Debt or Dead End

With senior year quickly approaching, it seems that greater concerns over matters of money are at the forefront of my thoughts. A significant reason for this distress is the looming presence of debt that is already over my head. It seems that more than ever I reflect and feel guilty about the purchases that I make. For instance, a few days ago my grocery bill added up to about $130, this past weekend alone I spent at least $100 to lend a good time to visiting friends and tonight I coughed up $100 for my utilities. It doesn't end there, however. According to me, I will be testing out the big city life this summer and will move from there to Cardiff Bay in Wales. My 18 week internship in Wales will cost me approximately $6,500 (not including food, air fare and other small trips). I don't even want to think about what it will cost me to possibly live in New York City - an arm, a leg, and probably my ability to buy food or breathe. Aside from my big plans, I currently owe the government $12,000 and will owe an estimated $20,000 after graduation. Hello, my name is Meryl, and I am a slave to money. Too bad for me, considering the fact that my outlook for big money in public relations is far down the road. According to the Public Relations Society of America Web site, the average entry level salary for a college graduate with a baccalaureate in public relations is about $18,000 to $22,000. However, I hardly have anything to complain about, in view of the fact that my parents owe $51,000 in loans because of my sister's and my education. By the time I graduate, that $51,000 will increase.

Out of curiosity, I wanted to talk to a loan officer at one of the local bank branches to figure out what it was like to acquire a student loan. After I was shot down three consecutive times, I decided that it was probably either a touchy subject or nobody wanted to waste their time talking to a journalism student about student loans. At the Ohio University Credit Union, the only response I received from the desk assistant was that they didn't deal with student loans and they discouraged students from taking out personal loans. So, my question is, "how are students supposed to pay for college?" The manager I talked to at Chase Bank threw an 800 number at me and told me to talk to them about it. Needless to say, I was getting nowhere.

In my reflection on how things had gone at the banks, I remembered a woman that I interviewed about a blog she is involved in called Creditslips. The blog discusses issues ranging from bankruptcy and consumerism to debt trading and student loans. In a recent entry she made, Deborah Thorne, an expert on bankruptcy and debt, and a sociology professor at Ohio University, talked about student loans and the idea that they are a modern form of slavery. She said to me, "The worry over student loans is burdening, it's ugly, it's frustrating and it is scary, but there is no other way." And isn't that the truth? I am over exaggerating when I say this, but the choice is to pay off student loans for most of your life or flip burgers at the local fast food joint. Not that working fast food is discrediting, but it's a dead end road and it's tough. So most of us choose college, we choose tuition, we choose student loans and we choose to be chained down by debt. For most of the student population, those four plus years cost us a lifetime. Thorne explained to me that this fear of debt is prevalent among most students getting ready to graduate. "They are frightened, and they probably should be," she explained. However, on the bright side, there are those lucky few that don't have to worry about debt upon graduation. I can imagine that they are feeling better about their decision to go to college. Thorne advised me to look at the difference between students that graduate with no debt compared to those graduating with an average of $20,000 of debt. On the one hand there is the student that sees a bright and fulfilling future that can afford health insurance, pay bills, buy a house and maybe even begin saving for their own children. The other end of the spectrum is dreary - the future for these students is burdensome. "Student loan debt is an ugly thing, probably the ugliest thing about college next to credit card debt," Thorne said.

In her recent post on student loans Thorne explained the common mind bind that students are in. "They (Thorne's students) described an increasingly common pickle -- there was no way that they could have attended college without the loans, and they are frightened that they will not be able to repay them, but they knew that without the college degree, their futures were beyond bleak. To say they feel between a rock and a hard place would be an understatement (Creditslips.org)."

Thorne went on to explain her trouble with student loans as she is having to postpone her retirement because the money that should be going to her 401K is going to Sallie Mae, the nation's leading provider of student loans. "I don't regret my education; however, I am discouraged and disgusted by the amount of student loan debt with which so many of our young people must graduate college. I would argue that these student loans are the modern day version of indentured servitude (Creditslips.org)."

To live in a society that puts such a heavy burden on the people contributing to the future is discouraging and downright frustrating. With that, I must end before I get violent.

* The photo was taken by me. I borrowed a couple dollars from my roommate (because I didn’t have any money in my wallet – go figure). I manipulated the shot in a program called HP Image Zone.

Upcoming entries: I will be talking with students about their financial situations and what they are to expect in their future. Some of the interviews were done in person and the others were done through E-mail.