negative connotation, the implication being that the filing entity or person has failed in some way and now they will get away without having to pay what they borrowed. The borrower is often seen as the only offender.

However, the individual who made that post apparently grasped something that the writers of bankruptcy law, in their wisdom, must have also understood and taken into account. Namely, that the lender shares a significant burden of the responsibility involved in any loan or extension of credit.

The law therefore finds creditors to be responsible parties in the financial transactions they are involved in. This puts the onus on lenders to properly screen their borrowers and determine their eligibility for the loan based upon the borrower’s present and future ability to pay. Theoretically, the lender is supposed to assess the loan's risk based on the borrower's current assets and the potential future reward of the borrower's investment. If either of the borrower's qualifications is deficient then the loan is not supposed to be made.

If the lender determines the borrower's qualifications to be worthwhile then they usually make the deal. Both parties sign contracts, with good intentions, and off they go. Now I am not a banker but this is probably where the risk-reward ratio comes in and the interest rates are established.

If the lender makes a good risk and the borrower does repay he then makes a reasonable - and sometimes substantial profit. But if he makes a mistake and something happens that cannot be foreseen and the borrower cannot repay - then he may lose. This is where I fail to feel for the lender - it’s their business to make intelligent investments. It’s also part of the risk they accept.

As I see it, all bankruptcy law does then is to enforce the later outcome - which is to say the lender loses his investment in part or in its entirety when the borrower can't pay. And as anyone who has ever filed or witnessed a bankruptcy filing - bankruptcy law also punishes the borrower - through damaged credit scores and limits on future filings, neither of which makes for a light sentence.

However, these checks and balances are not present with student loans. The normal system is short-circuited presumably to make more loans available to students. Lenders are protected in many cases by a federal guarantee which obliges the federal government to cover these loans if the borrower can’t. The federal government then enforces payment by the borrower through all sorts of means, regardless of their ability to pay or lead a normal life. In the case of both public and private student loans - borrowers cannot file bankruptcy either. So, it has become essentially a win-win for lenders - they get paid, must get paid in most instances, even if the investment goes sour for the borrower.

While this may not have been the intention of our leaders when this system was first established it has become a problem for millions now. For the borrower of student loans, it seems - its do or die. Either the student loan debtor makes it and pays the loans back or they die and the loans don't get paid back. In the case of private loans – the loans are not discharged even at death - meaning lenders can go after spouses, parents and estates depending on the situation.

Ironically, student loans have therefore become one of the most risky investments anyone can make. At the end of the investment the student may not even have the piece of paper they invested in, may not be able to get a job with the investment they made and can be left with no hard assets to sell after the investment. Despite all this and more, they are forced to pay back even if the lender knew the investment was financially unsound because for them they never risked anything in the first place. While initially intended as a good and proper thing to do, the student loan finance system has backfired and is now enslaving generations of its citizens to financial profiteers.

Need for More Appropriate Advertisements

2010-01-02T12:06:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone,

If you are an avid blogger, blog reader or postmaster or even someone with some novel ideas that happened on to my site I am open to new and different options for advertising on this blog.

Frankly speaking, while the ads on this site are subject appropriate I don't think they serve the readers of my blog to the utmost possible. I will be working with Google Ads to update this to the extent possible since they have been so helpful to date. I feel I owe them that.

I am also thinking of just getting rid of them altogether since they haven't produced any income whatsoever.

However, if someone has some ideas to direct the advertisement in a more positive fashion I am all ears.

Regards,
J. Densmore

A New Year and a New Commitment

2010-01-01T14:47:00.005-05:00

In reading and learning more on this topic of student debt and loans I am moved to comment on the ingenious nature of the relationship between education and student loan programs.

When I first became a college student back in the fall of 1987 student loans were a way to get a college degree if your family didn't have the money to support you in that endeavor. In my family, as in many others, neither of my parents had ever gone to college but both had always wanted to and so for their son it was a must. For them a college degree was some sort of Holy Grail to a more prosperous life.

So the mindset was, and still is today, that student loans provided the opportunity to get that almighty college degree. Somewhere along the way however, things have changed. I am not sure quite when it happened but at some point the generalized, non-specific college degree became worth little more than toilet paper. Alright, maybe it was worth about the same as a respectable high school diploma but certainly no more.

As such the liberal arts degree in whatever color became essentially useless as a means to get a job, let alone a better life than your parents had. Nobody wanted them. I know this because I had one by the spring of 1992 and nobody would hire the green college kid with the B.A. in Economics, not even as a bank teller.

Since that time things have not improved much. Sure there was the technology boon of the 1990’s that made some millionaires, even some billionaires, but that ride crashed in the early part of 2000 along with the NASDAQ.

Today, we have high unemployment in both blue and white collar sectors with little hope on the horizon of getting people back to work. Looking retrospectively at the last 20 years since I was first a college student, it has dawned on me that educational institutions charge even more for the same degrees today. The same degrees that will get you nowhere. These colleges still provide no real support to get people respectable jobs and absolutely no guarantee that the expensive piece of paper on the wall will even do them any good.

And yet, here we are still churning out students with no place to go for good jobs with useless degrees in an environment that encourages taking on more debt with ever increasing availability of student loans, both public and private. The almighty dogma of the great college degree still persists too. Only now – even those with specific, professional degrees are finding themselves up to their necks in debt as they wait in line apply for their unemployment benefits.

We have created a system of higher education that in many cases, is failing our country and our citizens. As a culture we need to take stock of our priorities and get our financial systems in line with them, not the other way around.

For the past 20 years, at the very least, we have had a system of exploding student debt and useless higher education matched to do only one thing – to make money for some financial profiteers at the expense of the bright eyed, eager college student who thought he or she was on a path to making a good and decent life for themselves.

Sure, I can write this blog – so my two B.A. degrees and my M.A. degree (and nearly a PhD.) have served some purpose – but was it worth the immense debt I have amassed? Certainly not – because insulating pipes, which is what I do now, doesn’t require or make great use of the excessive education I have. And while it's most certainly a respectable living requiring considerable skill, the health risks it poses are certainly not the dream my parents hoped for I think. I am however resolved to making a career of it now and it does keep my head above water so for that and all the wonderful, hardworking people I have met and worked with I am so very thankful. I do wonder though, how many others like me are out there doing something similar.

The truth is, I believed in a bill of goods, namely that a college education could change my life for the better. I believed that student loans were a means to an end and that I would be able to pay them back when I was done. What I now realize was that despite how smart I thought I was there was a bigger picture. For some politicians and lobbyists out there, there were profits to be made and that take on things was just outside my field of vision. As I see it now, it must have been designed to be that way, no system this cruel could exist without intention.

I was not given the protections I deserved when I made my investment. I was not informed of the uselessness of the degrees that I found myself getting and the mountain of debt that I was accumulating that would be forever outside my reach to repay. There should be a system of informed people in place to protect our college students from this kind of predatory behavior – the kind that is so devious that even some of the brightest among us have been perpetually enslaved to their student loans with no hope of getting out from under them.

These people can’t afford to marry. They can’t afford to buy a home. They can’t afford health insurance. They can’t afford to have children. They can't afford to make any moves that will jeopardize repaying these loans that might even improve their circumstances. They can't afford to risk anything. They have none of the protections that every other type of borrower has – the right to redress when their debts have ruined their lives – stolen their lives – right before their eyes.

And in a classic, cultural cliché - we blame the student debtor because they (and I include myself here) should have known better. Maybe we should have known better but I am not so sure anymore that we could have. The system is just not designed to tell you all these things. And besides, blaming the victim doesn’t change the reality of what is happening here and it will not change what will happen to the next crop of graduating college students, or all those that will certainly follow under the current system.

This game of loaning students money for degrees that will only take them down dead end roads where there dreams will die must end. There must also be an end to the enslavement of those already trapped by their student loans.

To every American, past, present and future – this system is so perverse that it is evil in the worst Machiavellian sense and I pray you have heard this cry for justice.

Bring back the same financial protections to student loan debtors that all other forms of loans have the right to. Consider forgiving these loans to stimulate the economy. Fight for new changes to the way we finance higher education and implement tough controls on colleges who sell degrees that are lemons.

Our future depends on this, now more than ever.

Challenge for 2010

2009-12-31T17:19:00.000-05:00

As 2009 comes to a close I am inspired that more and more people are taking up the cause of the student loan debtor in America.

I have spent more time reading recently, especially at ForgiveStudentLoanDebt.com. What I have learned is that we need to educate everyone in America about the student loan debtor crisis.

While there seem to be pockets of people, both indebted and not, informed about the issue, there are still far more people unaware of what is going on.

So to everyone reading this I would like to present a delightful challenge for 2010, that if properly accepted and accomplished, could result in such sweeping change to how we operate in America that history would certainly note this as a turning point in the salvation of our culture.

The challenge is simple, rise up and become part of the movement to educate yourselves and others about the enslavement of the educated in this country to lifelong indentured servitude via student loan debt. Make this a secret that is shared and not kept and shame our leaders, both political and financial, for ever trying to silence one of the best parts of the American spirit - it's intelligence!

We the people deserve better - so let us all demand it.

May the New Year bring grace to you all.

Christmas and Good Will

2009-12-23T19:03:00.000-05:00

Well it is almost Christmas once again and I have been so busy working that I have had very little time to spend here. (The irony is not lost on me that I have so little time for the most important financial issue in my life.)

So the time has come to rededicate myself to the task at hand - which is to reveal the problem of the student loan scam to the sleeping masses of the United States. Maybe, just maybe, with all the good Christmas cheer and will out there new warriors will come to the aid of the student loan serfs.

Many articles abound about the problems with the student loan lending system that is currently in place. And while it is this system that is to be blame there is very little chatter going on about how to get student debtors out of debt.

So to President Barack Obama, whom I voted for, I call you to arms. Return to student loan debtors our rights to seek relief from our financial burdens in court. If wealthy developers like Donald Trump have used this system - why oh why can't we?

And since I have such great respect for President Obama I hereby formally invite him to personally appear as a guest writer on my blog. I would love to hear your thoughts on this issue Mr. President, so long as you leave the political talk out of it and get down to brass tacks. I'm sorry to be so blunt but time is of the essence so verbal sidestepping just won't do.

Merry Christmas to all of you and Happy Holidays!

Lost in the Shuffle

2009-12-03T19:53:00.000-05:00

To my loyal fans out there (cricket, chirp,chirp) I just wanted to let you know that the issue of student loan indebtedness was still hot on the stove.

I never did hear back from my local politicians. I can only assume that it's not a priority for them because it won't keep them in or out of office.

I wonder if there are any institutions out there that can can lend a hand with getting the message out that another way to stimulate the economy is to get students out of debt.

Any suggestions out there?

No Response From Sen. Schumer

2009-10-13T20:00:00.000-04:00

Well here I am two full weeks later and I have yet to receive a response from Senator Schumer's office about what he intends to do with the current student loan crisis.

From the lack of response I think its fair to assume that he plans to do absolutely nothing.

My next approach is to contact the US Department of Education about what they are doing.

An inquiry into the status of the Direct Loan Servicing Center website has revealed that it is run through the Department of Education.

Getting Some Answers

2009-09-29T19:46:00.000-04:00

Well, I have come to the point in my communication where I am trying to get some answers about the student loan industry and what is currently being done to address the ridiculous debt students carry in this country.

I started with my state senator, Senator Charles Schumer, then the Federal Direct Loan Service Center and now I am looking at contacting the Department of Education. I have yet to hear back from Senator Schumer or his office but I will give them a chance to respond.

The Direct Loan Servicing center is forwarding me some requested information about my loans so I can see just how it all breaks down.

The Department of Education looks to have some worthwhile pages so if anyone is on the same path or interested here you might want to check out the link.

As for drawing more readership to this site I am open to suggestions. Come one, come all I need some insight to get this site rollin.

Penalize or Incentivize?

2009-09-25T16:59:00.000-04:00

I thought it might be useful to look at how student loan borrowers are treated to gain some insight into why we languish and suffer so much. It has dawned on me that the system might be setup to make it so.

Commonly, student loan borrowers are punished when they experience trouble paying back their loans or default altogether. While punishing those that don't pay their debts is an acceptable concept within our society, it has its limitations and weaknesses and therefore may not be in everyone's best interests.

Merriam -Webster defines punishment as a penalty inflicted on an offender. In the United States the principle of using penalties is most commonly used within the criminal justice system. Our system of imprisonment is often called rehabilitation but for those imprisoned I would say it is a actually a form of punishment. Furthermore, the criminal justice system in the United States is far from perfect. The law often acts blindly and without compassion. As a result, mistakes are often made and we have a system that currently incarcerates millions.

So it might be fair to say that punishment is not always the best answer to a problem, especially if rehabilitation is the goal. Other methods of correction, such as positive reinforcement, often work more effectively when trying to show someone the right way to do something or to keep them on the right track.

Positive reinforcement involves providing some kind of positive stimulus to a subject so that they begin to attach strong, positive feelings with the desired outcome or behavior. This kind of system is used in business, in the form of bonuses. Bonuses are promised in expectation of profitable work. A bonus is therefore a type of incentive.

Merriam-Webster defines an incentive as something that incites or has a tendency to incite to determination or action.

Where student loans are concerned, or any loan for that matter, it would be ideal to incite student loan borrowers to courses of action such that they pay off their loans successfully and preferably in the short term. So if incentives work well then why does our financial system prefer to treat student loan borrowers like criminals and not like people who we want to do successful business with? That certainly is a question that I have yet to see answered by anyone in power, politically or financially, but its time it was asked.

Instead of creating a situation in which borrowers are strongly encouraged to make successful repayment, the current system makes threats and inflicts severe punishments in the case of nonpayment or default. The current system does little to incite heightened or lifted spirits for those struggling to repay. Instead it penalizes them with interest, penalty fees, and crushed credit scores if they experience trouble repaying in the expected amounts.

While it would be naive to think that a system that relied on positive reinforcement would be without problems and not have any defaults its not too outlandish to expect defaults to drop dramatically. Let me illustrate with an example.

If a student loan borrower, who we have every expectation of becoming successful and eventually a generous taxpayer, was given a ten year moratorium on any interest on their loans what might be the outcome?

For many people, that ten years would be an incentivized opportunity to get completely out of debt. Many would work harder, perhaps even more than one job for the hope of being free of the burden in the short term.

To further incentivize repayment we could add in some negative reinforcement, by adding in an undesirable stimulus such as interest after the first ten years, perhaps on a graduated scale for each year after the ten years was over.

My point with all of this is that obviously the penalty system is working for finance companies. It is however not so successful for borrowers or the government. So its time for new ideas. Its time to elevate the hopes of all students everywhere - that they can get an education and they can pay for it.

This is only one part of the bigger picture however. We must also begin to address the why of the current system and how we change that. As I have already alluded to, who benefits from the current system of loan punishment and why would they fight like hell to keep the status quo? That, my friends, will be the subject of future posts.

Get Active: Contact Your Senator

2009-09-24T18:49:00.000-04:00

Today I wrote an email to New York's Senator Charles Schumer to ask what he is doing to seek relief for people with excessive student loans. I will be posting his response as soon I receive that.

As I see it, the problem for anyone in this situation is the shame and fear you feel with this debt. You are made to feel completely responsible and alone with this burden and no real help is offered currently in the law or by politicians in general.

While the dream to get an education, a good job and a better life becomes a realization for so many, there are a growing number of us who fall between the cracks and end up ruined by student loans. We tried to do the right thing but we hit hiccups along the way and the dream quickly became a nightmare.

Please, to anyone reading this, help us end the nightmare and see daylight again. Recommend this blog and others for people to read. Maybe together we can create a movement to set things right once again.

Another blog that I found interesting can be found at http://www.icantpaymystudentloans.com.
Please go there and read what has happened to Gavin. His story might be your story or your child's story. It shouldn't have to be anyone's story.

Getting Out of A Sticky Delinquency

2009-09-22T19:14:00.000-04:00

So even though I have already laid out some of the history of how I got into this mess in three separate posts, (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), I have yet to explain some of the more ridiculous aspects of dealing with the loans when they came due.

When the student loans came due I also had accumulated a mountain of personal debt in the form of credit cards. To deal with the personal debt I had the option of seeking credit counseling or filing for bankruptcy. At the time, I felt extremely pressed as the end of the availability of chapter 7 bankruptcy was close at hand, or so I thought. As of October 17, 2005 bankruptcy law did change but in retrospect the change in the law wouldn't have affected me because my income was so low.

However, I didn't know that at the time and the bankruptcy lawyer that I consulted with didn't know that either - at least he didn't seem to know or he didn't tell me. Suffice to say - I looked at my personal debt and made the best decision I could with what I knew.

But after the bankruptcy I still had a vehicle payment and my student loans. With my credit in ruins I had to pay for everything directly for awhile. On the small income I had things were very tight.

When my student loans came up for repayment I unfortunately let them go. I ignored them - wishing somewhere in my bankruptcy traumatized mind that they would just go away. By the time I had the strength to face them they had fallen into delinquency. And for you I told you so people out there - yeah I know - it was all my fault. My mistakes. I get that.

Anyway, when I approached the nice people at the Federal Student Loan Service Center to deal with my loans they would only acknowledge that my loans were in delinquency and that the case had been forwarded to their collections agency - PIONEER.

That's when things got ugly. The good folks at Pioneer informed me that they could only get me on a plan out of delinquency if I agreed to make 9 consecutive payments of approximately $900 a month. I explained to them that they were insane because that was 73% of my monthly net income!

I went around and around with them explaining that I couldn't do that - that there must be some other way. I insisted that no one on my income could afford 73% of their income and still live. They didn't care. In fact, they even suggested at one point that I take the single credit card that I did have at the time and make the first payment on that and then maybe borrow the rest from friends or relatives as need be. I explained to them that I was not going to make more bad decisions to quote "do the right thing" by them. I further explained that if they were already asking for 73% of my income there would be no way for me to pay the credit card off under this much financial duress. Again, they didn't care but they did their best to try and make all this seem legitimate.

Aside from the $900 a month, the only other option, they explained, was that I could make maintenance payments that showed some good faith on my part. This payment amount was not going to get my loans out of delinquency, mind you - it was just to show good faith.

I felt that I needed to start somewhere so I agreed and started paying them some $400 a month to keep the account from getting worse. That was 32% of my monthly net income. Over the next nine months I made every payment on time but I kept trying to get them to relent and release the account. All my requests were to no avail.

It wasn't until I came across an obscure reference on the internet to the Office of the Ombudsmen for the Federal Student Loan Service Center that I got some relief. One late night I sent a frustrated and exasperated letter explaining what I had done to deal with these people at Pioneer. Within three days the Pioneer people called me and released the loan from delinquency.

The sad thing about all this is there was no clear listing on the Federal Student Loan Service Center web site about what to do if the Federal Student Loan Service Center's own collection agency wasn't working with you. I had to find it and dig it up on my own just to get the loans out of delinquency. There is no real help to this day on the website for people with loans in delinquency.

Furthermore, there was no apology or explanation of what happened to the money that was sent to Pioneer. I am sure they got a portion of what I paid - there would be no other reason for them to insist that I pay them 73% of my net income otherwise.

So, today I have student loans that I can only make interest payments on. Of the approximately $120,000 in total debt - $107,000 is principal - the rest is penalties and interest. And unless my income takes a significant jump in the near future I can only see paying on these for the rest of my life. And given the current economy and the pickle I am in - I don't see a foreseeable jump in income coming.

Student Borrowers are Worthy of Help!

2009-09-21T21:01:00.000-04:00

I want to add something to the last post entitled Student Loans and Bankruptcy: The Hard Truth. There is this stigma out there that if you mismanage your finances then you must be unworthy of help. That social stigma just isn’t fair.

Just because someone got themselves over their head in debt doesn’t necessarily make them unworthy of assistance. It certainly makes them bad at finances and quite possibly a bad risk for future financial investment, but not necessarily hopeless.

The oddity with student loans then is that the loans can be discharged under two other circumstances that I did not touch on in the last post. These circumstances include full, permanent disability and death.

Unfortunately, I have come across circumstances wherein borrowers have committed suicide to escape student loan debt. In my mind, these tragedies could have been avoided if the borrowers had been presented with other options to manage their debt.

In losing these people to suicide I can see several negative outcomes of all this. The first is obvious, the families of these poor people had to deal with the tragic nature of their deaths and the knowledge that their deaths were preventable. Second, their deaths created a situation wherein the discharge of the loans was forced. As a result, no moneys will ever be repaid and the lending institution will now lose the entire sum of each loan. Third, these people will never become taxpayers and add to the general welfare of this country. We have in effect lost the entire financial return on the educational investments made in these people. Lastly, the accomplishments of these particular human beings, given the benefit of their educations, will never be known. Who knows what accomplishments awaited each of them.

All of this is the direct result of the Draconian laws now being applied to student loans. To my knowledge all other forms of personal debt can be discharged through some form of bankruptcy. If there are bankruptcy lawyers reading this please correct me if I’m wrong on this point. My point is - where were our regulators in making sure that these people weren’t being unduly burdened by hawkish lending and repayment practices?

Aside from simply forgiving student debt there are other interesting ways to help students and graduates deal with debt. For example, borrowers that have obviously gotten in way over their heads could also be offered interest free repayment on loan amounts that are too high, for example that exceed one’s income. In this way the borrowers can pay off principal and get ahead of it and therefore still retain some hope for their own future. They can also go on to have families and become successful, contributing members of society.

If you haven't read my story so far please go back and read my first posts. I am one of these people who were sucked into the dream of an education, and who, for whatever reason soon found myself drowning in debt. When I speak about other people I am speaking for myself as well. Student loan borrowers deserve help - just like the banking industry, the auto industry, and defaulting homeowners. Unfortunately, our plight goes unheard and unseen because of the shame we are made to feel for wanting an education.

For some other insight and interesting reading please visit Studentloanjustice.org and read the selected stories they have there. This is where I unfortunately came upon stories of people committing suicide to be free of their student loans.

Bankruptcy and Student Loans: The Hard Truth

2009-09-18T19:55:00.000-04:00

I recently sought legal advice about student loans and bankruptcy in an informal setting. I use the term informal because while I did not retain the services of a lawyer for the purpose of filing bankruptcy I did consult with a lawyer on the topic and compensated this lawyer for his nonbinding opinion.

So here is the skinny on that communication.

While it is generally true that one cannot claim one’s student loans under a bankruptcy filing it is possible to do so in special circumstances. This special circumstance is known as undue hardship.

According to this lawyer, for a person to succeed on a claim of undue hardship they must satisfy the test for undue hardship as laid out in the case of Brunner v. NY State Dept. of Education. In this case, the district court adopted a standard for "undue hardship" that required a three-part test. First, the debtor must show that he or she cannot maintain, based on current income and expenses, a "minimal" standard of living for themselves and their dependents if forced to repay the loans. Second, the debtor must show that additional circumstances exist which indicate that the current hardship is likely to persist for a significant portion of the repayment period of the student loans. Third, the debtor must show that they have made good faith efforts to repay the loans. The first part of this test has been applied frequently as the minimum necessary to establish "undue hardship."

Other cases that the lawyer cited as support for the use of this test include Bryant v. Pennsylvania Higher Educ. Assistance Agency (In re Bryant), 72 B.R. 913, 915 (Bankr.E.D.Pa.1987); North Dakota State Bd. of Higher Educ. v. Frech (In re Frech), 62 B.R. 235 (Bankr.D.Minn.1986); Marion v. Pennsylvania Higher Educ. Assistance Agency (In re Marion), 61 B.R. 815 (Bankr.W.D.Pa.1986).

Now, if there are some lawyers out there specializing in bankruptcy and you have experience with these loans please comment here and let us know what you have seen. We would all appreciate it.

In addition, if you are a borrower that sought to have your loans dismissed with the undue hardship test please let us know about your experience. Any and all other related comments are also welcome.

My next blog entry will be on Monday, September 21st, 2009. However, I will be still checking in on the blog over the weekend for your comments so please feel free to jump in.

May you all have a great weekend!

A Pledge To Education Borrowers

2009-09-17T20:42:00.000-04:00

I want to make a pledge to everyone who participates in this blog who has suffered with the burden of excessive student loan debt. I will do what I can through to help to change the way people think about educational loans and do what I can to see that we better protect borrowers when accepting loans and to enable them to seek greater relief when under duress from excess debt.

So please make comments here, email me, let me know what you are thinking, whether you agree or not with what I have to say. In this way, we can all work together to find and push for changes in educational loans that benefit everyone. Hopefully, we can find ways to protect everyone from what has become just another predatory situation in our country.

Going Beyond One's Own Needs

2009-09-17T02:08:00.000-04:00

Something is nagging at me based on some reading I did at a website dedicated to getting student loan debts forgiven. At Forgivestudentloandebt.com, one commenter wrote that he would do everything in his power to prevent the government from forgiving student loan debt. In all fairness, this person makes some valid and reasonable points before taking this hard nosed position.

The commenter made the point that asking the government to forgive student loans was a form of a financial burden on his business via taxes. Furthermore, he made the argument that people interested in this kind of government bailout had a sense of entitlement and that these would simply be taxes passed on to his children and grandchildren for little more than what amounted to "4 or 5 years of self-exploration and overspending".

It was some interesting, compelling perspective and admittedly part of me shares some of the spirit of what I believe the writer meant. I have a very hard time thinking that the decisions I have made and ultimately the mistakes I have made should somehow become someone else's problems or that others should have to bail me out. After all, they were my choices and choices have consequences. Despite the deep financial hole I am in and as much as I feel I really need help and would appreciate that help I can't help but feel the responsibility for how I got here.

BUT - this is where another part of my mind says, hold on - there are consequences to our choices right? Does this equally apply to everyone? Maybe I should look closer at this idea.

Let me start this new line of questioning by saying that the commenter apparently has made good decisions that have paid off for him. I am truly happy for him and his family. His dreams have been realized to some extent. That's wonderful! He isn't asking for a handout so why should he and his children have to help anyone else out? Right? That's a valid question.

While I agree with what this writer has to say I must take issue with the sentimentality and its shortsightedness. I have seen enough in my life to know that no one in life truly makes it anywhere or achieves anything without the assistance of others. At some point we all need some help. In fact, this simple understanding is so deep-seated in our society and we take it so serious that, as a country, we spend a large percentage of our current tax revenues in the United States on this ideal. So just what kind of help am I talking about and why would we do it? I will explain.

The kind of help I am referring to is the kind of help we lend to people blessed with children in our society. They are given elevated status above childless singles and couples. This status comes up every year they receive a tax break for each child that they have. And as a result, every person and couple without children pays a higher level of taxes to the IRS each and every year compared to their child-blessed counterparts. Why should this be so? Why is it fair to give preferential tax treatment to parents over childless singles and couples?

In addition, all homeowners must pay school taxes to their local school districts even if they don't have children, can't have children, or want to have children but can't have children because of other financial obligations (i.e., student loans).

So this begs the questions: why should childless singles and couples be asked to pay for the choices others have made to have children? Is this right? Is it fair to the childless?

My answer to all of this is that we all, at times must go beyond our present need and serve a larger, common good. Education serves that greater good in this example. Furthermore, perpetuation of our culture and our way of life through our children is also considered to be for the common good and is thus fundamentally important. But this commitment takes resources, significant time and money to achieve. We, all of us, support this commitment with tax incentives and spreading the burden around a larger tax base - to everyone, including those without children and those who own homes.

In short, most or all of us benefit from these share-the-burden type practices that have the greater good at heart. Sometimes we are the payers and sometimes we are the receivers. Sometimes we are both. But I hope I have shown, in an albeit crude and limited fashion, that it is longstanding practice to do what is right in this country and to help those in need, even when it may not sit right with some of us and it doesn't precisely meet our so called purist capitalistic ideals.

So to those who resist addressing the growing enslavement of some of America's good and decent minds through excessive student loan practices I say this: before you commit to doing everything in your power to oppose something that might ultimately benefit everyone - take a good look at your life and be thankful for what have you received because of the good graces of others. Maybe that tax break for your children or that public school education that you feel you are entitled too isn't such a sweet deal for someone else. And maybe that someone else, is someone struggling with $120,000 in student loans who is paying for your tax break and your child's education.

How I Got Into This Mess Part 3

2009-09-15T19:49:00.001-04:00

At 27 years old I made the hard decision to go back to school so that I could set my life right. I felt I had to make a change at that point in my life because I was struggling financially with jobs working in construction and in a retail establishment. Nothing about my life felt right - I was going nowhere and that didn't feel like me. I had a good mind that was going to waste and the degree I already had was not serving me.

At first I completed a second bachelors degree, this time in psychology. I did very well and finished in the spring of 1997.

It was at that time that I began acquiring the student loans that plague me today. As they started to grow I knew they were there but my mind was focused on my goal - to get my Ph.D. and to do something worthwhile with my life. I just had to stay focused I thought, and not let the worry about money get in the way. But it was always there - a nagging reminder.

So I stayed focused and marched on to graduate school. I was easily accepted into a graduate program at the University of Buffalo into one its psychology programs. All was well - or so I told myself.

In 2002 I was awarded my Master's Degree. It was a little late but that was because I was completing a lot of other coursework necessary for my Ph.D.

Soon after completing M.A. my financial situation started to hit critical however. Even though I had been working in various ways at this point - retail, teaching positions, graduate and teaching assistanships I still kept taking loans out - to pay for various expenses the jobs couldn't cover. It was at this point, about the time I turned 34 that I began to completely mismanage the loans and my financial future and things got crazy out of control.

Looking back I think I lost my focus for a number of reasons - none of which I offer as excuses. There was the pressure of finishing the degree, the knowledge that my loans were going to be coming due, the pending search for a job that was mostly likely going to be in academia which is highly competitve, and all the thoughts of how I was going to pay to do this job search. There was also a relationship with a woman I worked with that was starting, I lost a close friend in my graduate program over the aforementioned relationship, and then there was the subsequent breakup with the same girlfriend a while later. These weren't all my worries but some of the larger ones at the time.

All these pressures and worries put me to the test and all I can say was that when it came down to crunch time I folded and checked out for awhile. Don't get me wrong - I showed up for work and generally everything appeared fine from the outside but on the inside I was a wreck, very afraid and I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't feel I could ask for help or had anyone I could turn to. Because of the way my life had been up to that point I always felt like I should know and that if I didn't maybe I wasn't worthy.

It was when I got to the dissertation point in my program that I just stopped showing up altogether. I remember thinking that if I could just get through one more semester and I would be alright. All it really took was for my advising professor to tell me that he wasn't inclined to sign a document for my next semester of loans that I just couldn't deal with the mess that I made anymore. I couldn't afford it - I told myself - instead of seeking help - I pulled back in isolation with my shame. I walked away and was released from my program a year later by letter.

It sickens me to even think these words let alone write them but that is generally how it happened. That's how I ended up with $120, 000 in student loans without my Ph.D.

I offer this story not as an excuse but as an explanation for how I got into this mess.

Education: Utility or Futility?

2009-09-14T20:17:00.000-04:00

Before I finish the miserable story of How I Got Into This Mess I thought it might be prudent to take a moment out to acknowledge that there yet may be some purpose for all my hardship and the mistakes I have made over the last 20 years or so.

Many years ago I came across an unattributed quote framed with an image of a shipwreck that read:

"It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others."

While I certainly didn't think that was meant for me at the time, that's a very powerful message I must share with you all. It is my hope that anyone planning some sizable financial move, whether it's going back to college or buying a house or any other significant monetary burden, thinks long and clear before making the leap.

You can't undo financial mistakes in any easy fashion anymore. So be wise - seek counsel and get some good advice before acting.

This is not to say that going to college is a bad choice or that seeking a higher level degree is a mistake. But in light of what I have shared thus far I can make the following recommendation with a clear conscience. Any education, whether a trade school, associates degree, bachelor degree or graduate degree should only be undertaken, in my humble opinion, with a specific job and target salary in mind, especially if the education requires some financial loan situation. In this way you can at least move forward into your future with a solid plan as your foundation. By using a plan you may then get the greatest utility out of your education rather than the futile existence that I feel am leading at the present time.

In sum, I can not recommend some one leverage their future with a wishy-washy idea of what they might do when their degree is completed. I have learned this lesson the hard way, so please, please, please I beg you - learn from my shipwreck.

How I Got Into This Mess Part 2

2009-09-13T20:24:00.000-04:00

Ok, so last time I told you all about my pre-college woes. Yeah, I know. Some of you are thinking boohoo - poor little guy and you are right. Plenty of people in life have tough breaks, some much worse than what you just read. But that would be to miss my point that the mess I'm in has a situational context that partially explains how I got here. But I digress.

Anyway, after surviving a near miss, potentially fatal, car accident the first day I got the money pit on the road (true story) things went well the first year, sort of. I worked hard and made it to the deans list taking mostly pre-engineering courses. These included calculus, physics, chemistry etc. I lost 15lbs that first year while the average student gains 10lbs so I guess one could say I was a little stressed out. For money I worked when I could as a cashier at a local grocery chain. I had to temporarily give up my work with a construction company as it didn't jive with my classes.

Second year, I crashed. Family life at home was not so hot. Having to work and maintain class load was not so hot. A personal relationship that had recently ended was not so hot. My GPA crashed as course difficulty ramped up. I soon found myself mired in night after sleepless night in dreams about equations and geometric symbols. I was on academic probation by the end of the year - which was perfect timing you see because that was when the UB Engineering Department was officially accepting students for the Electrical Engineering program. Now that was timing.

It was then that it became clear that I would not be able to finish my degree in 4 years. I was told I would have to take additional courses to raise my GPA for consideration and that would likely take another year. Now at the time I wanted to get out of my parents house asap. So stretching this whole thing out seemed crazy and impossible - so once again I made a bad decision. To complete my degree as fast as I could I chose a major that I was able to complete in the targeted time frame - Economics. I chose it because I had already taken some courses and shown some propensity - it was that simple.

I completed the degree at night and on time while working construction during the day. So far so good. However, it was now the summer of 1991 and the economy was in a downturn thanks to George Bush Sr. and the late Ronald Reagan. People weren't exactly banging on my door to hire an economics major. I want on several interviews for jobs with sub par pay - but hey I needed a job so I just wanted to get my foot in the door and out my parents' door.

Interview after interview I was told I was actually overqualified.

Here I am thinking what kind of universe permits this kind of irony!? My response to them each time was that "if I was overqualified I wouldn't have applied". To that I heard the following phrase at least 4 times - "Well you know nothing is ever wasted."

Here I am at 40 and so far they were all WRONG! I have yet to get a job to this day because of that degree.

So now I'm 22, living at home with my swell family situation and working construction with a useless four year degree. I should have moved out of my parents house then - and let the chips fall as they may but I didn't. I didn't feel I could afford it, or was afraid of leaving or something - but I stayed and things didn't get any better. I wallowed in my mediocrity for quite some time.

I tried different jobs - none requiring a degree - until I got fed up and decided it was time to go back to school and try again. That's when I made my biggest mistake of all as I see it. And that is the stuff Part 3 of How I Got Into This Mess is all about.

How I Got Into This Mess Part 1

2009-09-11T20:27:00.000-04:00

My initial article explained the dire situation I am currently in but not how I got here. My readers deserve to know how all this came to be if there is some understanding to come out of all this.

I graduated high school in 1987 amidst a very difficult family situation. My parents were going through what seemed to be an impending divorce. At the time and in retrospect the divorce was the best thing for my family - my father didn't agree since he was the one at fault at every turn. He made it miserable for everyone, using every mental and emotional tactic he could to remain with little care for what was best for everyone. His tearful and at times suicidal pleas eventually won out, not because he was redeemable, but because he wore my brothers and my mother down. I wanted him gone for many reasons and eventually, a decade later, his unrelenting, abusive and childish behaviors would lead to a divorce and excommunication from the family, all of his own choice.

During the family drama of the summer of 1987, I was preparing for college. While other post high school teens were living it up with friends in social bliss I was suffering with immense anxiety of where I might end up living and how I was going to pay for college. I was certainly not in a good place to make such decisions and parental support was nonexistent. It was a terrible time to make such a big decision.

Now to understand everything that was going on in my head at 18yrs old you should know that my father had always promised to pay for college if I did well in school. With few exceptions, I earned straight As in high school so I had some expectation that this promise would be kept. However, my father was notorious over the years for speaking beyond his true word ending ultimately in statements that became lies. That's the nicest way I can put it but the name 'Liar' is what fills my mind. As the summer of 1987 came to an end it became clear there would be no money for college.

To make matters worse, as the fall of 1987 approached and the divorce issue between my parents was inconveniently shelved, I found myself needing transportation to school. The 'new' version of my father gallantly offered his vehicle as a means, because his work schedule would place him on the job at later hours in the day, leaving his vehicle free for daytime commuting to school. That offer lasted until just weeks before classes at the University of Buffalo were to due to commence. Just like he had done so many times to me before in my life my father not only let me down but lied and put me in a terrible situation. I now had to find a car in a hurry because his would only be available for a few weeks into the school year. Once again I was in a bad place to make another big decision. With little money and minimal knowledge of cars I sought out to find a vehicle with help from my older brother and an uncle.

The car I ultimately purchased became reminiscent of the 1986 film The Money Pit starring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long. Almost immediately after purchasing a 1983 Dodge Omni TC3 the transmission went and the exhaust system fell off the car. There is more to this car horror story but I think the effect is there - when it rains it pours! All the money I had at the time as well as some borrowed money from my father (more on that later) went into repairing the vehicle. I was going to college broke, in a car not quite road worthy, with a family support structure that was mostly non-existent, and not a clue as to how all this was getting paid for.

So that's the place I was in when I first became a student at the University of Buffalo in 1987. Though I hate to use puns, please tune in next time for Part 2 of How I Got Into This Mess.

The Situation

2009-09-08T22:40:00.000-04:00

Things happen along the way in life, especially things that you never planned or dreamed would happen. These undreamed things are not always good things either.

For instance, I fully expected to have a PhD. sitting on my wall by now for the nearly $120,000 in student loans that I now have. Instead, I am currently repaying my loans on a modest wage earned while learning a skilled trade as an apprentice. The wage is a far cry from being enough to pay the loan off in the short term. I figure it will take the rest of my life and then some at the current rate of repayment, even with foreseeable pay increases.

To make matters more agonizing, I was just notified by my student loan agency that my payments will nearly double from $274 to $491 for all future payments under an income contingent plan. That increase will take up almost 25% of my total monthly net income. I will not be able to get ahead or share a larger portion of the monthly bills with my new wife unless I get a new source of income or come into some type of windfall. I am not even sure I can afford the increase as is. I guess I have some math to work out.

Does anyone out there have any realistic ideas about other income sources? A way beyond all this debt? Relief of some kind? I am at a loss right now.

At this point, I really feel burned out and exhausted but also a need to keep plugging away to fix this, somehow. It's just that, at 40, my dream of having children of my own seems out of reach - having my own home too seems all but impossible unless something changes soon. I am frustrated because things feel hopeless to a certain degree. Mind you, I hope things aren't hopeless and that there is someway to fix all this.

The worst thing about all this is that I feel sad, alone and isolated with my student loans. The education that was supposed to free me has burdened me with the shame I feel for ever getting myself into this situation to begin with. Most isolating is that my family really has no knowledge as to the degree of my indebtedness and how it has paralyzed me. I can't bring myself to talk to them about it because of the great shame and embarrassment I feel. These loans, the large inescapable debt, have an additional burden not entirely summed up by the debt itself and it is soul sickening.

All these intertwined feelings lead me to wonder how many people like me there are out there. People feeling lost and helpless because they too got hoodwinked into thinking that spending lots of money on any kind of education was a surefire way to a good and prosperous future.

So this is where I am and what I am feeling as I start my blogging journey. I hope this helps someone as I explore this. I hope I find help as others have insight for me.

Welcome and good wishes to all who join me here.