OCCUPY STUDENT DEBT

Student debtor stories submitted by the 99%

I have just completed my master’s degree in Counseling and Psychotherapy. I graduated with a GPA of 3.4, which is something that I am extremely proud of. Previously I graduated from college with a Bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Studies. That degree I had to fight for due to a learning disability that I had just been diagnosed with the summer prior to my graduating. My disability prevented me from passing a class that I needed in order to get a Bachelor’s in Psychology and I then had to fight my university for my modified major/degree in order to graduate. I had to jump through a lot of hoops—writing petitions to graduate, taking tests in order to “test out,” and interview with the head of the psychology department as well as appealing things with the registrar. My bachelor’s degree was hard fought for. With my college degree and my master’s degree under my belt, and looking at all of the loans that I have taken out in order for me to have gone to school I know that I have totaled loans in excess of 100K—and this scares me to death. I am currently unemployed because for the last year I have been busy writing my thesis and didn’t have time to look for a job and with the economy still the way that it is and job prospects looking kind of bleak, I thank God that I can still live with my parents. However, I just got my loan bills in the mail yesterday and I don’t know how I’m going to pay them for this next coming month. I have pursued the American Dream by going for my dream through education and getting my master’s degree and now I’m stuck with all of this debt with seemingly no end ever in site and I don’t know what to do much like a lot of other people in my position. We need help. And we need to stop being punished for doing what we are supposed to do—making something of ourselves.

I have just completed my master’s degree in Counseling and Psychotherapy. I graduated with a GPA of 3.4, which is something that I am extremely proud of. Previously I graduated from college with a Bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Studies. That degree I had to fight for due to a learning disability that I had just been diagnosed with the summer prior to my graduating. My disability prevented me from passing a class that I needed in order to get a Bachelor’s in Psychology and I then had to fight my university for my modified major/degree in order to graduate. I had to jump through a lot of hoops—writing petitions to graduate, taking tests in order to “test out,” and interview with the head of the psychology department as well as appealing things with the registrar. My bachelor’s degree was hard fought for.

With my college degree and my master’s degree under my belt, and looking at all of the loans that I have taken out in order for me to have gone to school I know that I have totaled loans in excess of 100K—and this scares me to death. I am currently unemployed because for the last year I have been busy writing my thesis and didn’t have time to look for a job and with the economy still the way that it is and job prospects looking kind of bleak, I thank God that I can still live with my parents. However, I just got my loan bills in the mail yesterday and I don’t know how I’m going to pay them for this next coming month.

I have pursued the American Dream by going for my dream through education and getting my master’s degree and now I’m stuck with all of this debt with seemingly no end ever in site and I don’t know what to do much like a lot of other people in my position. We need help. And we need to stop being punished for doing what we are supposed to do—making something of ourselves.