OCCUPY STUDENT DEBT

I wanted to be a lawyer my whole life, and not just a lawyer but a real mover and shaker…a representative of the people and a protector of their rights. So while my friends were out enjoying parties and their youth, I was working my butt off to bolster my transcripts and extra curriculars. I made my way into Cornell and graduated at the top of my class. My reward was my acceptance to Harvard Law. I knew I would have to work my way through school, and go into significant debt, but my dream was worth it. After all, I had always been assured that hard work and education paid off, and the financial advisers at HLS showed me lists of expected starting salaries well into the 6-figure range. What I didn’t count on however was developing a health issue during my 2nd year which would impact my ability to hold down a demanding job for several years, nor did I count on the job market collapsing so that when I was finally able to return to work full time, there would be no offers on the table. Now I hold a worthless diploma in one hand, and student loan bills totaling over $200k in the other. One loan is already in default, the other is not far behind. I’ve spent my last 3 years working at a job for which I’m massively overqualified, literally begging for (and being denied) raises and promotions to full-time status, not because of poor performance, but because there are enough people in line for my job that my employer has no incentive to provide me with better. My annual income is now less than I paid in tuition for a single year at school, and I cry myself to sleep nights wondering what happened to the life I had planned. Going to a top school was supposed to be a guaranteed investment in my future, but the payout disappeared when the lenders sunk our economy, and now the loans are a constant weight to drag me down…a weight I don’t see myself ever being able to shed.