OCCUPY STUDENT DEBT

“A year after I entered college, there was a time when four of us children were attending college simultaneously. My mother was recently diagnosed with colon cancer at the time but was still working and we were not eligible for financial aid. After she passed away, about three years into college, I finally became eligible for financial aid. Aside from access to loan amounts, credit card lenders were extremely aggressive towards approving credit lines for young college students. I found myself in severe debt within a year. I used financial aid to help pay for tuition and books but still found myself having to work at least two jobs at a time in order to make ends meet and afford to live in San Francisco near school, even with a roommate. Now, over 20 years later, and summers of college at the local community college, I am still about $20,000 in student loan debt, constantly having to re-enter forbearance status, year after year. The monthly bills are impossible to keep up with, after paying monthly living expenses, living in the bay area, unable to find a job where I can earn enough to offset these monthly expenses. I constantly feel like I’m playing “catch-up” and will never find a time when I can afford to get out of forbearance status. I am drowning in debt and just need some help to get some “footing.” I’ve worked extremely hard. I stayed in school. But it has not paid off.”