Share Your Student Loan Stories

This is my first time i visit here. I found so many interesting stuff in your blog especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! keep up the good work
hillview peak

i graduated from optometry school 2 years ago with $220,000 debt and I now owe 200,000 after paying thousands in interest only a month. work is becoming a chore and I feel like everyday I'm working to pay off the interest on my loans. with no options it looks like only total disability or death is the only way to get myself out of this mess and it's something i've thought about on a daily basis. A decade of hard work now resulted in a daily grind of paying the banks in interest only. i've fallen into depression as a result and am now taking antidepressants just to get back. no motivation, no hope, i'm just working until the day I fall over and call it quits.

I went to an ivy league school. I went to several oriental medicine colleges. Each assured me of a 100,000 income upon getting my degree and license. I had no help from the parents. Had to leave home at 16 because it was not a nice place to live. I got the acupuncture degree and license just as the economy was tanking. There were 46 people in my graduating class alone in just one of the city's acupuncture colleges. I continued to work my old job, trying to build a practice. 2 years later I got fired from my job I'd held for over 10 years. The magical 100,000 dollar practice I was supposed to develop never happened. Its a big scam to go to acupuncture college. Its very hard to make a living. I now owe 240,000 dollars in student loans and the federal gov says I will pay an additional 127,000 dollars in interest over the next 25 years. There are no jobs for acupuncturists. Well, there are a few if you are willing to work in a mill type of clinic getting paid about 18-20 per hour treating around 40-80 patients a day. What kind of bs is this? My last year in college, the college increased its tuition a good amount. Be wary of acupuncture schools! Fellow classmates have had to go back to school for nursing after getting their license and degree because the job market was so bad to earn a living! The only place that is making any money on acupuncture are the acupuncturists that are working in the schools or the schools themselves.

I do not have any personal story to share about student loan, but then also I have seen many of my friends to suffer because of student loan. After finishing the college they are getting good job which lead them to suffer a lot as they have to help their family also.

Hi there, actually mine wasn't horror story its a good thing. Just want to share this with you guys. We know all that being a student isn't easy there are a lot need to be paid. So fretting about money in college is really hard. In fact, it could stress a student out way too much and impact grades. Luckily, a cash advance help me get by when I need money before my paycheck comes. Get the help you need to get through school. Learn more at:"Fast cash for college students" personalmoneynetwork.com Payday Loan

Hopefully my post about this isn't removed like it was in the past - Robert doesn't seem to want people to know about legal options that will actually help them....

First of all, I would like to introduce myself; my name is Mark Sadowski. I have a bachelors in Architecture from SUNY Buffalo (2006), a Masters in Construction Management from NYU (2011) and a Masters Certificate in Real Estate from NYU (2012). I finished undergrad with about $28k in student debt, and have now tallied another $72k at NYU, even whilst working full time during my studies. $100k total for people who are too tired to do math after a long day trying to fathom their student loan debt calculations. (-:

Just consolidated (all federal loans....You have to do what is smartest. More protection on fed loans) and chose IBR which I barely qualify for, but due to having a son, business expense deductions and max allowable IRA contributions, my determining AGI is below the cutoff. Fine.

I have a steady, good job which provides me enough income to make my IBR (~$700/month) payment or extended (~$790/month) payment for 25 yrs. I also started a consulting business which I intend to gain business from (www.mStudiosArchitecture.com). I live in NYC, so I know these numbers all seem high, but it is all relative, I assure you - I came from a poor family in Buffalo, NY looking at $28k as a daunting amount of debt. Now, $100k doesn't even phase me.

The problem, as we all know, is that by paying this sum of money to the DofEd each month, it does not allow me (us) to save for anything - referring to real property. This inherently deters growth, hence, controlled inflation, and ultimately, the real estate market. The last thing people with student debt will do is try to buy a house, yet alone, start saving for a house - especially those indentured to a 25-year plan.

So if the government isn't going to help ease the burden, we should come about a more intuitive way to ease the burden on ourselves. Obviously under IBR, your balance is forgiven after 25 yrs, but 25 yrs is a lifetime, and will be detrimental to this economy. That lengthy term will only add to the growing income/wealth gaps with age and class.

The other method, working for a "public service agency, such as a state, federal or
local entity," OR working for a "certified tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization," will allow the federal loan borrower to achieve forgiveness in just 10 years!

Now I know you are saying; "501(c)(3) organizations pay nothing" or "how would I even begin to find a job at a 501(c)(3) organization." Well, it is easier than you think.

YOU SET UP THE ORGANIZATION YOURSELF OR UNDER SOMEONE ELSE's NAME AND FILE FOR 501(c)(3) status through the IRS. @RobertApplebaum just filed for (c)(4) status - if he wanted to create a way out, he should have filed as a (c)(3).

How does this work? Well, let me tell you that after sitting on the phone with the Dept. Of Education, Great Lakes Student Loans Borrower Services, Direct Loan Consolidation and the office for the Secretary of Education, there are NO stipulations within the Dept of Ed that do not allow you to do this!!!! I had every single person on the phone baffled over my inquiry. They were all speechless.

Details: I am already filing a new Corporation as a (c)(3) sometime in the next month or so, after which I will start paying myself minimum wage at the required 30 hrs/week mandate that is outlined in the forgiveness clause. I will be an "educational/charitable"entity dedicated to (here's the best part) educating and making students or grads aware of the student loan lending world, repayment plans, as well as a link to other great/helpful sites such as Robert's. More details to come, but I will have a website set up soon.

How and why will this work? The D of Ed doesn't set the 501(c)(3) standards, the IRS does. D of Ed doesn't determine which (c)(3) organizations qualify, because if you achieve that status, they all do. Done.

Math: In my example, by paying myself minimum wage ($7.25/hour) at 30 hrs/ week x 52 wks a yr = $11,310/year (yes, this is additional taxable income, but you can "donate" these funds back to your (c)(3) each yr to avoid tax). Now, under IBR, that additional $11,310 above and beyond my other (normal) income will have a sum taken out for the IBR payment. ($11,310 x .15 = $1,697/12 months = $141/month additional payment for 10 yrs).

So, $141 x 12 months x 10 years = $16,920 extra payment over 10 yrs WITH FORGIVENESS DUE TO PROOF OF EMPLOYMENT FOR A 501(c)(3)

Beats the hell out of the original option: additional/remaining 15 years under IBR NOT working for a (c)(3) = $700 x 12 months x 15 years = $126,000

$126,000 - $16,920 = $109,080 savings

Yes, I would rather save $110,000 And according to the way the loan terms, repayment terms, promissory note and D of Ed mandate is written, it is the current, legal law.

I would also like to say that I am by no means "complaining" about my student debt; I would do it all over again if I had the chance. I am just trying to come up with legal ways of "paying off" the debt, and/or utilizing the current systems in place to get some of the debt thrown out.

Hopefully Robert Applebaum doesn't delete this post like he did the last one - it seems like he is trying to hide something from his followers by NOT allowing this post to show up on the blog, even though it is a LEGAL route and HELPFUL for many.

Links to many of your questions below:

1) Loan Forgiveness Fact Sheet

http://studentaid.ed.gov/sites/default/files/public-service-loan-forgive...

2) Dear Borrower Letter

http://studentaid.ed.gov/sites/default/files/DBL_PSLF.pdf

3) Instructions for Employment Certification

http://studentaid.ed.gov/sites/default/files/public-service-employment-c...

4) Employment Certification Form(s)

http://studentaid.ed.gov/sites/default/files/public-service-employment-c...

5) Q & A's (PAY ATTENTION TO Q53 - YOU CAN CERTIFY YOUR OWN TIME)

http://studentaid.ed.gov/sites/default/files/public-service-loan-forgive...

I graduated from law school at 39 yrs. old with a husband and two children, ages 5 and 8 at the time. I took out student loans to pay for my schooling. At the same time, my husband's business floundered and we had trouble even feeding our family. Student loans were practically thrown at me every time I looked in my student mailbox. A big mistake but so easy to understand at the time. At graduation I was making around $45,000 and my student loan debt was over $100,000. Unable to make payments on principal, I started making interest only payments and only in recent years have I been making a standard payment of principal and interest, based on my income as a government attorney. Now my debt at age 57 is down to $98,000. I will never be able to pay it off. I divorced since then and was unable to help my children pay for college, and now their lives are also consumed by student loan debt, and even worse, because of my financial situation, most of their loans are private, compounding their situation. Now I thought I would be able to have my FFELP loans forgiven which are presently serviced by Sallie Mae, because I work for the government in an area which services the poor. No, I found out I won't be able to, unless I consolidate with Direct Loans, which I looked into, but which would have raised my present payment around $400 for the next ten years, not to mention I'd have to work until I am at least 67, and who knows if my health will last? So now I'm stuck staying with Sallie Mae, paying a large chunk of change, hardly reducing my original debt due to interest, and no prospect of ever getting ahead financially. I would have been better off financially staying at my original job as an administrative assistant with no student loans and be ahead. Because of me, both my kids went to college and look forward to their own lives of student loan debt. What a legacy I've left them!

I took out about 50,000 in loans. By the time I graduated that amount had already gone up to 75,000. Will once in practice, things have not been go for me. I owe so much in loans now, that I will never be able to repay them. It has push my credit score so low, that it makes it almost impossible for me to finance a stick of gum. Really would love to pay off the starting amount but with the interest and other thinks it is well over 300,000.

This winter I was diagnosed with having a chordoma tumor in my C1 vertebre, requiring two major surgeries and many months of recovery. The first thing I worried about (to my family & doctor's dismay) was being able to continue with my loan payments as I had finally been paying down the principal over the past year. My total in private loans is about $76,000 now. I had only borrowed $65,000 for school itself, however Sallie Mae charged me interest WHILE I was in college and has refused to consolidate my loans due to the "bad economy."

I called up Sallie Mae to see what my options where for loan repayment/forgiveness, explaining the health situation I had been put into. They told me that I could file for a forbearance, which would allow interest to be added to the principal while I wasn't making payments. That was their ONLY option. I then asked what would happen if I died or was paralyzed during my operation (which was completely possible.) They said that it would be up to my co-signers (parents) to repay my debt. I was blown away. I said to the man on the phone "so if I were to die during this operation, you would force my parents to pay this loan?" to which he responded "well, they could file a death claim."

While I recover from what was an incredibly successful operation, I'm living on $800 a month disability. $600 of that every month goes towards my student loans in an effort to make any sort of headway towards paying them off. Meanwhile I have physical therapy, food, and bills to take maintain on the remaining $200. Needless to say I am receiving financial assistance from friends and family.

I'm not complaining about the $800; I'm complaining about the fact that my private loan company is robbing me of any sort of economic advancement even after having my life and physical abilities have changed forever. I can't save money up for a car, to move to a place with more job opportunities, or to start a business, all of which are things I have the passion and ability to do, but not the financial resources.

I was assured when I graduated high school in 2005 that college was the only smart thing to do, and that student debt was manageable and worth it for the degree. I expected my education to cost money. I worked hard in college because I understood that I was paying more money than I had ever seen in my whole life towards it. I'm no slacker, but I'm sick of seeing 80% of my paycheck going towards student loans that apparently don't care if I die and can never use my college education anyways.

- Kate K Milo
BA Art History, Tulane University
Writer & Illustrator, J1studios

I have been paying for 6 yrs on student loans that I took out for my 2 children's college. When my
last one graduated there was a rush of notices that if I didn't consolidate immediately I would miss out on all the low (?) interest rates, not even sure now if they were legitimate. I received notice last fall there was a RATE INCREASE and a PAYMENT INCREASE. The notice also told how to go on line and see my account, first time I had ever been told that. So, after 6 years of paying $XXX.XX per month I discovered on line that I now owe MORE than I borrowed and every cent I had paid for the last 6 years was going on INTEREST ONLY!! I have been in business for 30 years, no way would I have EVER agreed to an INTEREST ONLY loan, how did that get by me!? Or was it in the fine print hidden by the banks so they could cash in on the gravy train of the new student loan laws, bought and paid for by the banks and our law makers.
My biggest concern is how many of our kids are now stuck in these loan shark style agreements and DON'T KNOW IT! If you are connected with ACS ( https://www.acs-education.com/) be warned!! I will die still owing these loan sharks money....
Support the Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012

Sallie Mae has tortured our family to the point of illness. We just paid them over $1200 a couple of weeks ago and received a bill for $696 for next month. They are like a monster that you cannot keep fed. My son makes $8 an hour as a chef and his student loan (after not being able to pay due to extreme hardship) has doubled to $100,000. I stupidly co-signed this loan so my home is also on the line. My husband was laid off 6 months last year and I make nothing as a school secretary. My son's wife (also a chef) also has student loans. I wrote the president and received a lovely form letter in the mail. No one seems to care! We feel like we've been abandoned by the system. Where we live, the welfare recipients are living much better than we are! I hope this bill passes and that it actually helps my son!

There were many years after college that I couldn't make my student loan payments. I paid what I could to avoid default, but rather naively chose forbearance while I got my feet under me, especially my first few years in New York City, where I moved after college. My student loan has become my only debt, but boy what a debt it is! My interest is fixed at a whopping 8.75%. I will end up paying triple the amount I borrowed. I make an automatic payment every month. I have a good job and can make that payment, but it is sickening when I look at the hard numbers and see how little of my payments go toward the principle. After years of showing responsibility and making payments, I have contacted Sallie Mae and asked them how it would be possible to lower my interest. "No can do. Increase your monthly payment to see the balance go down," they say.

This has affected saving for and buying a home, saving for retirement, the list goes on...

I am a stay at home mom due to the failing economy in MI. I have more than $300,000 in student loan debt that some of which are private student loans that keep accumulating interest daily at a rate of 5% that I cannot pay back due to the inability to find work that will pay enough to pay for two children in childcare.

I think this bill will benefit EVERYONE that has student loan debt and the economy and companies to help them to get some of their monies back versus people getting negative marks on their credit reports becasue they can't afford the payments that are wanted by these private student loan companies due to the fact that graduates cannot find a job in many states due to the failing economy in the US.

Please pass this bill so the economy and student loan debt can be reduced and the US can start to come out of this "economic" slump it is in.

I graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 2007.

Upon graduation my loans were approximately $175,000.

It took about four months before I got to my home state and was had all boards passed so I was eligible for a job. I applied at one chiropractic office and landed that job, but the owner of the so-to-be new chiro office took too long to get it going and my wife made me look for other employment. Two months later I landed the next job I applied for. It was for the standard first chiro job that most get... $1,000 a week... $50,000 a year. My wife is also a chiropractor and graduated in 2008... and had approximately $185,000 in student loan debt. She tried to get a job, but in the first six months or so could not get one.

After working at my new job for about six months my boss asked if I wanted to buy another one of his chiropractic offices. It made sense to do it, even though we didn't like the location... because it would give my wife a job and allow me to work there part time while I earned the $1,000 a week in my current job. Things didn't turn out the way we thought they would. We were lied to by the previous owner (my boss) and then he basically started accusing me of neglecting the job he hired me for at his other clinic. I began thinking that maybe he had just hired me to sell me one of his other practices, just so he could get out of the bad lease (that became a horrible lease since the economy had dropped out).

I'm telling you all this because I'm trying to help you understand why we didn't pay our loans for the first few years... we couldn't. The business we took over had been doing okay before we took over because the previous owner's uncle was a big-time lawyer and was pumping the practice full of accident patients. The moment we took it over, those accident patients stopped walking through the door and we basically had to come up with $8,000 overhead (this is not including our $1,000 each in student loans we were suppose to be paying per month... OR our private bills). Oh, and we were living in my parents house for the three years trying to avoid bankruptcy.

So we make it through the lease and pay off what we owned to the previous owner so we could start over in our home town 60 miles away. This was in November 2010. Right about the time the student loan people were telling me I was about out of deferment time for my loans of $175,000.

After calling me over and over and over and over I finally talked with them, trying to figure out a way to pay them. They had me apply for a hardship deferment (?)... so it would give me an additional 12 months to not pay until I was able to pay. My wife and I had made a whole $25,000 that year... it was on our 2010 tax return. I was told the hardship was DENIED. I asked why, because I really couldn't believe I wasn't eligible. I was told we had to make under $22,000 (or there about), and we just made too much. That's when I said, "But both my wife and I have the same amount of loans, and there is no way we could both have paid for the loans"... they wanted us to each pay $900 plus for our loan repayments per month... or 21,600 plus per year. Ummm... hello... do the math... it leaves us with a couple thousand to live on for the entire year... that's not even enough for food. Hell, a couple months later, my wife ended up pregnant and believe me we still can't believe it happened because we are in our early 40's and had a hard time conceiving our first child years ago. We ended up on Medicaid for our son's birth one year ago from now... and our kids are still on Medicaid, as well as my wife.

When I told Iowa Student Loan (our lender) we both have the loans and we couldn't possibly pay right now, they said they didn't take into consideration that BOTH of us had the loans... and that's why we were denied hardship. I to this day think that was a mistake or a lie. I don't know how we weren't eligible by only making $25,000 for the both of us in 2010.

Not knowing what else I could do, I ended up defaulting my loan in Oct 2011 which had grown to roughly $180,000 because of interest. Over the last six months of 2011 and the beginning of 2012 our new business has been doing much better and we are getting to the point of being able to finally afford to make payments on everything. I finally decide it's time to start making good on my loans... now that we have money coming in on a regular basis. I contact the collection agency (DCS - Diversified Collection Services) that's been hounding me for the last few months... and they set up a rehabilitation program where I need to make 9 payments of $998 and I will be out of default. I set it up so they are taking it out automatically... so far they've taken two payments and everything is good.

Well... I thought things were going to be okay, but then I noticed the other day that my balance has gone from $180,000 to $223,500 in about a six month period. I contact the collection agency who tell me that they aren't the one's that imposed the collection penalty, but it's the College Aids Commission that did it... and they give me their number. They then confirm that yes, they imposed a penalty of 23% of the entire loan and added it to the balance... it was more than $41,000.

Ummm... I cannot even believe they are trying to charge me $41,000... because I didn't qualify for the hardship extension... because I couldn't afford to pay my original debt. Now they want to tack on $41,000 plus in FINES? I feel like I'm being robbed. I just can't believe this is even legal. I get collection agencies are in business for a reason, and I get there should be penalties for being late or not paying, but $41,000???!?!?!???

I was told the woman who answered at College Aids Commission that they were well within their legal right to charge anywhere between 18 to 25%... a ONE time fee for defaulted loans. My argument was... so if you have a student that owes a loan for $1,000 and then one that owes $180,000... the paperwork is essentially the same and they impose a 23% one-time penalty to both... how is it that they are only going to charge $230 for that $1,000 loan... yet $41,000 plus for the other? It's close to the same amount of work for the loan officers. Okay, maybe it's a little bit more... maybe double... but I just don't know how it's legal for them to charge 23% on an account where there is so much owed. There really should be a cap of just how much they can charge for a penalty. This is absolutely predatory by the collection agencies.

I was thinking about a fair penalty and I thought... I could see $5,000... I could maybe see $10,000, although I think that's a bit much... but $41,000 plus... they are out of their minds. Think about how much $41,000 is. How many years is it going to take me to pay of $41,000 at $500 per month with interest... not to mention the other legitimate loan I owe... the other $180,000. I know it took me $350 a month for five years to pay off my $18,000 car. So I'm basically going to be penalized a fee of approx $500 per month for nine years (this is all extra) all because I didn't qualify for a hardship which I feel I probably should have.

One last note. My wife is behind on her loans and we are trying to start paying on them. They wanted even more... like $1,500 a month. We told them at this time we can't afford that, so they said she could send in paperwork for hardship and she should be eligible, even though we made in the $45,000 range this past year. She said, but I didn't think I qualified... and the woman told her, you should qualify up until you make around $50,000. So I don't get why I didn't qualify for the hardship when we only made $25,000 a year ago.

Today I called the company where you make complaints about student loans issues... I forgot what it's actually called some sort of Osimaman or something like that. They are going to look into why I was denied when I probably should have been eligible.

One thing I do know... whoever allowed this legislature to be where it is... and allow ridiculous fees to be attached on top of huge student loans should be ashamed. How in the world is a student suppose to EVER get out of debt if they are allowed to assess collections fees that are tens of thousands of dollars on TOP of the huge loans we have? I'm not exactly Bill Gates, Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods.

41,000 plus in penalties for a defaulted loan... REALLY????

You freaking thieves.

I put myself through college. I had to cover 100% of the costs through loans as my parents didn't contribute like most assume. I had to take out private loans to make up the difference of what federal didn't cover. I have a great job with a financial firm but my loans take up literally 50% of my income. That's just the private loans; I can't afford to touch the federal loans so they continue to rack up interest. No one consolidates private loans that's worth looking into. I feel hopeless. They truly don't care that you can't afford food or other basics; the loan companies just want their money...all I wanted was a good education so I could get a job and be a responsible citizen. My mistake...

I graduated in 2006 and went to graduate school two years later. I accumulated approximately $60,000 in student loans. half federal half private. I have been deferring as much as possible and I have come to the end of using that option. I was making on time payments for almost a year, when I lost my job. I was unemployed for 6 months and I thought I would be able to defer or forebear them... WAS I DEAD WRONG!!! they did not give a damn that I had no source of income, they would ask "oh, why don't you ask to borrow some money to pay?" WTF these people that ONLY work for these LARGE corporations have been trained to believe that THEY ARE a part of that big corporation. They almost believe that the payment is going to them...LOL I still can't believe at the amount of calls I get on a DAILY basis and almost numerous occasions throughout the day. I have resorted to picking up the phone and hanging it right up. to avoid hearing the ringing until the machine picks up. I have made up my mind, but there are times where I wonder if this will hurt me in the long run... BUT I must say I am sticking with my decision to NOT REPAY!! I hope WE can ALL come together and make this happen! WE have the TRUE POWER. not them!! they only have the power when we are in the FEAR mode. I am taking steps to not paying back! If anyone has suggestions to give me or to better guide me on this path please reply!! i mean, do they really garnish wages??!

I am 33, the daughter immigrants, a fairly recent graduate from a doctoral program in clinical psychology, single, no dependents, financially responsible, good credit, and $300,000 in debt from student loans, half federal, and the other private. I am using my final deferment option now on my private loans. In August, they will enter into repayment which will cost just over $1000 a month to start, for private loans ALONE. If I were to enter into repayment now on all my loans, private and federal, I would need to come up with an extra $2000 a month.
There is something strangely ironic about being a “doctor” and being so far in debt before my adult-life has even started to begin. I didn’t know it at the time, what it actually translates to, being this far in debt. But essentially, I need a full-time job, just to pay off the loans. That means I need another full-time job just to live. I’ll be in debt, working nearly every minute of every day, for essentially what would be the rest of my active, non-elderly life, and probably for some time thereafter. I can’t ever buy a home, because on paper, why would anyone loan me more money. I can’t ever have a family in good faith, because what kind of life would that afford my children. I wont be able to take care of my parents the way I wanted, because I’ll be struggling to simply take care of myself. Let’s be real, I’ll be lucky if I don’t lose all hope and toss myself off the GW Bridge.
I can’t describe the feelings I experience when I consider the whole scope of things: a conglomeration of hopelessness, sadness, despair, a lot of regret, and an enormous amount of anger. I went to school to, in actuality, NOT have this type of life. I went to school, like everyone tells you to… “Go to school, there are loans you can take out, work hard in school, become a doctor and when you graduate, you can pay off those loans and live a good life with your husband and children.” Now I know many people will be quick to say “You chose to take out loans and should have been aware of how much debt you were accumulating.” My response is YES, I knew I was taking out the loans, afterall, I signed for them myself…no cosigner was ever needed since my credit history was pretty much spotless. I was not as fortunate as many of my classmates whose parents were smart enough to set money aside, or capable enough to afford their children’s tuition, or at least part of it. I paid for everything after community college my DAMN SELF! So yes, I took out the loans. I signed all the forms. I did that online screening thing they make you do to make sure you know what you’re getting into. But as with any company the primary interest is to make a buck. Not a single person ever told me what I’d actually be looking at in monthly payments. Call me naïve, but I assumed it would be affordable. I assumed student loans weren’t like other loans. I assumed they were intended for people trying to educate themselves to enhance their lives and livelihood, and therefore, the payments would be decent and affordable, as apposed to suffocating and arresting. I assumed there would be some lee-way for the new graduate. I assumed there would be some time to obtain my license which is a whole other year of post-graduate working hours and passing a difficult state test. Fuck was I wrong.
In fairness, federal loans offer a lot more flexibility in terms of repayment; however, there is little regulation in terms of repayment possibilities from private student loan lenders. Mine offers two options: either pay the standard payment monthly which for my private loans alone is about $1000 a month, or pay the interest alone (in my case about $600 a month) for two years and then you revert back to the standard without any question. That’s it! No income based payments, no negotiations. Just pay. Had I known what I would be looking at paying monthly, each time I signed up for another loan to pay that year’s tuition, I could have compared that to what I would look at making, and in all honesty, I would have stopped school then and there. My intention in going to school was to have a comfortable life where I wouldn’t have to work two jobs. My intention was to have a family and be able to go to my children’s shows or sports matches. My intention was to be able to travel once or twice a year with my family. My intention was to help my parents out once they retire. My intention was to own a home my kids could say they grew up in. My intention was to be a good citizen and do my part and contribute back to causes I believe to be worthy. My intention was not to be caught up in this craziness that essentially has stripped me from any and all of my dreams. I wouldn’t have done it. I wouldn’t have gone for my doctorate. I would have stopped at bachelors or even at my masters and left it at that. Who would in their right mind, invite this sort of life-suffocating debt with open arms. So to those who say, I knew what I was doing…get off your cozy leather couches and out of your BMWs and think again. The loan companies tell you just enough to cover their asses, while keeping you aloof enough to sign away your whole damn life. Reality is: higher education is for those who can afford it. The American Dream does not exist.

I graduated college in 2008. I went to one of the Art Institutes (which I now realize is one of the worst schools to go to and how predatory they are. Also, they're under investigation for fraud by the government. Yeah makes me feel good about my choice).

I was trying to make it on my own for about 6 months when my mother's cancer came back and I had to move back home to take care of her. I only had a part time job because I had to take my mother to chemotherapy twice a week. I received endless calls about my loans and I had to defer multiple times; spending $150 that I barely had at the time.

Unfortunately, my mother lost her life to cancer in 2010. Guess who didn't care that I was grieving and wanted to do so in peace? You guessed it.

For a year, I didn't have a steady job and tried to live my dreams. Problem is that the film field is not the most consistent of places to be. After that year, I had to try and get a full time job. This took me about 4 months to do.

About 3 months into my job, I received calls, messages and mail saying that if I didn't make a payment soon to the loan collectors, they would start garnishing my wages. I received harassing calls to my job and told them not to call there again. Every time I called them back they didn't seem to ever remember talking to me.

Finally, my boyfriend recommended I talk to a bankruptcy attorney. As it is well known, loans can not be dismissed in Chapter 7. But, my attorney said I could do Chapter 13, which would be a repayment plan of everything on my credit report, which is about $200 a month (which leaves me struggling financially still) plus they take my tax return check every year. In 5 years, my credit cards, my medical bills and anything like that will be wiped off it, but my loans will still be there. It's just to stave them off until I have a better paying job.

I feel so helpless and drowning in over $100k in debt makes me feel useless. I want to start a future with my boyfriend but I can't help but know that I am holding him back. That I can't buy a home with him. I can't start a business idea that I have in mind.

If I knew then what I know now, I would've made radically difference choices regarding my future.

In 1991, I graduated 3rd in my large high school. I took all of the AP courses and actually rec'd full scholarships to 3 schools of my choosing. I made my choice and matriculated as a Pre-Med major at a school approx 60 miles from my home. My only expenses were dorm and meal expenses. Fast forward 3 years and I worked my first few shifts in the hospital while taking an EMT basic course that was required. I hated it, every minute of it. I talked to a lot of the docs at the hospital and they were all working 70-90 hours per week. They all said they made plenty of money but had no personal life at all. I decided that I needed to seriously think about my decision to pursue medicine as a career. In high school, I was injured in football and after 2-3 weeks of severe neck pain, my mom took me to a chiropractor. He treated me 2x and the pain was completely gone. I injured my low back water skiing and could hardly walk and the same chiropractor worked on me a couple of times and fixed me right up. My favorable past experiences with chiropractic and my negative experience with medicine prompted me to look into chiropractic as a career choice.

I talked to my old chiropractor, as well as several other chiropractors and a local DO, who all said that a career in chiropractic was a great choice. I finished up a few prereqs and matriculated to chiropractic college in 1995. The school was divided into 14 quarters and my tuition started at approx $2300/qtr but increased to almost $3400/qt toward the end. Every time the Fed'l student loan program increased our loans, the school would 'magically' increase the cost of tuition to match. I worked weekends to make ends meet and I graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1998 with approx $100k in federally guaranteed student loans.

There were 3 chiropractors in my town when I went to chiro college. 2 were elderly and planning on retiring soon and one was a young guy that was seeing A LOT of patients and making a ton of money. When I graduated, there were 5 chiropractors in my city. I started working with the young, busy doc and was paid the princely sum of $500/week for the first 3 months b/c I didn't have many patients and that was just to get me started. After that, I had a small patient base and worked for a 50% commission and made approx $32k my first year. Of course, I was making loan payments of $1000/month after my 6 month grace period. The doctor I was working for did not adhere to our agreement and began missing work a great deal of the time b/c I would cover for him. I finally quit the practice after about 18 months. I decided I would open my own practice in 1999. I made my student loan payments each month.

I put my loans on forbearance for 12 months while I tried to get my practice off the ground. That put an additional $8000 on my principal. I then started making payments again and I was strapped. I decided I needed to do something. I wound up consolidating my loans which dropped my payments to $750/month for 30 YEARS AT 7.75% interest! I know it was stupid, but I felt I had no other options. Since that time, I've made every loan payment even though sometimes I really couldn't afford to make the payment. To date, I have repaid approx $120K on my loan of $100k. I just checked my balance and I still owe $87K. Frustration is not a strong enough word for that. I closed my practice about 4 years ago and now work for a medical clinic and make less than $50K per year. Much less after I pay my malpractice, yearly licensing fees, etc. But I still have to make those $750 payments every month.

Over the years, I have checked on ways to reduce my payments or reduce my interest rate. My credit score is stellar. I have a very modest home and drive an econocar that I paid cash for a few years ago ($4000). I have a wife who works and 2 young children and we barely make ends meet each month. My house payment is only $500/month and we have a car payment on her vehicle.

I don't necessarily want to bankrupt my loans. I simply want to be able to get a reduced interest rate. I hear about students consolidating at 2-3% but I'm stuck at almost 8%. I abhor my student loans and they are an albatross around my neck. I want to change careers and become a school teacher (I'm almost 40) in order to have insurance and retirement but I cannot make my student loan payments on a teacher's salary. I will have to get on IBR and hope that I can stay employed for 10 years and qualify for PSLF. But, to do this, my loans will have to be consolidated thru the Fed'l Direct system and my balance will go back to my original principal balance of $100k. I have worked so hard to get it down to $87K that it will be tough to watch it go back to $100k. Then I will have to pray that congress doesn't change the game and kill PSLF or IBR before the debt is actually forgiven.

Student loans have absolutely "semiruined" my life. Furthermore, chiropractic reimbursement and utilization continue to decrease and I barely have enough patients to keep myself employed. I have to get off of this sinking ship but I'm fully aware that I'm jumping into the water with the "student loan anchor" firmly chained to my foot. The real losers in this game are my wife and children. I've yet to be able to save a dime for my retirement or my children's college expenses. I feel like a "working deadbeat." Only through the grace of God have I been able to stay afloat all this time. My only significant regrets in my life are going to chiropractic school and taking out huge loans to do so.

It seems like a bad dream.

Why did I go to a for profit university? For starters, I had extremely unsupportive parents, even though my dad is a multi-millionaire and COULD have helped, he didn't and still chooses not to. My mother gets over $2,000 a month from him in a property settlement from their divorce and works full time, yet somehow cannot manage her bills or seem to help any of her three kids. Every employer I worked for did NOT offer tuition reimbursement so if I wanted to get educated, because I made between $8-$10/hr I had no choice but to take out student loans and I was working full time, so a normal university was not an option. At the time I was married to someone who I thought was supportive and would understand WHY you have to pay back student loans ASAP. Instead all he did was take my income and spend, spend, spend. I was really young and naive when I married him. My father kept telling me that education, education, education was the way to a great paying job and that if I would just get my MBA, I would get a fantastic job offer and I would be able to pay my loans back within 5-7 years. HA! To my great surprise, my MBA got me a max offer of 32K annually with over 100K in student loan debt. As soon as I graduated, my spouse at the time left me for someone who did not have student loan obligations. Being that I was now divorced......and working for 32K a year...and having a car payment at the time....I had no choice but to defer my loans.....BIG mistake....still have 104K balance and now NO job and no sight of any job......also remarried which I made the new spouse aware of these student loans and that I HAVE to pay them back before we married.....however.....now he refuses to help me, does not contribute to the household expenses and doesn't think he has any obligation to do so(I was unaware of this until after we married at the courthouse, obviously couldn't afford a wedding). Looking at what I know being an Accounting and Finance major, I will NEVER be able to purchase a home, a new vehicle or have a family and with an uncooperative spouse, what am I supposed to do? I don't want pity.....I just want the decent paying job that I was promised if I earned my MBA.....instead though I will probably end up divorced again, not that I blame my husband for not wanting to have to help with student loans....(now the household expenses, he does need to contribute to those, he lives and consumes),anyway.....I will most likely end up divorced, alone and working two or three crappy jobs and living in the ghetto just so I can get out of these student loans. My millionaire father should be ashamed.....but if I don't take care of my parents in their old age.....not really my fault......they get what they deserve. Meanwhile where I have worked in the past, many others have had their parents assist them with education costs, help them make the right contacts to get the better paying jobs....things both of my parents could be doing......but they don't and won't so I get stuck with the nightmare of these student loans, don't sleep most nights worrying about how I am going to deal with them. I will figure it out one way or another, but I believe the American Dream is gone and it is hopeless for many out there. Just wish I had never gone to college.....it is totally worthless.

I graduated with a poli sci degree & intended to go to law school. However, my university didn't transfer my transcripts correctly, & by the time I caught it, it was too late. I intended to take a year off, then go back, but being in the "real world" & working, it just got too expensive & I couldn't go back. I did have a decent job & was able to pay my student loans for a time. My boyfriend & I ended up pregnant & after a couple of years, he dumped me for a younger, prettier version who was from a well-off family & didn't have a child to prevent her from being able to go out to bars with him every night, which apparently is what he wants from life. I do not recieve child support; he is currently +$10,000 behind, & the prosecutor's office where we filed doesn't care apparently. Oh, & this woman flung our dog off a balcony & killed it about a month ago. Nice upgrade on his part, huh? Because I was having to foot the entire bill for our child at this point, despite having a decent job, I ended up defaulting on my $450 a month in student loans. I lost my job back in October & now make $7.45 an hr, working 24 hrs a wk. I haven't been able to find anything around here, as most of my work experience is in retail & I'm living with my parents in a town that doesn't even have a real walmart. Any interviews I have are more than 2 hrs away. However, I'm in the final stages on 2 of them, so hopefully I'll have a new job very soon. I was relying on my $4100 tax check to pay my 2 month past due car payment & pay off some other bills to get me back to where I can at least somewhat provide for myself. However, I was notified by the IRS that our wonderful federal government is seizing my tax check in it's entirety. I have struggled to try to stay off welfare for the past 2 years, & was barely doing so. However, I don't care anymore. If the government is going to take my money that I desperately need, fine. I'm going to apply for food stamps, housing, & anything else I can get later on today.