the Student Loan Debt Project

Starting with a bachelor's degree in 1993, then a Master's degree in 1996 and another Master's in 2010, I am now almost $100,000 in student loan debt. Not to mention the then $25,000 student loan I cosigned for an ex-boyfriend in 2004 to just to get him out of my house...which is now greater than $40,000. I was taught from the time I could learn that I would go to college. I get that Bachelor's degree, but I'm not one of those lucky people, like those with whom I went to my small private college (which I mistakenly thought would afford me a better education and therefore a better career), whose parents could "get them in the door somewhere" or hire them themselves. I had no connections. So I decided to go to graduate school. At the time it seemed like a sound investment in my future. Fast forward about 15 years, another Master's degree seemed like my only viable avenue to anything better than the barely $40,000 a year job I started in 2001. I started working for my state government a year before a republican governor started his two terms in office and froze raises for the duration. They're still frozen today. In the past, I believed student loans were an investment in my future. Now I see them as a greedy racket, only serving to make money off people who are desperate to make a better life for themselves. Only because of my most recent Master's, I was able to combine all the loans into one and qualify for hardship forbearance. Once the forbearance period runs out, I have absolutely no idea how I'll pay for it. Before I received the forbearance, on a regular repayment plan, my payment would have been between $700 and $800 a month. I made a choice in 2002 to buy a house, a decision I do not regret. In 2008 I filed for bankruptcy, which is the only reason I've been able to keep my house. I couldn't keep my house and make more than interest only payments at the same time. If I had been able to include my loans prior to 2008 in my bankruptcy, which is designed to provide RELIEF, my financial future would be much brighter. Instead, no matter what my income becomes, I have a lifetime of student loan payments to look forward to. I take responsibility for the loans I incurred for my education, ill advised as they were. But the interest that has been compounded on these loans is criminal. It takes advantage of those trying to be self-sufficient by making us no better than indentured servants.

I started my college education with the hopes of becoming a counselor with the US Armed Forces. Although I had a child I wasn't going to let anything stop me. Well after 3 years of schooling and many student loans, I am struggling to pay them down. I currently have over $20,000 in student loans and as a single mother my family has gone without in order for me to pay student loads. The stress of my children possibly not being able to eat has caused me to not pay. I was offer the opportunity to consolidate my loans and I did so however I get calls all the time telling me I owe money and am late. I was diagnosed with depression because of the stress. There have been many days where I just couldn't manage. I can't buy a home for my kids because I can't afford to move out my parent's house.

After graduating from high school in 2005 I enrolled in college determined to get my degree in Communications and become a news reporter. In the 4 years that it took me to obtain my degree I racked up $45,000 in student loan debt that will take me numerous years to pay back. I recently consolidated my loans and although I have a full-time job at a call center I am on the income based repayment plan and pay $10 per month on the loans. Meanwhile, the loans continue to gain interest since I am no longer enrolled in college and I know that being on the IBR plan I will be paying on these loans well into my old age. I would encourage any individual who is about to enroll in college to consider grants and scholarships and working to pay for school out of pocket because student loan debt is a growing problem that needs to be solved as soon as possible.

I was older when decided to go back to school. When I was still going to a two year college my husband left me with 2 teenage daughters still at home, and 2 children grown and on their own. When I finished the junior college and was ready for a 4 year college, I couldn't leave my 2 daughters at night after being away from them all day at work. So I decided to try an online college. I chose university of Phoenix, which was a great chose except the outrageous tuition. I was 50 when I earned my master's degree and $72,000 in debt. That same year my daughter gave birth to a 2 lb baby boy. We spent 3 months at a hospital 300 miles away from home and the debts starting rising. When we were finally were able to bring him home, his mother just couldn't handle the responsibilities of a premature baby. She left him with me for 2 years. I was working an hour away from home and raising a baby with special needs. I loved him so much and would do anything for him but once again the expenses started mounting. I starting deferring the loans in order to make ends meet but the interest mounted. We went through down sizing with my company and I had to take a cut in pay. It has now been 6 years since I finished school and my financial situation has not gotten any better. This past week I was given notice that my job with my company was being eliminated. Now, I don't know what to do. I was told years ago that the solution to so many of my problems was to go back to school and earn my degree. So far the only thing that has come out of my Master's degree is the mounting debt that I can't even begin to touch.

In 2000 I found myself with a new baby from China and a failing abusive marriage. After my divorce I realized I would have to go back to school at the age of 42 in order to get a degree that would help me get a job that paid well enough to raise my child. I was living on the coast of Oregon and could not support myself. I sold my house and had enough money to live on and pay for the first year of college but after that I relied on student loans and credit cards. What a mess. I graduated from the U of O in 2006 with a BS in Psychology. I then moved back to Alaska where I could raise my daughter with the support of my family. Unfortunately things don't always turn out the way we think they are going to and a month after I arrived home my elder sister died in a car accident. The whole family was devastated. While grieving I went to a program called 9-star and got help writing cover letters, resumes, money to buy a suit for interviews. I was completely broke and 50000 plus in debt. I applied everywhere I could think of that could use my skills. By the end of October I finished the month with 15 interviews in two weeks and landed a job with Southcentral Foundation as a Clinical Associate working with people with severe mental illness. The cost of living in Alaska is high and I have had my student loans deferred or in forbearance because I was unable to pay them. I got help with credit counseling to pay off my credit card debt and have some of it wiped out. I still was unable to pay on my student loans. I found myself living in a duplex with my elderly parents paying rent to provide part of an income to them as they have aged I have begun to help them more and more. My father has the beginnings of Alzheimer's and my mother has aneurysms in her brain, both are extremely unsteady on their fee. I have spent many a night in the emergency room after one of them has fallen. I am the only stable offspring, my younger sister is going through a divorce, my younger brother who lives with my parents has severe major depression and no job, and I have another younger brother who is an alcoholic living in their garage with his wife who has severe arthritis. My income is stretched to the limit providing for various things for all of them. I do not feel resentful about my parents care but is is very hard to help my sister with food every other month and also make sure that the alcoholic brother does not abuse my parents. Around summer of 2007 or 2008 I enrolled in a master's program and accrued another 20, 000 or so of debt. I have been unable to finish this, and only have an internship, 4 classes and a master's project but hesitate to accrue more debt. I am stretched to the limit and my health has begun to be an issue, with menopause, chronic fatigue, and disintegrating disc disease in my back. I am 54 years old and the support I thought I would get from family has not happened I have the role of parent, caregiver and breadwinner. I need help the pressure that I fell in killing me and I find myself once again talking with my student loan s to get them into forbearance again what happens when this runs out I just don't know. Help please.

After graduating from college, I found a job with a subsidiary of State Street Bank working as custody administrator. Between paying rent and the daily expenses of just living I had to ask for a deferment on my loan as I was not making enough. One night, I received a call from my sister telling me my mother was in a plane crash and there were no survivors. I didn't have any money saved for such emergencies. Some friends of mine donated money so I could purchase my ticket to travel home. Home was across the Pacific Ocean on the other side of the globe so around $1,800 round trip ticket was a significant amount of money. While I was home one of my relatives told me that my island was short on teachers and the government was recruiting college graduates to fill the need. I applied for a teaching position before I left my island. Upon returning to the States, I continued to work and made my student loan payments on and off. After a couple of months, I was notified by the Ministry of Education of Palau that they want to hire me to teach at the local high school. I was told that since Palau was an under developed country I would be able to get my student loan forgiven. It was not the case. I was informed by the Department of Education that because Palau was no longer a U.S. Trusteeship that my years of teaching doesn't count. So here I am in 2013 still paying on $55,000(with interest & penalties) with no end in sight. Currently, my salary barely covers rent, car payment, student loan and daily living expenses. I'm 44 years old married with 2 kids and renting a 2 bedroom apartment because we can't afford the closing costs and all other expenses associated with home ownership. The only hope I have is my faith in God!

When I retired from the Army, I used my GI Bill funds to pay my mortgage, etc., while I went to a private, for-profit university near my home. My student loans are so high that I'll be paying them until I die. One real problem is interest. Some of my loans were subsidized before consolidation. Now, the interest owed is more than the original loan amount. And the private loan I received from Citi Student for one term at the online, private Grad school is another example. I've paid back the amount borrowed, and still owe the same amount as the original loan. There ought to be a law.

I had a real long trip through college, due to supporting my son without any child support from his deadbeat mom, and as a result, racked up a lot of loans. I finally got my CIS degree in 2001, right after the dot bomb, when all those jobs moved to India and other off-shore locations, so it took 8 years to finally find permanent employment in my field. I worked as a temp in the IT department at the college that issued my degree the whole 8 years. It was only after my last raise as an hourly employee that, in inflation-corrected dollars, I finally surpassed the hourly rate I made delivering the Asbury Park Press as a teen. To be fair, I had a *lot* of customers in a very small area, but still, LESS PAY THAN A PAPER ROUTE???? In any case, after they saw me starting to get interviews elsewhere, they "found the money" to hire me as a permanent employee, but low-balled the job title (on top of their low-ball pay rates vis a vis "real world" pay for those titles) so that they could pay me as little as possible. I'm still trying to pay off 2007 and 2008, when Sallie Mae came knocking and told me I had no more economic hardship deferments left and suddenly my income was smaller than my outgo. It didn't matter that my economic hardship was not only still there, but getting worse as inflation ate every raise I got as a temp and someone overseas got the job I should have gotten.... My principal balance ballooned from $42k or so to (currently) over $60k during that time – at which point I started interest-only payments – and there it sits. I'm roughly 50% further from paying it off than the day I graduated, and I still don't know where I'm going to find the money to pay the increased principal + interest payment once they kick in. If some kid asked me today, I'd advise against college, unless he/she was going into a field that's not easily outsourceable..

I am grateful for all of my years of education, but even after budgeting tightly AND selflessly serving as an instructor/administrator of higher education for over a decade now, I still drive a car from 2001 and will most likely never own a home – as I must travel to wherever the job leads, anyway.

It took my wife and I over 25 years to pay off my student loans from professional school. My family could contribute nothing, not $1. We were always behind in everything & were unable to save for our own children's college education because we were still paying for mine! Luckily I was in a field of reasonably high earning & we were able to pay for our children's university education as they went but had no savings for it. I felt tied to that debt for most of my adult life and I was. I feel like I have given back a great deal to my community in free care and spent 4 years in the Indian Health Service. No loans were forgiven, only deferred. There has to be a better way to manage this than hiking student loan interest rates to an outrageous level and strapping down the most vulnerable. How can I get a mortgage on my house for 2.75 %, yet my daughter, who is just now starting grad school may be strapped with loans at nearly 7%? This makes absolutely no sense and works against reason. These days, even a graduate degree does not guarantee a high paying job upon graduation. With many young people barely making minimum wage after graduation (if they are lucky enough to find a job!) strapping them with high interest loans to pay back is just plain stupid. We can do better.

I am a teacher in a low income, Title I school. I have taught at this school for 13 years. After I graduated, I found that there was no way I could afford to support my family on my teacher salary and pay my student loan so I kept going to school hoping that my salary would increase by the time I had to pay. My debt is over $75,000. I have had my pay frozen by my district for at least seven of the years I've worked. My income of $40,000 supports my family of four. I cannot afford to pay my loan and take care of my family. President Bush made promises about teachers in low income areas getting some of their debt removed and President Obama increased the amount, but because I began school a few months before those promises went into effect, I cannot receive those benefits. It is very discouraging. I love my career but if something doesn't change, I'll never be able to pay off my loan.

My first student loan was back in the 60's before Pell grants and such. After graduating, I taught for a year (teachers having the lowest salaries of all professionals) and then went to live in Spain, which was a developing country at the time. I did not make enough to pay my student loan, but fortunately, my father received an inheritance and paid it off for me. Without that, I may have gone into default given I was not working and getting paid in US dollars. However, I was involved in significant education al service. Now, many years later, in my 50's, I took out another student loan for my doctorate degree. I had 4 children to support so I needed the financial aid. Unfortunately, I went through a lot of personal traumas and tragedies, and paid my loan whenever I was in a position to work, which half the time I was not. Now I am 68 years old, living on very limited 'social security, as my life savings and homes were all lost in the economic catastrophes starting in 2008. I have serious health issues and had to resign from my position, but turned 65 before I could get declared as permanently disabled. As a result, I still owe on my student loans, but can't pay them. I have repeatedly asked for them to be forgiven, given my age and health problems. They only give me deference, while the debt increases with interests on the unpaid loan. I live in Mexico now, as I cannot afford to live in the USA with such a small SS benefit, and having lost everything I had built up during my professional lifetime; and I will never be able to pay off this debt. Now, that's my story. As for my children, my son, who is now an architect, has an $80,000 student loan debt, which is unconscionable but the schools in the Northeast are expensive. My daughter, who graduated from Colombia College Los Angeles, is also in debt, but only for half that. So I ask: how can the young people create a future already burdened with such a heavy debt, adding up to the cost of a humble house, and how can an older, unhealthy retired person live with a debt forcing me to live in another country in order to live at all??

My story is not unusual. I was encouraged to apply for loans as a non-traditional student working on my undergrad and graduate degrees. The money was easy to obtain and upon graduation I started paying according to a set monthly schedule. I worked for 6 years at my job in Texas and when it played out due to corporate downsizing i.e. get rid of the old birds, I moved to Arizona with my wife and worked for two more years until the bottom fell out of the economy in late 2008. I haven't worked since then being, in my opinion, a victim of age discrimination. I've aged out of the workforce, defaulted on my loan and continue to struggle. Going back to college was the worst mistake I ever made. I'm not one to shrug off his debts but it's either that or not eat. As a result I'm saddled with a lifetime of debt with no visible way to pay it back.

About six years ago I fell and was hurt bad enough I ended up losing my job and my house. I tried find another job, but by then I was in my mid fifties. After much thought I decided the best solution would be to return to school to become a paralegal. I attended classes at Lansing Community College and received my associate degree in December 2011. The entire time I was enrolled there I was reassured I would have no trouble finding a job in this field. What I wasn't told was that in order to get a paralegal job I must also have at least two or three years experience and the degree. I haven't been able to get my foot in the door yet! Currently I'm working part-time at Target for minimum wage. I could have done that without the paralegal degree. Now I have no chance of ever retiring. Some days I feel like I might as well be dead. For the rest of my life I have this dark cloud hanging over me. I thought I was going to make a better life for myself, instead I'm living a nightmare.

I applied for and received a small loan in the amount of $3,200.00 in 1986. Soon after that I was in a car accident and had to have major surgery, out of school and no chance of working for quite a while. I attempted to make payments but missed a few. When I went back to work my loan was due in full. I contacted them but found the loan had been sold. I still owed $2300.00 but now I had another $1500.00 attached because of the sale and ALL of it was due. This went on like this for 20 years! I have paid a total amount of $7200.00 and still owe over $5,000.00. The loan has been sold three times with large amounts of money attached each time. In 2002 I became permanently disabled with a grand total of $720.00 a month income. I am still being hounded by these "loan" companies and this is still regarded as a 'government student loan. My life has been hell ever since I took out a SMALL loan.

I borrowed $10,000 for school when I was in my 20s (this was around 1978 or so). I got a job in SE Asia and had arranged with a friend to pay my loan payments. I sent her money but alas – she never made the payments. 22 years later, I came back to the US only to find a debt of some 60 grand or so – after much negotiation, the debt was reduced to around 24 or so thousand – at 8.25% interest! I am now 63 and STILL paying this debt off. It is crazy. I don't have a job. My SSI isn't going to cover payments! If I could have had it reduced back to the original amount with a reasonable interest rate, it would be paid off by now! I have a temporary forbearance, but I don't know how I will ever get this paid off.

I, unfortunately, listened to my then spouse's advice on student loan debt. That's no one's fault but my own. I should have done my research. Right after I received my Master's Degree in Sociology, my spouse terminated our marriage and I became a single mother. My household became a single earner women's waged household. I worked a full-time and two part-time jobs. One of those part-time jobs was strictly dedicated to paying my student loan debt. I was able to pay consistently and on time under those working conditions, even though only $1.97 of the payments were being applied to principal. Then a series of bad luck and financial set backs left me no choice but to forebear my payments many times. I am currently unemployed and have been for two years (I'm 59 years old and female so it's hard to find a job right now) and have no way to pay this loan nor relieve myself of this loan burden. Additionally, due to accrued interest, I now owe twice the amount of the original debt. I am in a jam with this loan with no way out until I get another job. Any help for relief of any kind would be greatly appreciated.

I have a happy story to tell. I graduated three times, 1961, 1963, and 1968, which was before the bankers decided to batten on the student community. So I emerged from my education debt free – I'd actually been PAID to attend school by graduate assistants in two cases. Things were different in the 60s.

I finished my Bachelor of Social Work degree in May 2008 and immediately continued on for my Master of Arts in Gerontology. My husband and I had planned for me to be assisted by him while paying for all of this, as we knew it would be expensive. We didn't plan on his dying of cancer, December 27, 2008. Currently, I am paying $785.45 per month on my student loans. These loans are consolidated – and I will be paying this until I'm almost 63 years old. Right now, I need to have $1100 of work done on the shocks of my car. I can't afford it. I can't afford a vacation; I can't afford to get sick, and when my daughter has her second child this fall, I am not going to be able to go and be with her. I was led to believe in my collegiate training that I would have a good job that would allow me to pay for my degree. That was a lie. I live paycheck to paycheck, and have to work a small second job to have groceries in the pay check cycle of my student loans. I'm literally one pay check from being homeless, and will be so for the rest of my life. Retirement?? I'm going to have to work until I'm 75 to be able to retire. Right now, I can't save anything.

It wasn't as though I didn't have opportunity after college. Unfortunately I chose a career in art. I was good at it, and all my life people preached to me to do what I love, so I did. I had great contacts and they hooked me up with work when I could get it. It paid well enough per hour, but it was freelance, and there just wasn't enough to get by, in addition to being stiffed on payments from clients. After two years of this, still unable to make enough to move out of my parents' house and being repeatedly turned down from minimum wage jobs, I left to another city. Now I have a full time job at a restaurant, and I can't afford to make interest only payments on my loans. The debt grows, and I try to hoard away what money I can for when my loans default and making rent payments will suddenly become difficult. I've reached my 30s, and I've scheduled an appointment to have a vasectomy because the thought of trying to raise a family while trying to pay loans for the next 50 years is terrifying. The most frivolous thing I do with my money is to take time off work and travel to visit my family, but even that can't be done very often. I try not to think too much more about what the future holds.

At age of 34, the writing was on the wall. Outsourcing was taking a toll in the company I was working for; a company of some 300 employees dedicated to the design, manufacturing, marketing, and support of an electronic product widely used in computers. The experience forever will remind me of Ross Perot's warning of a giant sucking sound caused by jobs going overseas should NAFTA become law. Our manufacturing lines in the greater Chicago area were the first casualties; I had initially been hired to oversee the quality of those lines, but shortly before that happened I had been able to make a lateral move to the Engineering department. Had I not had that opportunity, I would have been among the first wave of lay offs – the entire Quality Assurance department was gone shortly after the lines shut down. For a moment, I thought perhaps that would have been the extent of the damage. I thought "maybe it won't be too bad if we only lose the lower waged manufacturing jobs...." But it didn't end there. Month after month I witnessed the shut down of many of our suppliers, solid state electronic suppliers, electronic component vendors, plastic fabricators, battery suppliers, would pull up stakes to relocate to Mexico or the Far East. Much of the work that I had taken pride in doing was now being done overseas. I knew my job was not going to exist for much longer, so I decided to return to school and pursue my Bachelor's degree at age 34. I had to start from scratch as many of the credits I had would not transfer to my chosen track: Nursing. I availed myself of every opportunity to save on my school costs by moving into my mother's garage, finding a path that took advantage of a full two years of community college credits that I could then transfer towards my Bachelor's degree. Along the way, I realized that my plan was imperfect, the public schools had a huge backlog of competent applicants that made waiting lists of two years or more common; so I decided to attend a private university in spite of eye raising tuition costs. I felt that at age 37, I just didn't have the luxury to wait for an open spot at one of the State Universities. Each semester I was there, I assured myself I was doing the right thing by taking out these loans; I had little choice after all – I would either complete my program or I would not – and "having nearly earned a Bachelor's in Nursing" would not increase my marketability in this new field in any way. Thus I signed the promissory notes. I assured myself that this was the right thing because I knew that this was a very good investment in my future. I thought the loans would be handled in an ethical way; I could not imagine that I would be subject to usury, and wanton changes in loan repayment agreements that seem to come at least once a year since I started repayments. Today, it has been six years since I began repayment, and the principal in my American Education System loans seem to actually have grown! It is so painful to allow myself to contemplate the unfairness of these terms. It is so painful to think that my two little children, aged 3 and 5; do not have a dime saved towards their own education because I'm so busy trying to pay off my student loans. It is so painful to contemplate at age 44 I receive a statement every month stating my IRA account has $200, and I cannot save another dollar towards a dignified retirement. It is so painful to receive calls from my family members who have also suffered great economic setbacks related to the pummeling of the middle class, asking for help from me, as they see me as a success story; having been first to graduate from college with my Bachelor's and working in my field – something that apparently does make me very lucky today. I hope sharing my story will somehow in some way change the laws that allow such unfair lending practices that I never imagined could have ever been allowed in this great country so well known and loved for opportunities and the dream of climbing up the social and economic ladder. These student loan companies are putting the rungs in that ladder completely out of reach and widening the gap between rich and poor. That company I left 10 years ago is now just a shell used for the warehousing of product that is shipped from Mexico and the Far East, completely stripped of it's once robust workforce. When I worked there, I remember how happy I was, I so truly enjoyed my job; I would have stayed there forever.

My combined debt from Master's and PhD programs stands at approximately $94,000 (comprised of both private and public loans). I drive a car I bought new in 1994, and cannot afford to replace it. I was a renter of apartments and houses until 2010, when I realized as rents increased every year I could no longer afford to live that way. At age 39, I decided to buy a house, but having no savings or assets to liquidate for closing costs, I had to have my parents "gift" me the money to pursue this goal. My mortgage payment is half of what I was formerly paying in rent, but it is roughly the same as my combined student loan payments. Ironically, I can deduct the entirety of my mortgage interest on taxes, but only a total of $2,500 of student loan interest (and in the year I bought a house, that interest amounted to over $8,600). I zero out my checking account nearly every month, and have nothing in savings. I'm a university professor, and my existence seems to amount to nothing more than paying off debts.

Our twins began college in 2007. One got a full scholarship to Stanford U. and the other took out student loans for his college. My husband co-signed for some of those loans. My husband died in 2008 and my son and I are suffering from the wrath of Sallie Mae. I pay at least $1000. a month and still am being charged $30.90 a DAY interest! My son has to join the Army just to get help with paying off this endless loan. I'm 66 and a retired teacher. A heartless Sallie Mae phone employee said to me "even if your son dies in the army, you're still going to have to pay". The Congress has to take away Sallie Mae's unfair power!

I'm 43. I owe $320,000 in student loans. I only borrowed about $100,000 – the rest is capitalized interest. Every year that my debt is deferred adds about $20,000 to my total. Payments, currently in forbearance (Thank you Lord!) are about $2000 a month. My income right now is $3000 a month. (Thank you Lord, for my job!) This is a 30-year consolidated loan. Interest is 6.5%. Total amount to pay-off: $750,000. I will be 73 at the earliest when my loan would be paid off. At that point I can start saving for a house. Joke. How did this happen? Started college in 1988. Finished with a BA in 1992 with only $4,500 in loans (and a degree in Humanities. Mistake #1.) 1992: What to do? My family is POOR. Any income went back to help my family. No job, so decided on graduate school for Journalism? (Mistake Number #2) Borrowed $40,000 (??) for graduate school. (Mistake #3.) (Deferred first little loan while in grad school.) After the first year, I already owed about $20,000 (more money than I had ever seen in my life) – I felt overwhelmed and hopeless already – how can I ever pay this off? I decided to stick it out and hope for a good job at the end. (Mistake #4) Degree in Journalism in 1995 – hello Internet! Journalism jobs in short supply. Left school, loans deferred. Tried selling real estate, teaching college, working in cafe. Money in short supply. Got loans consolidated. Loans deferred/forebeared (thank Heavens!) but accruing 8% interest this entire time. By 2001, loans with interest capitalized were already over $100,000. I still saw no clear way in my future to pay those loans off. Decided, at 31, to go to Law School. (Mistake # 5). Figured that would at least get me a decent paying job in the end. (Mistake #6.) Picked a cheap, local school with no job network or reputation. (Mistake #7) Did well, graduated in 2004 and found a law enforcement job in another (more expensive state.) My job is not really related to my education. I have a job finally! I pay all my bills on time every month. I am responsible and frugal. I rent an apartment. I drive an old car. I mean old – 1981. But I sit with $320,000 in debt – growing by $54 a day. And I feel like a complete and utter failure. I cannot move forward in my life – marriage, house, etc. until this debt is paid off, but I do not see any way to pay it off. It's more than most mortgages. If my amazing lender ever stops granting me forbearance, I don't know what I'll do. I don't see how I can make these payments. I work for an employer such that if I don't pay my debts I lose my security clearance and will be fired. I cannot even declare bankruptcy to get rid of them should my life fall apart. It will take a lottery win to pay this off. I'm 43 and my "career" is not going to pick up at and send my income into the stratosphere. This is probably the best I will ever do. I'm 43, and my chances of marrying into money do not seem very likely at this point. I am actually afraid to get married to my boyfriend of 8 years because I'm afraid the rules will change and he will be liable for my massive debt as well. Or that a change in my family circumstances will make my lender decide that I can pay $2000 a month for the rest of my life. We are not planning on any children. Where would they live? In this third floor one-bedroom apartment? Who is going to care for them while I work? We can't afford to pay nannies, etc. We have no family to help out with down payments for houses or child care. The hardest part about this whole student loan thing is that I feel a great sense of SHAME and GUILT that I "got myself" into this situation and that I am unable to pay for MY debt. But I WOULD pay if the payments were less! Or if the interest would stop! I would pay the rest of my life if the payment was reasonable and possible. But anything less than "full" payment just makes the lenders laugh in your face! I get no sympathy from anyone unless they too have student loans. I know I made stupid decisions, but I didn't know what else to do! I was 22. No job prospects, no family connections, not even especially attractive. I was the first person in my family to even go to college. I thought (we thought) college was the answer, the miracle, the path to success. I had no idea about money, finance, debt, career choices or even what it really takes to be successful in life. I thought college was the answer. I was smart; I was good at school; I thought it would work out in the end. Maybe I should have joined the military, like a lot of "poor" kids do. Maybe I should have just tried to find a rich husband somehow. Maybe I just should have accepted that I was poor and always would be and not get any "uppity" ideas about college and "lawyering." Or maybe I am just a loser. Weak and stupid. Afraid of hard work. I know what most people think: It's my own fault. I ruined my own life. I was stupid. And now I have to PAY, forever, whatever the costs, whatever the sacrifice, regardless of the injustice of the system. And because I don't pay, then I feel like I am a fugitive, hiding in the shadows. I feel guilty and ashamed, like I MUST pay my debt somehow, at whatever personal cost. I should work three jobs. I should forgo EVERY purchase; I should live with five roommates in a ghetto apartment; I should sell my hair, my teeth, my blood. Sell all my blood, and maybe a kidney as well. (Actually, I think I would sell a kidney if it would pay off this horrible debt.) But because I don't, I feel like I must be weak and worthless. I am ashamed of my story. I do not tell my story often. How could I be so STUPID?

I went to graduate school because after 30 years in my field I felt I had a lot to give to students and wanted to teach at university level. Unfortunately, my timing was terrible. I achieved my MFA in 2008, just in time for Wall Street and the big banks to crash the economy and to take almost all hope of achieving my dream with it, along with a huge amount of educational funding. So instead of having a decent paying professorship at a university I have struggled for years doing freelance jobs, making less than I did in the 1970's, using almost my entire retirement savings to survive. Things are looking up with a teaching job as an adjunct at a community college, but so far it is only one class and that along with my freelance work still does not bring me above a poverty level income. I am deeply in debt on credit cards, as any car repair or other emergency and indeed at times, groceries, have had to go there. With that and my students loans, even though I have tightened my belt to the point I have a Scarlet O'Hara waist, the only way I will be able to retire is to die and I will be paying off this debt to that day. I have no health insurance (adjuncts do not qualify). If my car dies I don't know if I could get a loan to buy another and if I don't have a car getting to work will be almost impossible.

I am 67 years old and am helping my 30-year-old son repay his student loans, the largest of which, at $55,000, is in my name. I have been told that if that loan goes into default my Social Security will be at risk, so I pay that one. He pays on all of the others. My son graduated from college in 2008 and began immediately to repay his debt, but it will be many years before either of us will be debt free. The loans for his education are a burden to both of our families, and I wonder now if his education was worth the cost.

I am currently struggling to pay off over $60,000 of student loan debt. I graduated just four years ago this past week. I will be turning 27 in a few short weeks. At this time, I am living with my sister while she is finishing up college. I have been having a hard time affording basic living expenses since I graduated, besides the $300+ that I am supposed to pay each month for the next 25 years. I am blessed to have a supportive family that does their best to help me out where they can. At the same time, they have their own financial battles. Starting out at college, getting my degree to better my education for the future family I dreamed of having, was where my focus laid. Taking loans out was the only way my family and I could afford to go to college. I did not expect America to fall into a financial crisis, and to be at the height of this at the time of my graduation. I now had my degree, but unemployment was at a record high across the nation. Even still, I have not been able to find a full time job to afford the simple necessities of life. The thought of even dating scares me because I am ashamed of the debt I have put my self in, that I would not want to ask someone to marry my debt. I never imagined that at this age, I would be living back with my family, exhausting all my efforts to better myself to contribute to a better tomorrow for all.

I am a 45 year old divorced mother of 8, a full-time student, currently a Sr. Undergraduate, recently on the Dean's list, my major is Psychology with a concentration in Human Services, Currently my student loan debt is $36,998 and I'm also paying out of pocket for this year due to the student education cuts Obama put in place. The student debt amount is going to go up because I need to get a high enough education to get a semi-decent paying job. I'm unemployed, living in the Central Valley of CA and getting ready to move our family to a different state where the cost of living is cheaper, the housing market is stable and there is a much better opportunity for finding work. I must continue my schooling, a B.A. will get me no where in the field of Psychology. My goal is to get my Master's degree in Counseling Psychology to work with women who have been through domestic violence just as I have. The ultimate goal is to become a therapist, with a PhD but I will have to cross that bridge when we get there. I was taught that education is the only avenue that promises a better future, but it has been a struggle. I also have a portion of my daughter's student loan to pay back since she received her A.S. degree under the age of 21. I battle with credit all the time, I don't own a car, I can only rent a home for our family, My children rely on state medical until I can find work, and I haven't had any dental coverage in years. I am determined to continue my college education, because it's not my goal to work some menial job or two or three; that pays minimum wage and never goes up, for less than full-time and no benefits. Students definitely need a break in the amount we have to pay for higher education. I have 3 children in college right now, and 5 more coming up. All of which I have taught that a college education is the only way out of living poor, but right now, I don't know that they believe me. We live in low-income housing, cannot afford a car, can rarely afford to take the bus. I'm schooling online to keep the costs down, and still be able to be home in the afternoons when my children get out of school. I have faith, and I have hope, that somehow this will all pay off one day. By putting my family first, and choosing to be a mom, above being a business woman, I've started college later in life, and I can't imagine it being any easier for younger people.

I started back to school in 1982, got my AA and then went, with my 2 young children, to UCSB to get a bachelor's degree in Developmental Psychology. I took out Perkins loans until I got my BA, then stayed at UCSB (family housing was relatively inexpensive) for my MA in Education, with an emphasis in Early Childhood Education. I was a single mother, working weekends cleaning houses and offices and sending my kids to their father and his family in Lancaster, CA, so I could work full time during the summer, thinking that would help me reduce the need for loans. At first, I was going for my MFT so I could provide individual, group and family therapy once I got my license. This required another MA – in Clinical Psychology. I used loans to supplement my grants on my way to the BA; I did the same for my MAs. By this time I was working full time, going to school full time and doing an internship. The loans I took out added up, of course; at the time they were not adding fees or anything. I started paying my loans after I got my second MA (in 1992) from Antioch University. Different people bought my loans (I never knew why, I just figured banks buy mortgages, so why not student loans? When the payments got too high, I asked for some forbearance and they would not give me any; they wanted me to pay close to 1500/month. At the time my rent was 1200/month (including utilities and such. I just couldn't make it; I needed a new car so I could commute between Lompoc and Santa Barbara where my job was. The representative for the people that held my loan suggested I get a smaller place, apparently not knowing that California's rents are expensive and I moved to one of the cheaper places within an hour of my work. The representative told me to consolidate my loans into a Ford Foundation loan, which I did, after being told that my payment would be affordable, because of my income and living situation. I was still raising 2 girls, teenagers now. It got to the point where I could not afford to give them what they needed because of the hours I worked and the amount of money I was paying out in gas, etc. every month. To my discredit, I stopped making payments after I asked Ford to lower my payments and they would not; they too, expected over 1500/month. I just could not do it with my pay rate. They told me to borrow money, get a 1 bedroom house (with 2 kids?); drive a cheaper car (I had a 1983 Honda that was paid off! It got good mileage, and. I was afraid they would say to give my girls away. I have been working in Lompoc as a social services worker since 1997; we live in an impoverished part of Santa Barbara County and I serve, as a child welfare worker, our most needy families. Just this year, they cut our pay and benefits so other staff would not get laid off. We've given up meat, primarily for health reasons , but also because I costs too much. Now I am facing retirement in 4 years; I have nothing to my name except a car and books and furniture. I'm living with a roommate and paying about 1500/month with utilities and food. The last time I asked to have my payments lowered, or the money I've paid in interest count as paying off the principal and they said no. I am currently paying back (via wage garnishment – the only way I could pay them something twice a month without getting nasty grams. The representative from William D. Ford, stated that I was paying 35 dollars a day in interest (that was 4 years ago; I shudder to think what I am paying now and I will never get the principal paid off at this rate. I am terrified I will not be able to live after I retire. I buy thrift sale and garage sale clothes, shoes and furniture. I save the real money for gifts for my 6 grandchildren for Christmas and birthdays. By the way, I am, by no means, suicidal. I have a great job, with periodic pay cuts, cause government workers get paid too much. However, I could understand, in my darkest moments, why someone would. There are plenty of people worse off than me, but when I'm lying in the dark, thinking about my future, I get scared that I won't be able to afford food or housing in the next few years. Does it count that I am serving the poorest of the county every day? Does it count that I am on 24 hour call because folks trust us with the safety and well being of our children? I'm sorry if this story is a mess. I'm actually a writer, too, and I just feel so strongly about this, yet I'm not sure what to say. I've written my congressperson and senate person and they are so overwhelmed with letters like mine, I don't blame them for not getting back to me. Thank you for listening.

Student debt is currently my biggest burden. While in my junior year at Palo Alto High School, I took my first Psychology class, and fell in love. I knew that was where my educational goals were going to be focused. I immediately started my pursuit of my undergraduate degree in Psychology after graduating in 2004. I found a great school for me and with the help of school loans I fulfilled my dreams for my undergraduate degree. Throughout my time at Chapman University, my family, friends and most importantly, my professors encouraged me to continue into graduate school; professors specified that I should focus on a Master's degree, at minimum. As my passion for psychology continued, I researched schools, and immediately advanced to an accelerated Master's program at the University of San Francisco. I never took a break, I never worked full time to earn money to pay ahead for the education I pursued, so all throughout undergraduate and graduate schools I had the help of federal and private loans to make my dreams come true. I graduated, in August 2010, with a 3.95 and loved the educational experience I had. Then came job offers with my degree and the need to fulfill hours towards licensure my goal was to find an internship; I was offered 6 with incomes from $18,000-$20,000, which was not enough to survive. So I immediately had to find an administrative job to at least make $35,000 a year. I had always worked part-time since age 14, but still did not have experience to enter into positions that would allow me an income to support the costs of my loans. I have been forced to borrow money from family members and use ALL of my free time to apply to jobs for a paycheck, so that I can now afford the monthly payments towards my school loans. I never imagined myself chasing money/a paycheck. I currently work full-time but I have yet to find an income to support myself (and my dog) in the Bay Area and maintain the high payments for my loans at the same time. I pray every day that I will soon find a job that can support these loan payments, but this year, at age 27, I have completely given up the idea of pursuing Psychology. I live at home, and really regret not taking a break to learn about people who pursued Psychology (like me) made it after school. These loans have taken that dream away from me, as I cannot support myself while gaining hours (because my industry does not support me for he loans I acquired to gain the education necessary to pursue hours) or support myself in general. My generation was let down right as we completed our higher education and then we were falsely encouraged to go further (into debt) with our education. Graduating from Chapman in 2008 I witnessed the weakest economy in my lifetime, and it has not become much better. When I graduated in 2010 from University of San Francisco, I spent 2 years trying to find a site to get part-time hours while I maintained a full-time job. No one could take the few hours I had to offer and turn that into 3,000 face-to-face hours I need for my MFT License. In 2013, I have given up psychology and my pursuit of a career in the industry; I can only hope I can find a job in another industry, but facing so much rejection and explanation of over-qualification I am discouraged each and every day. Student debt has taken my dreams away from me, and is something I am not certain I can handle without any of my applications being accepted for positions that will afford the payments tied to my loans. It's sad to say that I try to encourage all of my younger friends and family members that the time we are in now, it's not time to go to college, it's time to go to work and get years of experience in an industry to grow within companies, not from education. I never thought I would discourage anyone from education, something that drives me personally. Student debt is ruining so many lives, including mine. My student loan debt has far exceeded my income potential and I have yet to discover the ability to support the high monthly payments. I have only prayer and hope that the solution will present itself from all my efforts soon.

I borrowed to get my PhD, hoping that I could move up the career ladder. I am a public high school teacher. I have had nothing but pay cuts the last six years (as health premiums rose). I have lost my home, had to file bankruptcy, and now face the probability of a $1000/month pay cut – I only take home $4400/month now. I cannot pay all of my bills now and that's with a bankruptcy. I am in my mid 50's and realize I will never again own a home, have a 15% reduction in my retirement due to the inevitable garnishment. I will most likely have to move to another country when I retire where I can live on the much smaller retirement I'll have. I can't even save for my 10 year old's college. Wall Street has gotten the biggest bailout in history while we have been given the shaft. If they hadn't tanked the economy, there would be more jobs in my field and more good paying jobs. There are not. The social contract has been broken when only the rich get the bailout and the rest of us are told to shut up and keep paying our student loans and mortgages. This country is beginning to look more and more like a sham, a pyramid scheme. I am beyond disgusted.

I borrowed approximately $22,000 in the 1980s at 9% interest. To date I have repaid approximately $50,000 but still owe approximately $28,000. So in other words I've paid back more than twice what I borrowed, yet my principal is currently $28,000, thousands more than I originally took out. I'm on track to successfully repay my debt over and over and over and OVER until I die. Since when did the United States become a loan shark? I'd have fared better with The Mob. Can we PLEASE get a reasonable cap, so that people like me can stop being cheated?

The thing that really makes me mad is I have been accruing interest on the loans since 2008 and now that I've graduated is the first time that I have been notified of the amount of interest that has accrued. I think the loan originators should be required to notify us monthly or at least quarterly as to the amount of interest that has accrued. They are certainly notifying via email now that I have to pay. Also it is JUST TOO EASY to accept these loans. Only one click on your computer, and you have that money in your bank account.

I am one of the masses suffering with student loan debt. I cannot afford the monthly payments set forth by Sallie Mae, and they will not work with me. I graduated in 2009 and the job market was in a crash. I managed with credit cards to get by but only delayed the inevitable. Now I am in the process of bankruptcy but Sallie Mae laughs at the process as they are fully protected by the law since bankruptcy will not discharge student loans. The reality that I do not qualify for undue hardship yet can not afford to pay my student loans is sinking in more and more. This is a debt that will follow me for the rest of my life and it sounds like even after I pass away. I will never own a home, be able to afford a decent car, and I will continue to live paycheck to paycheck. There is no more economic future for me, there is no light at the end of the tunnel, this is my reality now, student loan debt has destroyed my present and any possibility of a good future.

My husband and I have over 100,000 dollars in loans for our students (3 children) and we have to put off our retirement. But when we do retire I don't know how we are going to be able to continue paying on these loans. Several of them are over 10 years old and we don't qualify for the loan forgiveness. If after 10 years anyone could get loan forgiveness, we would probably be able to make it.

It disturbs me that middle-aged people still suffering under extreme student loan debt seem to be ignored in this debate. I have many friends still struggling under enormous student loan debt, our interest rates tend to be higher than they are now, and we have no hope of ever repaying our loans. How do we prepare for retirement when our student loans will follow us into our 70s and 80s? My specifics: between undergraduate and law school I borrowed approximately 112K. It's a fiction that all lawyers make a lot of money. 107K was consolidated and the remaining 5K was repaid quickly and may have been Perkins loans. I cannot remember. I exited law school earning approximately 28K and had to use deferments for a while. This causes interest to be capitalized with the principle. I paid $1100.00 a month for over a decade. In total I have repaid approximately 140K, but I still owe about 120K. My interest rate is 9% and even though rates precipitously decreased over the years, I am not allowed to refinance. I feel hopeless as it relates to my student loans and am certain I will die with a large student loan debt. The #1 mistake of my life was higher education.

I finished school in 1998 from UNT and borrowed $16000 on two private loans. I also had $6000 in federal loans from the years of 1995-1998. I have never finished paying them off, and I've been paying dearly ahead over the past 5 years. All my lender does is keep pushing the due date forward in time... So it is now 15 years later, and almost 20 years since I took out my first federal Stafford loan. I am now 42 years old, and I would like to just give up and have my loan balance forgiven. I despise the fact that my money goes into lobbying my congresspeople. That money should be going back to us students, not for Wall Street speculation.

I feel lucky I owe less than so many others, just under $8,000. I also have no idea how this will ever be paid off. I was laid off, with no severance pay, and my husband and I live on Social Security. It is hard for "seniors" to find a job – much less a decent paying one. Something will work out. We are revising our future. As much as I appreciated returning to school, and loving every minute, I wish I never went back. The financial stress can be overwhelming at times.

I am a parent of two who has seen the effects of the student loan crisis. My son has a law degree, graduated in 2008 with over 100,000 in student loans. He is practicing law working under contract position from another lawyer with no benefits. He has to borrow money from me to afford to live modestly. Making interest payment on his loans and not being able to get ahead at all. This feeling of hopelessness is chronic. A depressing state of the educated graduates. My daughter sees his predicament and does not want to further her education only to end up with so much debt. This is the way the US is down their citizens. I work for UC Berkeley. They look for non-citizens to pay higher tuition. We are educating the wealthy. Students from middle class families are being shoved out.

I became an RN in 1980. In 2009 I finally graduated with my Bachelor's of Science in Nursing. The last several years I was chipping away at my degree I was also rehabbing an injury, so took out student loans to ease things. In between one semester and the next the rules changed, and the interest on my loans went from 3% to 6-9%. Had I been able to keep working in hospital this would have been manageable, but now that I'm working in Home Health I can't keep up. I've a car that needs thousands in work but I can't afford to get rid of. I've two credit cards and some accounts all gone into collection, and, since home care is so dependent on government reimbursement, we're not getting raises, but pay cuts. I've just been treated to a $2.50/hour cut this month, third in 6 years. I may never be able to pay this $50,000 in debt off, as I'm 62 this June and it just keeps growing. I'm only grateful the interest isn't in the double figures. I've got further education I'd like to pursue so that I can teach nursing. I rent a room from friends and cook in a crock-pot and a 4-cup drip coffeemaker. I mend my clothes & have sold my books. & still I know I'm better off than some. But this is very, very discouraging.

My husband was struggling with severe but undiagnosed diabetes while finishing his bachelor's degree. One week after completing his degree he ended up in the intensive care unit. We finally had a diagnosis and treatment for the numerous illnesses that slowed down his schooling, requiring him to withdraw and re – enroll if he got too sick to complete a term. His student loan debt ballooned to over $100k, and we really had trouble making the payments right after he got out of school. He received more than one phone call from Sallie Mae (private) that was very rude and intimidating. I particularly remember Memorial day weekend 2012, he received a phone call that was particularly abusive. The caller was threatening to garnish wages although he had just told her he was unemployed, and we needed to pay health insurance premiums because he needed insulin. The caller was so abusive that I called back and asked for the employee. Throughout my phone call, she was either talking so fast that I could not understand her or yelling and screaming at me over the phone. I made written complaints to the CFPB, and to the California Attorney General's office. I wanted to see if a recording was available of the phone conversation, so that I could meet with an attorney to see if we had legal recourse. I got nowhere. Both CFPB and California Attorney General's office dropped the ball. I still have my file with employee name and ID number, letters of complaint and so forth. We had made out a payment plan and the phone thug actually called us a few days before the payment was even due. It seems to me that it should be illegal to threaten to cut off access to health care to collect a debt payment.

I have been working and paying my own way since I was 17 years old. No help from parents, a sister with health problems, and a father who declined to share income info for student aid application. College was more affordable in1974 but it still took me 10 years to get my BS working full time, paying rent et al., taking 3 years off to earn union salary w/ benefits so I could return to school and pay my own way which I did for my BS degree. Even that opportunity is no longer available due to decline in union jobs and hollowing out of middle class incomes and work opportunities. At 40 years old, Graduate school required a 25K loan. I budgeted and paid for text books in cash to keep my debt lower. When I rec'd grad degree I returned 9K of loan that I had not spent as I did not want big debt. Then, federal gov't handed off my loan to private company ACS at 4 or 4.5% interest (reasonable!). I've been paying monthly ever since. I owe about 3K, which I hope to cash out soon. At 47 years old in a boom economy my remaining 15K student loan debt made it impossible for me to qualify for a residential home loan hence and I had to settle for a condo. And, my only car purchase since then was Used, and, paid in cash. I am thankful for the government loan programs that helped me pay for my degree. I have been religiously paying it off ever since and sincerely believe people should – but at low as possible interest rates. It's only fair for both gov't and citizen. And, yes, in the best of all worlds it would be nice to have public education be free as it once was in California. Let's invest our tax dollars in our children's educations and not in corporate welfare where companies are seeking ridiculous write-offs as well as off-shoring their profits and dodging the IRS. Investing in education front-loads the opportunity of all those willing to invest their time and talents. It is inexpensive insurance against joblessness and a sure fire antidote to crime due to poverty, and negates the necessity of building expensive prisons at a cost or 40K annually per prisoner. Let's get our priorities right – invest in education, offer student loans at low interest, and help educate the future workforce for a brighter future for all families.

My three youngest children each has a student loan to payoff. The two youngest graduated 2 1/2 years ago and this spring. Each has about $25K in debt. The combined parent loans for my children total $275K. I took on these loans and will pay them off. But I believe the interest rate of 7.9% is far too high. The banks are making a lot of money on parent loans. Reducing the parent loan interest rate would save me a substantial amount of money that would be put back into the economy and stimulate growth. I whole-heartedly support efforts to keep the student interest rate low. I also urge groups to take up the fight to lower the interest rate on the parent loans. If my parent loan debt amount is ten times bigger than my children's student loan debt, isn't that a much bigger problem?

I returned to college when I was 50 and my children were grown and on their own. I completed my B.A. at Smith College (in the Ada Comstock program for non-traditional age women) and then received a Master's Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Sonoma State University. I have done important work as a Parenting Coach for clients referred by social workers at Child Protective Services, as a Family Advocate in a respite center for homeless women and children, as a Family Coach for families whose teens are involved in the juvenile justice system. Because my income has never fully supported me I have also worked as a nanny and as a part-time school counselor. For most of the years since I graduated in 1996, I have not earned enough to make payments on my student loans (determined by the Department of Education, Student Loan Division). In the years when I could, I made regular monthly payments. I am 73 years old and owe as much now as I did the year I graduated. I continue to work (I am an in-home support counselor for a foster family agency) and do not earn enough to make payments on my student loans. I have been told that when I stop working and am being supported entirely by Social Security (non-taxable income), after 20 years (20 YEARS!!!!) my loans will be forgiven. I have labored in the small not-for-profit agency world since 1996. I have earned very little while doing work that helps children, families and our community. And yet I have consistently earned less than I did as a secretary without a college degree. Although I continue to work, I have been approved for Section 8 HUD housing. I have 2 degrees, nearly 20 years' experience and am living on less than $20K/year. I see now why people become investment bankers and corporate lawyers – they do little for our society, but certainly make their own lives easier.

I attended the University of Phoenix hoping to realize a life-long dream of obtaining higher education with the advantage of a flexible schedule. However, the higher education was anything but and phenomenally disappointing. The University is a diploma mill taking advantage of people (many not particularly bright and woefully immature), and graduating people who have no business taking up space in a class. I expected to learn something and be lifted to a higher mental caliber. Like so many Americans caught up in the economic chaos the last few years and being laid-off December 2008, at the age of 58, I felt that along with realizing the dream to further my education it would be the only possibility for me to gain employment again. After speaking to a friend enrolled in the classes, I decided I would investigate University of Phoenix. I contacted the school and spoke to a counselor. While not necessarily aggressive or relentless to pursue enrollment, they were aggravatingly persistent – add to that a delivery closely akin to coercion and filled with promises. It was a one-sided conversation saying that by enrolling I would be attending (with guarantees of a credentialed institution) a highly regarded school within the educational community. The education itself I was told would stretch my intellectual ability and relevant knowledge, as respected professionals taught the classes. This was a guilt strategy used by the counselor to reinforce that without attending there would be no employment future for me. Advised that my monthly payback would be under $50.00 a month, and feeling that it was reasonable and something I could perhaps manage, given my long-term unemployment status, I enrolled. I was told that they were also available to help with gaining employment. Not once. I did apply to their local campus (Sacramento, CA area) for a job but was declined an interview saying that I was not qualified. Please note that I have been a marketing brand manager, director of operations, etc., and an executive assistant to the senior vice president of a major telecommunications company. The position I was applying for was for a lower grade administrative position. How could I not be qualified? Was age the deciding factor? Perhaps it was a function of a person with half a brain infiltrating their organization and seeing the truth? I have no idea. While I only continued long enough to earn an Associated Arts degree (with a couple of classes, perhaps three, into the Bachelor’s program), I had, from the beginning, questioned their operating model. No SAT tests were administered and I found myself taking classes with, for the most part, people who should be retaking a portion of high school or attending a vocational/trade school. Nothing wrong with either, but when paying exorbitant prices one should expect and receive something of value and not be placed in a group that is incapable of at least bringing the basics to class. That sadly also includes many of the instructors employed by the university. The first few classes were useless but costly. Although the end grades were part of the degree, in the final analysis courses such as US/101 INTRODUCTION TO UNIVERSITY STUDIES, give a new meaning to people not being ready to pursue their education and a vehicle for University of Phoenix to gouge the pockets of their students. In two words; remedial and unethical. I stopped attending upon realizing that although a 3.87 GPA, some might consider worthwhile and meaningful with all A and A – grades, it was useless in the real world coming from the University of Phoenix. Then I received a notice from the lending institution that my monthly payback would be over $240 per month, questioning the $50 per month I had been told upon registration. A lie and a vehicle to enroll students. Add to that I had been told that being unemployed I would be eligible and receive Pell Grants. Not the case at all. Not once was a Pell forthcoming. This denial is not the fault of the Pell Grant itself but the University of Phoenix for making unrealistic promises. The university also has an extremely high turnover rate of counselors and financial advisers. I had no less than four in each category. I understand change but this speaks more to their own internal operations and confusion. The constant changes, for a student, is disconcerting with the student having to get the one employee up to speed; not why anyone is paying such high costs. My time, if only as a student, is equally important and to expect a professional working team is not too much to ask for or expect.

I have been disabled since 1994. Convinced to go to school and really wanted to get an education to get off of ssdi and be independent. Told by a counselor that is worth it. Unsupported by disability department after transferring to state university. Tried working part time, but have 3 small kids; I couldn't do both. Took out student loans by advice of financial aid dept. and told it would solve the problem of childcare. it did, at a cost. Struggled through years of college, had to accept some failures because of family and personal health challenges. One class away from graduating but cannot finish because I cannot afford the 500$ fee to retake a class. Can't afford the 100$ to have diploma reevaluated for graduation. I have three teens now, no degree and 2/3s of debt owed is interest only! I am now in my late forties, no job, on disability still and I haven't found a job. If I tried to pay the 600$ month student loan bill, I would be evicted, homeless and hungry and so would my children. Any human services agency or assistance requires you to make under 25k a year and my husband makes slightly more combined, we don't qualify for extra help with anything. We live in a really expensive city and haven't family to help. How can we pay this? I want to get it out of the way but since I have no recent work history, age bias and disability bias, coupled with the lack of experience in the field to face while looking for jobs, how will I ever be able to get that job? It's frustrating to feel like the school sells degrees and loans and then dumps students without support, there is no" you almost got your degree alumni assoc." there simply isn't any support for the almost impoverished communities, only the dead broke can get help and the average family can't, because they evaluate need based on gross not net after bills are paid. I was desperate to finish what I started and even more desperate to stand on my own in this world, the financial aid department lied to me to get me to sign off on a lifetimes worth of stress and false hope. I am so angry at them for not warning students and for happily screwing up everyone's credit while raising fees and the cost of books, charging athletic fees for people who can't use the athletic services, charging for a locker for those who can't carry their books otherwise etc. etc. basically forced to sell the farm for a useless attempt at education. I could go on and on at how the education system and loan agencies are fleecing the average citizen.

I worked in scientific research with just a Bachelor's degree I obtained without student loans. At age 40, I was approached by recruiters from my State via an email campaign and conference outreach tables. The State was offering $40k in loan payback/forgiveness fro people to get a teaching credential in math or Science. You teach in an under-performing school for 3 years and you could get $40k paid back/forgiven. I was looking to get my Master's and this seemed like a great opportunity so I quit my job and enrolled. I supplemented my income during grad school by substitute teaching as the work lent itself to my studies at the same time. Now my school had TERRIBLE advising. First, there was NO financial aid officer. One lady who barely spoke English put packages together and sent them to us well after the first term started. I was shocked and dismayed my package was NOTHING. This was NOT what I signed up for. In addition, the program I was in was for 30 units to get a credential followed by THREE classes to complete the Master's. 2 years later and $90k in student loans later, I completed the credentialing. I was quickly offered an academic appointment at a university for $60k/year. Our local school district only paid a new math/science teacher $42k/yr. I accepted. And immediately began the arduous task of paying $1000/month on student loans. After 2 years I was told I must complete my Master's in order to maintain my academic appointment. The university offers tuition. I contacted my grad school and was told the courses I completed could NOT BE LEVERAGED towards a Master's. Not 3 classes left. But an entire 30 units more!!! To the tune of likely another $25k!!! This is just not an option. I tuned to the option of quitting my job and going to a K-12 public school for 3 years to clear $40k of my loans. Only to find out that I was totally DUPED by the State. You actually have to get your credential and teach in a "new teacher" program with a mentor for 3 school years and THEN clear your credential, THEN the clock starts ticking on the 3 years you need to get $40k forgiven. All the while, trying to make $100/month loan payments on a public school teacher salary. Makes no sense. I barely get by. One check goes to rent, the other to my student loan. Even though my work is eligible for several student loan forgiveness programs, only federal loans can be considered. Mine are private. I drive a 12 year old beat up car, rent a ghetto apartment with used furniture, wear hand me down clothes, and have ZERO disposable income. $20 is a fortune to me. As a single mother, I am ineligible for any assistance like school lunch, PE uniforms, bus pass, etc because I do have a job and my income exceeds the limit. I had to declare bankruptcy to clear only $25k in car loan and credit card debt in order to make ends meet. I am in year 3 with 4 more to go. I accept I went into grad school without a clear understanding of the small print. But I also blame my school for allowing me to star with empty promises, poor advising and NO FINANCIAL AID officer. I try not to think about what I could do with $00k – buy a house, send my kid to college. I try to remember that without my graduate studies, I would be making $40k/yr at my old job and likely have credit card debt. I would not have an academic appointment at a university making $60k/yr. It rules my life. Everything revolves around paying my student loan bill. Thanks for the opportunity to share. I know I am not alone. Ideally, I would find an institution willing to let me leverage the 30 units I completed towards a Master's with no more than 3 courses to supplement what I have done already. Along with a grant or scholarship or through my own university's professional development department.

Hi, my name is Kenny and I would like to thank you for this time. Well, ever since I was old enough to work, I have. There came a time in my life when I thought that I could do better for myself and the family that I have always dreamed of. Neither one had happened up to this point. I needed a push, well it came in the form of another lay off. The lady that I wanted to marry , she to wanted more for us and I agreed to the same, thank GOD for that. So at the age of 42 I had my reservations about being able to handle the load, I was terrified to be honest, but didn't tell her or her child Sean, what a great kid he was, I mean is, well I have not seen either one for years. Why , well I passed the entrance test to college, wow how about that. At this point I thought maybe this could work for us. Let me shorten the story because its to hard to write about, sorry. Anyway I was getting very good grades 4.0 presidents list, deans list and I was halfway thru information tech classes, when the school did not come thru with there promise, that was to give me what I paid for , like a instructor and computer, that's when I stood up for myself, not the right thing to do. The school kick me out and told me that I would have to never return to college. Needless to say that, fuc it

I graduated in 1993 and had originally borrowed about $35K. Over the years the banks were very happy to grant me deferments, forbearances, etc. Until now, at age 52, I find myself now owing over $200K. Meanwhile I have repaid over $100K. I work at a non-profit hospital as a physician assistant so I recently 'refinanced' into the direct loan program in hopes of someday taking advantage of the public service forgiveness program. I had hoped that my interest rate would drop from its original 8% to something closer to todays lending rates but because my loan is so 'old' it didn't qualify for any rate reduction. So I have an 8% loan on $200,000. I will never ever be able to pay it. At a time that I should be saving for retirement, that money goes to the government in the form of student loan interest. Thank goodness for the income based repayment plan. If I had to pay the $2,500 per month 'normal' payment I would be in default. I struggle with the IBR payment as it is.

I am currently $250,000 in debt from grad school and still unemployed. I have never been able to make even one payment on my loans. I am harassed daily by collection agents. I am homeless, own nothing and have come to accept that I will never own a car or home in my life time due to the massive mountain of debt and my ruined credit. Something needs to change.

I don't know how I'm going to pay off loans. I have been working a public service job but with the low wages and high cost of living, I can't make the monthly payments. I don't own anything, not even a car and rent. I despair over how I'm going to be able to pay especially with the capitalized interest! Please help!

I graduated from high school in June of 1995. I registered for school in the fall because I wanted to jump right in to college so that it would not take me that long to finish and get my degree. I started out as a Biology Major at SF State but the large classroom size and impersonal relationship between professor and student because of classroom size was overwhelming for me. Heald College commercials play constantly on television. They sell their institution so well with the solicitation of small classroom sizes, degree in 18 months or less, financial aid available, and help with job placement that I was practically sold on going to that institution before I even got there. All I could think of was that I could still be in the Medical Field, maybe not as a Physician, but at least I would still be able to help patients and I would have a degree. Little did I know that the financial aid they were talking about was not financial aid at all, but was a student loan. The tuition was so expensive that a Federal Pell Grant or SEOG Grant would never pay for tuition. I was awarded both grants because I had an excellent GPA. I never saw a dime of any money that Heald College received for me. All of the money went to Heald College, but at the time I was young. I was only 18 years old and didn't realize I could have gone to a Junior College for much less money in the same amount of time and receive the same degree. Heald College promises people job placement in the commercials. When you get there the "sharks" (that is what I call the recruiters) swarm around you and tell you everything you want to hear and it all sounds great. Almost anybody can get into the institutions because they don't require one to even have a HS diploma. Only when you have enrolled, applied for your loans, signed them over to Heald College, and have almost completed the course do they tell you " We cannot promise you a job as we do not place you. All we can do is help you with your resume and give you job leads!" Well you can imagine how shocked one is when told that. I was confused when I was told they could not place me because when watching the commercials then back in the 90's they advertised job placement assistance. So not only was I lied to but also I was swindled as well for over $14,000 which is what I owed for my student loan for education at Heald College once I completed the program for Medical Office Administration with and Associate of Applied Science Degree. Once I graduated all they did was send me emails of job announcements and allow me to use their computers and fax machines. Most employers will not take people with no experience, especially when you are in the Medical Field. After 3-4 months of intense job search I was finally hired at UCSF Medical Center in the Orthopedics Dept. but I started out at the lowest level even with and AA degree. I worked for several months and then became pregnant with my second son. My first son was born during the time I attended Heald College. So now I am a single mother with two children and I wanted to be home for my newborn baby so I decided to become a stay-at-home mom and open up my own childcare facility at home. I did that for the next 3-4 years until my sons were able to attend pre-school. After which I tried to get back into the career I went to school for but I was rejected by employers looking at my resume which showed my education at Heald College and the other jobs I had since age 15. I could not understand why I couldn't get a job. I thought it was because I had been out of the Medical Office for so long but then I started asking some of the employers why I was not being considered for open positions. They all replied that I did not have the right experience for the job. I was confused because I attended "college" and had a degree. I figured what more could they want. So I worked odd jobs, was unemployed for long stints of time and had to get on public assistance with my children because I had to care for them some type of way. Then the student loan repayment letters started to come asking for hundreds of dollars that I just did not have to give them because I was barely able to take care of my family. Luckily I was so broke that I qualified for deferments. In 2008 I went back to Heald College thinking that I could at least brush up on my skills and get a degree in Medical Assisting as they offered that now and that field was booming. So again I attended Heald College because at this point I figured "what more damage could be done to my credit?" I went back for a few months and was able to get an AA degree in Medical Assisting. So now I had the AA in Medical Administration and Medical Assisting, which I thought, made me more marketable to employers because they were now looking for candidates who had both front and back office experience. I knew Heald College could not place me and they had changed their commercials to say they don't place you but can assist you with job search. What I did not know was that the credentials I would receive and have to pay $6,000 for would not qualify me for any jobs in Medical Assisting and I had to pass a state licensing test to be a certified MA which is what most employers were requiring as well as a phlebotomy certification. Heald College does not provide either of the two and definitely does not pay for you to get either of these certifications. Not only did I have to pay $6,000 for the Head College education, but also I had to pay for phlebotomy certification, which is about $2,500, and the state licensing test is about $200. So because I was unable to pay for these certifications, and no employer would hire me even with two AA degrees from Heald College I am still unemployed, on cash aid and food stamps, with over $25,000 in debt because the interest is almost as much as the student loan. I am struggling because no employer respects or considers Heald College education as qualified. Some people do get luck, but most don't.

I just turned 39 and am in debt over $100,000. I worked all through school but had to take out loans for tuition and other expenses I couldn't cover. I did not have health insurance through school and lived very meagerly. There was no way for me go through school without taking out that much in loans. I have paid around $850/month for my student loans for the past seven years and am on a 30-year repayment plan. It is truly debilitating. I work full time and am still working on getting my business going. I just got a loan from a friend to start my business. I live alright, I drive a 25 year old car, I can afford to go out to eat sometimes, but honestly, if my loan repayments were lower, I would give more money to the economy. Truly. It is difficult for me to understand when others who don't have big debt and who work full time struggle because I feel like it would be so easy to survive comfortably without the debt. I understand what happened and that ultimately we are responsible for what we borrow but honestly I would have reconsidered borrowing money had I known that my financial life would have ended up this way. I have friends who didn't go to college and don't have debt and live great lives with extra income. Although I cherish my degree and my skills, I do envy that debt-free or even minimal debt lifestyle.

I made my first student loan while I was in a private seminary in 1998. My computer and printer had both crashed and I needed money to purchase new ones. At that time the interest rate was in the 4% range. I was working full time in Silicon Valley as a paralegal in a computer start-up company owned by Intel and SAP. The charge for a private seminary was $375 hour and I was able to pay the tuition on my salary but that was all. I was living in a 5th wheel trailer in order to pay living expenses. I made a second loan when I elected to move into an apartment because the trailer parks I had to live in were not safe. I moved to four different parks as each incident would happen-peeping toms, break-ins, flooding, refusal to empty the toilet tank on a holiday weekend, etc. In 2000 my company closed and I moved to Austin, Texas and there was not a seminary close that accepted my CA credits so I had to drop out of school. Before I could start paying on the loan my paralegal job in the Austin start up software company evaporated when they lost their funding and closed. I went into deferment. I changed businesses from computer software to the mortgage industry. The next two mortgage companies I worked for closed shortly after starting with them and I continued having to go into deferment.. By that time the interest rates had risen to 8% and in 2006 I started getting notices from Netnet that I could lock in that interest rate if I transferred my loan to them. I did and then my company closed and my mother died. I had to move to OKC to settle her estate and could not find work in OKC even though I took medical courses and tried to change careers once again. I have remained in deferment while the interest continued and now my loan is at $20,000. In August, I will have run out of deferment ability and will have to start paying the loan back at around $200 a month. I am almost 70 and living in another trailer on $1,000 a month social security. Netnet will not work with me to lower the interest rate and I have been told that they can take the $200 out of my social security leaving only $800 a month to live on. I will have to sell the trailer and buy a smaller travel trailer and stay nights in a truck stop. This is a scary thing to imagine happening at my age. I have worked all my life, paid taxes, tried to better myself only to wind up on the streets. I am college educated, am a certified paralegal, certified mortgage banking intern, certified CNA, CMA, and have taken medical coding classes. I am willing and able to work but can not find a job at my age. in any state. I desperately need a break on my loan. I depend on the Lord for my existence. This is the truth even though it sounds like a good novel. I am living this every day.

What started off as $10,000 loan borrowed as an undergraduate over four years to attend the University of Southern California, increased to $20,000 after finishing graduate school at the University of California – Los Angeles. The $20,000 in student loans has now ballooned to almost $100,000 due to the capitalization of interest during deferments. I still have not secured a position that pays me enough money to make the required student loan payments. Because of that, I have been forced to take defer making payments by taking classes on a half-time basis for the last 25+ years, thus the huge increase in total amount owed. This is the only thing I could think to do in order to have enough money to pay my mortgage and monthly household expenses. My kids can't believe that I'm still a college student, at 52 years of age. The income contingent and income-based student repayment options look at income and family size, but don't account for expenses. Disposable income is what should be used to determine the repayment amount. I want pay back what I borrowed, but $100K and I only took out $20K. That's insane. I can't do it. And when I retire and I'm on a fixed income, I will still have to pay back my student loan. How am I supposed to do that? I have bought one car in the past six years and it's not a luxury car. My daughter, who attends a local community college because I couldn't afford to pay for her to attend a 4-year college/university, drives a 1995 Geo Prizm to school and work. I haven't taken a vacation in years and don't see taking any in the foreseeable future. I so hope that legislation will be passed to help me pay back what I owe and rid me of all the interest that has accrued over time and allow me to live a better life. Thank you for listening.

If I could tell anyone to avoid student loans, now, I would. I first got them through Wells Fargo Student Loans in 2002. I was thinking about getting a Master's in Sociology from San Jose State at that time. The first semester went fine. But the second semester turned into a bad time, as my mental conditions worsened. The doctors had thought I was bipolar II and then I. Over the years I also had a dream of teaching. In '06 I went back to Sonoma State and after 1 1/2 years, got my teaching credential. But that job did not work out either. Why it did not is a long story. But what is pertinent is this: I was paying up to $500/month back in '07 through '09 to Wells Fargo. When I could not pay anymore they closed the private loan as a "bad debt" and referred me to a collections agency. The last schooling I had gotten National Loans, which I believed were unsubsidized. Ok, so then in '11 I had to deal with a majorly harassing collection agency from AZ. They used scare tactics. They said, "There's a lot we can do in CA" etc. Finally I was able to get my doctors to sign off on the paperwork to get the loans "Forgiven due to Total and Permanent Disability". I thought I was off the hook, right? NOOOOO. I now have $6400.00 I believe to pay the IRS, and that was because the NLSC sent me a form that said the $25K was income for 2012. So just because you're lucky enough to get the loans forgiven, know that you are not off the hook. You will owe the IRS 1/4 of the loans forgiven. To this day, I surely wish I had never gotten them. I think forgiving the debt through the IRS, so disabled people do NOT have to pay outrageous taxes should be a next point you should go after. One way or another though, you ARE going to pay. And I cannot negotiate with the IRS. Very frustrating.

I am higher middle class. Education for my children is important. We afforded private kindergartens for an early head start. This cost depleted my family of all rainy day and future college savings. Through the great recession, and no fault of my own, I got into $100,000 consumer debt mainly through lack of medical insurance medical cost and credit card institution using usury of 20% and more in interest. When I was finally working, I paid over $2,000 per month in interest. The result and long-term effect was one more family broken in divorce. I will never forgive or forget how these blood-sucking banks killed the future of my children. I will not take a penny of their money to enable my children to start debt free their own life and teach them never ever to take any loan no matter how affordable it looks and how reasonable it might look Here is the reason why: If you take the money and invest it yourself you can cash flow – now risks are everywhere. Assuming it will take a year or two to earn more money and build up a cushion you can go – pay as you go – afford your education and finish debt free and you have a stock to start your family with a rainy day fund which you should grow before you buy anything like a car or a house on credit. Universities must change their operation motive. If they operate as for-profit and profit maximization, then they don't belong into the landscape. They are for prestige and not education. We must separate the intention. We can invest and provide free education with the long-term effect the medical and legal costs are coming down, as the services don't require paying for extreme interest rates. In the end it is society that pays the cost.

As a single mom, I went back to school in 1988 so that I could support myself and my two girls. Originally, I borrowed less that $20K to complete my education (I have a professional teaching certificate.) Due to the economic crisis, year after year I was unable to get employment in my chosen field and was only able to teach for two years (2001-2). Because of this I have been able to pay on my student loans. I have tried to get reduced payments only to be told that as I have already consolidated my loans this solution is denied to me. Now, my loans are over $100,000 with payments that, as a senior citizen over retirement age, I will never be able to pay off. My one possibility of doing so was taken from me when I lost my home due to foreclosure when my mother, who shared my home with me, died suddenly. As you can see, at 68 years of age, paying off my student loans is impossible. Plus, because of my student loan debt, I have been denied the possibility of ever buying a newer car or ever owning a home again. There is more but this is the worst of it.

I paid my own way through college. Despite substantial grants, scholarships, and usually working 30-70 hours per week on top of classes, I still racked up quite a few loans. Then after school I mistakenly elected to join Teach For America. Result: more loans, less money. When I moved back after that, I had no choice but to move back in with my father because I can't even afford to make my student loan payments, not to mention housing and living expenses. Now I am currently unemployed and I can't find a job that will pay enough money to cover my loan expenses each month. Most of the time it seems like I'll never get out of under this shadow that is hanging over me. I can barely afford my used car payment and I'll never be able to afford even rent with my loan payments, and I definitely would never be able to purchase a home. My student loans seriously impact/deteriorate my quality of life.

I will not ever have children, get married, or own a home. I am 33 years old and had to get my parents' help to get my last car. I don't have health insurance. I make less than $30K per year, typically working 3 to 4 different temporary jobs throughout the year to supplement my permanent, hourly on-call position. Still, life in California is far better. In Wisconsin all I could find was an hourly gig that paid $8.35 an hour. Back there I shared a house with 3 other households (not roommates mind you, but single moms and their children. There were 7 to 9 people living there at any given time) in a 4 bedroom house in Milwaukee. I owe $135K on my student loans at this point. I am on the income based repayment plan, so I'm paying about a quarter of the interest on my loans. They grow daily. I live with my boyfriend and can't even afford to pay half his mortgage, let alone speak of utilities. If it weren't for a "sugar daddy" I'd probably be on the streets. I know I am an EPIC failure and if only I'd just chosen the right major I'd have been fine. Retirement? Pffft! I'm working until I'm dead.

I went to college starting in 1971 after I got out of the Army. I had the benefit of the GI Bill and always had a part time job (30-35 hours a week). After graduating with a BS in Civil Engineering I was immediately hired full time as an entry level engineer where I was working as a student. At the time there was a lot of work for engineers because Congress had passed the Clean Water Act funding many wastewater treatment plant construction projects. I don't think that I accumulated more than $4-$6K in debt, which were in low interest loans made possible because of another bill passed by Congress (if memory serves). Times have changed and our country has gone completely stupid when it comes to education.

My mother died of cancer when I was seventeen. My father remarried and abandoned the home. I had two younger sisters ages 9 and 7 and a 5 year-old brother that relied on me and to avoid them going into foster care I asked the court to be their guardian. I was able to go to college and I was able to complete undergrad and walk out with virtually no debt, because I worked full time, found scholarships and paid as I went through school. However graduate school (a psychology doctorate program with a Master's built into it) was more expensive – costing about 70,000 total for tuition. While I am grateful I had the opportunity to obtain federal loans to complete a psychology doctorate I cannot believe that I am unable to purchase a home. Since I was responsible for my siblings I took out the maximum loan amount and walked away owing $165,000. Of course the amount is much higher now, due to interest accrued when I was unable to pay. My husband has a similar debt story; he completed three graduate degrees and has debt well over $300,000 (with interest still accruing) despite having scholarships as well. My husband is an attorney, has an MBA and a Master's in tax law. However he has been unemployed for the past year and had only been employed intermittently by two different firms that downsized and let him go prior to the past year. we considered purchasing a condo, however the bank has specifically told us that the combination of our debt significantly limits our purchasing power. I have a job at a children's hospital and am in private practice. My income alone is about $140,000. This income should allow us to purchase a home, but our combined monthly payments are $3000. While student loan repayment plans can consider your mortgage and dependents when structuring your repayment plan, since we have neither our expected monthly payment is at the highest bracket. I am disappointed because I thought going to graduate school would guarantee both of us a shot at home ownership. Now it seems like we will be renters for life. Desperate for help

I just applied for consolidation of my $150,000 student loan debt that I acquired from getting a 4-year degree at a public university and then a 3-year law degree from a private university. Half of my law school tuition, which accounts for over $125,000 of the loan, was actually paid for with scholarships. I am now an attorney in California. I have applied for the income based repayment plan, which will start at an estimated $150 a month. I currently make $2300 a month working at a nonprofit not in my field. The year I spent working at this job before my loan consolidation does not count toward the 10-year public service loan forgiveness plan because my loan was not yet consolidated. My monthly expenses are as follows" $1,200 for rent and utilities, $350 for transportation; $400 for food, and now $150 for loan repayment. That leaves me $200 for other expenses. That remaining amount must cover all medical and dental bills (I do not have health insurance), twice yearly car insurance payments of over $500, annual bar dues of $500, and other unexpected expenses (of which there is always one or more). I do not have an entertainment budget. I do not take vacations. My social life has suffered. I am always worried about money and my vegetarian diet is low on fresh produce because I cannot afford it, as food budget is the first to take the hit. I get sick often as a result but do not go to the doctor because I cannot afford it and do not have health insurance. Because of my income, I do not qualify for credit cards with over a $100 credit limit. I will never own a home. As a 30 year old attorney I am in the worst financial position of my life. I have no hope for coming out of this. I have sent out over 200 resumes and have not gotten a single interview in my field, despite having average to good grades, receiving honors, and being the Executive Editor of my school's official Law Review. By the time I have paid the monthly payments for 30 years, I will have paid over $100,000 on the interest of my loans and $0 toward the principal of the loan, at which time the loan will be forgiven. My circumstances are typical and illustrate why America is no longer the land of opportunity. The educated are getting poorer. If I make the decision to have children, I will encourage them to go to trade school and take a job such as a plumber or carpenter. These jobs provide security. I wish my parents had done the same.

In 1992 I took out a student loan to get my teaching credential. I was never able to find a job that paid regular teacher's pay. Instead I started teaching in preschool, which paid about one-third what regular classroom teacher's received. In any event, although I loved my job and realized the very important need for the best teachers to teach preschool, I never made enough to repay the loan. Because I taught at a low income preschool, I should have qualified for the student loan forgiveness program, but was denied that benefit because my school "wasn't on the list!!" That $5,000 is now over $30,000 with interest and penalties, and growing everyday. I am retired now and living on a low fixed income. That student debt has haunted me for twenty years now. I have lived, and still live in poverty. I would tell anyone considering a student loan to think long and hard before doing so. If you do take out a student loan, be sure to study something that is sure to make you some money – don't even think about teaching.

Gentlepeople: My student loan story should qualify me as your "Student Loan Poster Child" should you have one. To make a long and miserable story short: 1. Our Financial Aid office at the University of West Los Angeles was run by a wonderful gentleman named Henry Blunt at the time I matriculated there, circa 1992. 2. Unbeknownst to me, Henry retired, sometime in 1995 I believe, and his position was given to a woman named Laura Smith. 3. Laura Smith changed the way that things were done in the Financial Aid Office, without any actual or constructive notice being given to the students (or, at least to me, and I checked my mailbox diligently.) 4. Bottom line, one day in 1995, on a Saturday morning, I received a phone call from DOE. I was informed in that call that my loans were in default. 5. I said, "That's impossible. I'm not even graduating until 1997." 6. Investigation that following Monday indicated that Laura Smith had NOT been filing the necessary paperwork on time, had NOT told me about this change in her work habits, and Ms. Smith was too busy watching The Oprah Show on TV to do much work. (This incident I reported in a letter to the Dean.) And yes, due to her incompetence and sloth, I was in default with DOE. 7. A gentleman named Ray Dominguez was brought in to work on my file so that I would at least be able to graduate. Mine was not the only file upon which he worked. 8. Since 1995 I have tried, unsuccessfully, to tell my story, and to get my situation rectified. All that I have gotten for my efforts is bounced from one bill collector to another, each one promising to "fix" the matter for me. The last collector literally took half my grocery money for three months, in order to "fix" things, and things remained unfixed. 9. I now have a bill collector, "Coast Professional" after me and I have been truthful with them, i.e., that I have had two hospitalizations in the past 1.5 years, and that I am working for $10.00 less per hour than I used to earn pre-recession, so I am a pretty broke (and broken) human being. 10. Back to Laura Smith – she was subsequently terminated, but no happiness there. The damage was done and I can't seem to undo it. I can't seem to convince DOE that it was THE CHANGING OF FINANCIAL AID OFFICERS AT THE SCHOOL that caused my problems, and NOT any negligence on my part. Nobody at DOE can, or will, comprehend the preceding sentence. 11. The compound interest and penalties on my loans now have me owing over $300,000 for an education, which should cost about $80,000.00. 12. My credit is ruined, and frankly, I now regret that I didn't sue the school for negligent hiring and negligent supervision. Laura Smith, the incompetent Financial Aid Officer, has singlehandedly done more damage to my life than any other person that I've ever been involved with on any level, and all under the "supposed" supervision of the University of West Los Angeles. (The school, incidentally, lost its WASK accreditation a few years after the incidents which I'm reporting here.) 13. I have no idea how to straighten this matter out. Perhaps you can help me. I will happily provide documentation from the former Dean, and other people in administration at the school to corroborate my claim. 14. In summation, this awful mess literally came out of the blue. As stated, I had no idea Henry Blunt had retired or been replaced, I had no idea that my paperwork was not being processed, I had no idea of anything until a Saturday morning in 1995 when I got the bad news that I was in default, and I have remained in default since then, and I have no clue how to fix this. 15. Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading this.

I earned a degree in Chiropractic in 1988. Throughout my 4 years in school, I was assured that the school loans were a necessary and easy part of a great career awaiting me. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It was an absolute struggle and a lost cause. I probably needed to borrow twice as much money to even start a practice, with no promise of success. I walked away from the field in a couple of years in abject poverty. I ran into a few classmates through the years. They all told me that the field is a complete struggle. It took 13 years before I could even begin to start making payments. I initially borrowed $50,000. The debt has risen to an astronomical $240,000. There is absolutely no way to pay it back. I had opportunities to buy a home thwarted because of the debt. I will rent forever. I waited until I was 36 to buy a car, to replace the dilapidated heap I was driving. The dealership overlooked my school loan debt. Most places I visited did not, and showed me the door. It's an absolute tragedy you treated worst in life for assuming a school loan debt, as opposed to frivolous spending on boats, vacation, clothes. I could have done 10 years of drugs and prison, and have been given a clean slate. I am not behind on any other bill (energy, rent, credit card, water, etc.) other than the school loan. I am a responsible person, and I deserve loan forgiveness. I made a horrible financial mistake, setting me back decades, before I even had a chance to leave the starting blocks. Because of the specificity of the training, I had no marketable skills. After 7 years of college, I basically started as a high school graduate. I am now 50 years old and have been paying some money on or struggling with the school loan for 25 years. Because I was paying under forbearance, I have received no credit towards 25 year loan forgiveness. Which means I could spend another 25 years choking on this horrible mess.

In 2004 after leaving my husband of 33 years, I left my home with nothing except a $20,000 debt on a credit card and my clothes. I started school and I was suddenly compelled to become a Registered Nurse. I had a part-time job, which allowed me to go to school. I started from the beginning and it took 6 years to get my RN license. During those 6 years, I received financial aid and took out federal student loans and 2 personal student loans with one being co-signed by a friend. I had to borrow the money in order to supplement my income of which approximately one-third went to health insurance, which was mandatory. I also still had two teenagers, which I was supporting. At first, I did not feel these loans would have been so bad to repay, except when I graduated nursing school in 2010, there were no jobs for new graduate RN's due to the economy having taken a huge nosedive. Because the economy still has not yet recovered, I still do not have a nursing job and I continue to go to school for my bachelor's degree in nursing and continue to take out student loans though I believe after this semester I am at the end. Staying in school allows me to defer my student loans though they continue to rack up the interest. I eventually had to go bankrupt with the credit card, as they no longer would accept the payments I could afford. I did get a full time job in a hospital as a medical assistant making one-half of a nurse's salary. Working full time and going to school half time leaves me little time for anything else. So now I have: no house (I live in an apartment), no job to go with my degree, no money to buy anything, bad credit, and I see no way out. My student loans total approximately $140,000, which includes the interest that they capitalize. I am now three years out of nursing school and in much worse shape financially than if I had not gone to school at all!

I only attended college for a minimal amount of time to qualify for a police career, but my nephew has a Master’s Degree from Penn State. He is a marvelously intelligent person who was an intern for Senator Feinstein. He now has $108,000 in debt for his student loans. He is engaged to a wonderful college educated girl who also has a large student debt. These young people cannot think of buying a home or new car because of the crushing debt heaped upon them by these student loans. The banks got bailed out, but who is going to help the brighter minds of this generation if we don't get them some help?

I cosigned on my daughter's private student loans in 2002-2006. In 2008 the company I worked for went out of business and I had to take a job making about 1/2 of what I was making. My daughter graduated in 2007 and could not find employment for 2 years. My ex husband (who had originally agreed to help pay these loans) was unemployed and lost his home. I went bankrupt in 2009, but of course can not discharge these loans in bankruptcy court. I have been paying one of the loans with Wells Fargo $550 per month since 2009. I am being sued by National Collegiate Trust, which bought one of the loans. I am really having a hard time. I will never be able to pay these loans, can't save for retirement, can't get married (or they will come after my husband), can't own a car, and I don't see an end to this. The loans keep accruing interest and penalties. These loans get bought and sold for pennies on the dollar yet the amount they want me to pay has doubled. They got a bail out. I did not. I really need some help

I am a 62 years old, student loan debtor, who's still paying an outstanding balance of around $6.000. I'm unemployed, and my sole source of income is SS Disability/SSI, with combined amounts to $ 970.00 per month. I make a monthly payment of $79.96 – out of my disability income!! Around 5 years ago, I submitted an application to have this student loan dismissed, based on my disabilities and being unable to work, along with it I also submitted affidavits from two physicians, but it was denied twice!! It seems to me, that if their rules with respect to disabled debtors are stiffer than the SSA, than they shouldn't have rules at all!!

For years I have done my very best to keep up with my minimum payments on my student loans. Whenever it was possible, I would always pay just a little more than minimum in order to be that much ahead of the interest. Unfortunately, due to losing my job twice in the past eight years because both companies I worked for went out of business, one of which having been in business for 112 years at the time it closed its doors, I have lost all gains that I have made in repaying my loan. Because of incurred interest, my principle payback has now far exceeded the original loan. I am still unemployed, since 2010. The longest I have ever been so. I have exhausted all of my forbearance options with Sallie Mae. I live in my friend's shop, working freelance CAD jobs, and doing my best to not only improve my living conditions, but to also keep up with my loan payments to the best of my ability, out of fear that one day they will seize what little money I am able to save in my checking account. I understand completely that I am responsible for this debt. I signed for these loans in order to get a good education. I owe this money. I do not dispute that. But as I approach the age of 50 within the next year and a half, I would very much like to return to the land of the living by finding a steady secure job and move back into an apartment and pay this debt off once and for all. As it stands now, mathematically, it seems this will never happen. I am tired and frustrated.

I have $60,000 in school loans. My credit has been impacted dramatically. I have not been able to begin paying my loans. I have had to defer them and place them in a forbearance state. My husband is unemployed and my oldest daughter is soon to begin her college education. I don‰'t know how I am going to do it. I have not been able to buy a house and my car purchases I have needed a cosigner and or a family buy them for me and me making the payments. Student‰ loans made it easy to obtain an education, but have hindered the American dream life. I can‰'t own a home or save for my children‰'s education. I am happy I have an education, but the debt that comes with it keeps me up at night. I believe that a teacher who teachers special education and a math or history subject should be helped with the loans, for the reason that we teach in subject areas that are in great demand and difficult to do. .

I graduated from a prestigious private photo arts school, which was really over priced for the degree acquired. I graduated with a mountain of debt totaling $200,000+ from Sallie Mae and couldn't find a job for 3 months and when I did it barely paid me anything and I couldn't afford to start paying on my loans right away. I deferred my loans for as long as I possibly could because I couldn't afford to pay them. What I didn't realize though was that during that time the interest on my private loans was at 14% and my federal were at 5%. I wasn't able to start paying on the loans until about 3 years ago and when I reviewed how much I owed I was shocked to learn that my debt had almost doubled and I now owe a staggering $396,000. My current monthly payment is $1,940, which I sometimes get help from dad (who is the cosigner on several of my loans) but I usually end up paying it by myself, which is really challenging and I often barely make it. Also that payment is primarily just paying interest and barely any of the principle debt, so basically I can pay this insane payment for the rest of my life and I most likely will never pay my loan off. I currently work three jobs (only one of which is within my field of study for which I have my bachelors degree), I generally work 60+ hours per week. I cannot get married or have children till I find an answer for how I am going to rid myself of this debt. I am desperately hoping a miracle happens so I can figure out how to get out of this mess of debt. I strongly support all efforts, from bankruptcy for private loans, to debt forgiveness, or even just lower interest rates. Thanks for hearing my story and keep up the good work fighting for the people

I came out of school owing $33,000 in 1995. An 8% interest was average in those days. I was glad to get the money since my family had none. I thought school would be the answer to my problems. It quickly became the biggest problem I would ever have. Had I understood that signing those papers meant I would be paying $500 a month for the rest of my life, with no chance of paying the loan off until I was a very old man and had paid something like seven times the original loan, I would never have done it. My current outstanding balance is $43,000. I pay $6000 a year to Sallie Mae and only $1000 a year disappears from my balance. $5000 a year goes up in smoke as so called 'interest payments. If you look at money spent alone I paid the $33,000 amount back a long time ago. I have never had health insurance and will never be able to purchase a home or a new car or a 401k. If I were to get sick tomorrow they would have to roll me into a ditch and let me die. I am now 43 years old and there is no end of my struggling in sight. Unless I win the lottery, Sallie Mae has ruined me. This is my reward for having a family member die in every major war since the revolution. Yay America!

I had about 400,000 dollars debt. I have an M.D., M.S., B.S., and an A.A. degree. Yet working as a security guard. Things are so bad that a judge in bankruptcy case allowed my private loans to be discharged. Now I am left with about 200,000 dollars debt. My life is over and I see no way out of this. I can't get marry, can't have a new car and can never buy a house. I wish there was any loan forgiveness.

I went to a very good school for the profession I wanted to pursue. It is highly selective and very difficult to make it through. I graduated with a 3.8 GPA and I am very proud of the degree I received. But it was very expensive and very demanding. Frequently, I was at school from 8 am until 11 at night. This left very little time for a side job. We often had requirements to meet on Sundays for school for eight hours so I would work on Saturdays and Sunday evenings. My parents had no money. My father had a serious medical condition and my mother was a secretary. So I took out student loans. Now it is 7 years since graduation. I have two sets of loans-my government issued public loans and private loans from Sallie Mae. Sallie Mae is an intractable company that gives me zero leeway to change my loan payment. Monthly I pay $500. This represents a quarter of my income, a sizable amount. Consequently, my Direct Loans are at the same amount or greater than the day I left school as I barely have enough money left over to live much less pay my loans or pursue my career. Currently, I am saddled with $90,000 in debt that I never expect to pay off. I make far less than what I was told by countless counselors, parents and teachers, that a typical college educated person would earn. I was told to go to school, work hard and study. To follow my dreams and everything would work out. I have yet to see that. Now they tell people not to go to college unless you have the money already and that college is not for everyone. That is a dramatic change from when I was raised. Why, if we as a country are interested in the education of our public, which is our greatest resource, why are we making that education so difficult to get? Why do we hamstring our college graduates with ludicrously high levels of debt? Why has the cost of an education grown so much faster than the rate of inflation?

There is no way I can explain briefly how this debt has impacted my life. Perhaps I can give a taste by saying: Because I was poor and ambitious at age eighteen, and fell victim to promises not just from loan companies but also from my high school advisors, I completely forfeited a chance at the type of adulthood my parents enjoyed. Having health insurance, owning a home or car, and getting married and having children – these are all luxuries for people like me. I would be most grateful for the last two: my dream is to have my own family.

Coming out of college in 2004, I had about $22,000 in student loan debt that I ended up consolidating. However, even for the first year that I was making regular payments, it seemed like I was only paying interest on them. I had a full time job, but I still had to live at home because San Francisco (my family's hometown for 6 generations now) is so expensive. Then, I was able to save some money and travel low-budget internationally while still paying my loans. When I came back and started looking for a new job & life path at the end of 2006, the economy was in turmoil and the job market seemed flooded with people who had higher degrees or more experience. I spent the next 3 years working multiple part time jobs and paying rent. I had to get forbearance because I couldn't afford to pay rent and loans. I ran up credit card debt just to live. I already lived on very little money, but my lifestyle was still not sustainable. By the end of 2009, I had to move home yet again and changed my repayment plan to ICR so that I would only be asked to pay what was deemed affordable...which was $0. So, I was able to breathe a little easier knowing that my debt was on hold, but still growing due to interest. In 2010, I got a better job and started making strides in my career. By that time, my first priority was paying off credit card debt, which you can't put forbearance on. That took me nearly a year. Now it was time to get serious about student loans. I have put myself on an aggressive repayment plan, hoping to be debt free by 2014. However, the interest continues to accrue and I still don't make that much money. So, here I am, 31 going on 32 years old, living with my family (whom I am SO grateful and lucky to have) while I attempt to foresee a future where I don't have to worry about student loans and can maybe afford to move out on my own again. I've never owned a car or even thought about buying a house. I spend most of my money on groceries, transportation, maintaining my health (without health insurance) and helping my family.

I worked in production without a completed education for more than 25 years until I was laid off for the third time and wanted something new. I am now in my mid-forties and could be paying off student loans until retirement if the jobs are not enough to pay back the loans. There has to be some relief from the financial burdens that students are saddled with in order to serve professions more effectively.

I have over the last year went with out and that includes paying my bills on time as I had over $500.00 dollars taken out every month and the progressive agency that the federal government gave the okay to lean on me did not care and were very nasty, when in fact, they called my work and said that I would be paying that no matter what and that they would get the money out of me and would have it taken out of my paycheck through Human Resources with or without my okay. I have not had a raise in over 6 year as I work for the County of Ventura, and would have not gotten my MBA if I would have known it would do me no good!-I have applied thru the County for at least 3 dozen jobs and have yet to get hired. At this point I have turned 64, and all I am told I am lucky to have a job and how good I am but there is room for advancement!

My husband and I have about $122,000 total in student debt between us. I have a master's degree in social work and he is a high end auto technician. He is 36 years old and I am 31. Although we have relatively high income for working people, we are unable to buy a home, have children or save for retirement because all of our income goes to paying bills to live and paying on our debt. We also accrued credit debt when were in school that we are still paying although he finished school in 2008. One of my husband’s loans has a rate as high as 11.25% from Sallie Mae. I have a variable rate loan that is tied to the T-bill rate and I never really know what the rate will be. We are unable to consolidate either of these loans because they are private. We have paid over half the principal balance in interest on the Sallie Mae loan in recent years because of the repayment structure Sallie Mae uses. I have had to fight repeatedly to get the correct interest rate on my consolidation loan with Nelnet and believe still that I am being ripped off through manipulation of my repayment. I originally signed a note on consolidation during my post graduation grace period with a company called Chela who was bought by Nelnet apparently before my loan was finalized even though I signed over 6 months before the sale to Nelnet. Nelnet forced me to sign a new note at the much higher rates that my loans went up to after Chela did not disperse the funds before my grace period ended. Then Nelnet has been charging me the wrong interest rate (different from the note I signed with them) for the past 5 years and even though I have paid almost $17,000 since my loans went into repayment in 2006 my principal balance on my revised disclosure since the interest rate correction is only $600 less than the original amount I agreed to repay. So in 7 years of repaying I have made only $600 in progress on reducing my principal and paid $16,500 in interest. This is partially because I was forced to defer my loans during two different years and the interest accrued then was capitalized. But I have no way of knowing if my payments were accurately applied over the years or accurately recalculated following the interest rate correction. We are interested in looking into advice from a lawyer on whether Nelnet has behaved legally but cannot really afford anything but a free consultation. My husband I believe we will die paying these student loans unless we can afford to move to a standard repayment plan and even if we can do that we have no idea how we will ever afford a home or to start a family while paying the standard payments for 25-30 years.

My name is Beth, I believed in education and our country. Now, I am 52 and my personal student loan debt is over $100,000. I raised three children as a single parent the majority of my life. I myself did not have a college degree and only a GED, yet I never received help from our government. I worked sometime three and four jobs to make sure my kids were in good neighborhoods and schools. When it was time for my oldest son to go to college, I had saved some money but not enough. We started taking out loans in 1998, some in his name and some in my name. In 1996, I had gone back to school and was working full time. I was fortunate that my company was paying the majority of my school. In 2001, my middle child (daughter) entered college; so all three of us were in school at the time. I owned a nice home, and have been a homeowner since I was 27. I had a great job, with good medical and worked for the same company for over 11 years. I felt I would be able to help my kids through college and my company was covering most of mine. I have always paid my loans on time, no complaints. My first son graduated, as has worked as many as three jobs at once. His loan debt is so high he can't even get a car and no way a home. His girlfriend of 8 years is the same way. Now they both have decent jobs but have to live by family to borrow cars, and rent. My daughter is in the same situation. Everyone decided to go back and get a Master's hoping that this would increase their job salaries and chances to make it; this just increased their debt. My youngest son just graduated and he has to live with me because he can't afford to make it on his own, and pay back his loans. He does not have a car either. After raising three kids (no government help or bail out) I have good credit (went down this year due to my debt in student loans) and all four of us are college educated. The problem is this; the job market has changed dramatically. I use to make double what I make now, and because I moved to take a job I am struggling to get a home at 52 because of my student loan debt. My parent loans are at a super high rate, and I had to take them out because that is how the school explained it. I had the credit and my youngest didn't. Therefore, after he was two years into his college I had to take out loans for him to complete. By the way, my ex-husband owes over $350,000 in child support and the courts did next to nothing to help me collect in over 21 years. This went to Supreme Court and I have a judgment – just no money! So, I have been a good citizen: 1. Raised three law abiding kind citizens of the US, who work hard everyday to try and make it in the world. 2. Pay my student loans and some of theirs when I can, we all try and help one another. 3.Have not asked the government for help, just worked hard my whole life. 4. Don't own a home, live with my boyfriend and my youngest son because we can't afford to be on our own. 5. At 52, I am in debt and making less than I have ever made. Last time I made this little I was 27. 6. I gave at least 10,000-13,000 a year for each one of my children's educations for over 12 years. I am $104,000, Chris is 110,000, Broke is 65,000 and Stephen is 75,000 in debt. NONE OWN HOMES and only me and my daughter have cars that were given to us as gifts! I spent the past two years working for our Governor in Colorado, I believe in the US and our country but this is so sad that we are all struggling this way. Why is educating our children and ourselves so expensive? Why by educating my children so they can work, am I worried that I will be homeless? Thanks for your time!

I continued my education because I wanted to become a professional, an expert in the field of psychology. I was encouraged by my school to get my master's and my Ph.D. because I was told I would earn more. I truly have benefited from all of the education. However, I am also over $100,000 in debt and I am scared to death of the loan repayment. I feel as though I have failed my children because there is no way for me, as a parent, to afford their college education after paying for my own. I have no job right now, and the prospect of paying back my student loan is very daunting. I truly feel immobilized by this!

I grew up in a lower middle class family in Wyoming. Eager to leave the state, yet with only around $8,000 that I had saved from serving tables, I decided to take student loans to pay for a degree in Video Production, the only thing I've ever wanted to do. I went to a large private institution specializing in the arts in Colorado. It was expensive and difficult for me to even pay for the extras outside tuition, especially with no help from parental units or grants, and quickly my savings dried up. I took a job tutoring at the school to help, but ended up taking additional loans for housing and supplies. When I graduated in 2007 with an Associates Degree, I was left with $59,000 of student loan debt. Fortunately, I was able to get a job immediately working on commercials for a large advertising agency, but it was a job without benefits and making only $10 an hour. I was forced to put my loans on forbearance and deferment by my lender who said it was that or pay the fee they requested monthly, which was more than I made. In 2008, as everyone knows the market crashed, and many of the video companies that hire in Colorado laid people off. I was fortunate to not get laid off, but the company I worked for paid me essentially as an "office overhead" expense and would not consider even a slight pay raise. For two years, I went through the vicious cycle of forbearance until I was finally able to get a better paying job in my industry (around $30,000 a year which doesn't seem like much, but to me was a huge increase). Yet, the damage by that point had been done, leaving my grand total at $78,000 from my original debt of $59,000. Even so, my lender was still requesting more than I could pay, but after many calls did finally offer me a different plan: a four-year interest only plan. Now every year on my tax statement I get the glaring number from my lender, around $6,500 of interest paid ($2,500 is the most you can write-off on taxes but they calculate it out for you anyway). Very little of my payments go to the actual principle, but in the last 3 years or so, I've made it to about $75,000 still owed. I don't blame anyone but myself for getting a liberal arts degree that doesn't pay well with student loans. I chose to do this. But I always work very hard, sometimes 90+ hours a week to continue to follow my dreams. Sometimes I think of all the things I could be doing if I would have just settled in my position as a server, which I made more money doing then I do now, but in the end, I don't regret it. Although I never foresee my loans being paid off, I'm happy to do what I love. It's just a different type of servitude in the end.

I owe, and will forever owe, about $10k. One class was not put into the loan and Colorado wants now $4k for that single $800 class and has taken all my tax returns for the last 10 years. I've been paying for 10 years on the $10k and it is 1/2 paid off at $108/mo. Am 66, still working part time, can't afford Medicare B of course and will soon have to use 1/8 of my monthly income for this, or 1/4 if they double it, when my job concludes this year unless I find other employment. I didn't get grad degree in the end anyway.

I'm a 56-year-old non-traditional student in a Master's program. I work as much as I can as a counselor for family members who struggle to support loved ones with an addiction. Seventeen years ago I was involved in a near fatal car accident, which left me alive yet unable to resume my life as it had been. I was a single mother of two 11 and 9 year old girls. I cleaned houses and was taking a couple of courses at Front Range Community College to see what I might be interested in. Then came this accident that changed my life. I became addicted to pain management medications and through that struggle decided to become a therapist and help others. Today I am drug-free, although I live with levels of pain that vary from day to hour. Many of the questions in your survey seemed ironic as I have not been able to but a new car for well over a decade or, been able to save for my retirement, which looms in the oh so near distance! I have been struggling and in debt ever since I entered school! I have a closed head injury, as well as other physical and mental limitations. I was told I may not walk again but I do. Although, today I live each day contending with my limitations, I have worked hard to create a blessed life. For me school was a vital part of my mental rehabilitation as I was able to grow new compensatory neural net. On this issue of student debt, I remain angry that I, and others like me, who wish to be of service to the community, do so at such a high personal price. I'm not an extravagant person. Luxury to me would be the ability to afford the health services that ease physical pain for me such as massage and acupuncture. There are also treatments that would increase my cognitive abilities, as well as, lessen the anxiety I experience from constantly dealing with my mental and physical limitations. I can't afford health care and although I believe in universal health care I'm not sure how I'll pay for it next year! And I doubt that the services I so desperately need will be covered. My previous experience was to be offered addictive pain medications that would in the short term slowly lower my quality of life, numbing my senses, and eventually kill me. I will NOT take drugs. To date, the level of holistic rehabilitation I've achieved is due to my turning away from pharmaceuticals offered by managed care health institutions. Currently I watch my daughter struggle with her decision of whether or not to return to school to achieve higher education, which I believe is everyone's right! She remains undecided because as much as she would like to follow in my footsteps, she's watched my financial hardship over the years that affected her directly when she was younger. I very much appreciate this opportunity to tell a piece of my story. I hope it's helpful.

Like many other high school students who had yet to understand the concept of "value for money", I opted to go to the absolute best school that I could be accepted to. I went to the University of Pennsylvania because I had worked so hard through high school and felt that I deserved to go to the best undergrad business school in the country. My family was far from being poor (according to the school's calculators for need of financial aid) and far from being able to afford the $40,000+ annual tuition. It was no problem because I was able to take out as much as I needed in student loans. The exorbitant cost didn't faze me at all because I was so caught up in the promises of high-paying jobs on Wall Street that if I went to this school and did well, the loans would pay themselves in no time. $113,000 in student loans later with only a Bachelor's degree and only an average GPA, I realized that the speech the admissions officer gave was only going to be a relevant for a select few people in my class. I was able to secure a job in a consulting firm that paid decently, but considering the other analysts in my class who went to lesser-known colleges, I realized that I didn't need to go to the more expensive college to realize the same job opportunities. Those sobering realizations aside, I took responsibilities of my loans when I left college and made paying them off my biggest priority. I employed many money-saving techniques and didn't take on any more debt. No cars, no mortgages and most importantly no credit card debt. I prepaid my loans as much as possible, which unfortunately left almost no money for savings. This plan was going well and though I'd feel bitter about my peers who weren't saddled with such loans, I kept plugging along and tried my best to keep living within my means. I came to a depressing realization though when after struggling in my career for a few years, I realized consulting was not the career path for me. It was harder and harder to go to work and I realized the only reason I was there was to pay off my astronomical student loans. By my calculations, I would have had to work there for 5 more years, which in retrospect, doesn't sound like a lot, but I had already hit my boiling point and couldn't stand the job or the people anymore. I dreamt of starting new and going to college all over again. Then I decided that my real passions were traveling, cooking and writing. So instead of prepaying my loans as I had always done, I started saving as much money as possible so that I could quit and start a new life. I was able to save a decent amount of money and I probably could have paid off my student loans by now, but instead I made a trade-off and decided that pursuing a career I loved was more important and I've been working towards that ever since. It's been almost 2 years since I quit my safe and stable job in consulting. My loans could be nearly paid off by now, but when I look at all I gained, experiences traveling the world and finding my life partner, I don't regret a single thing. Of course, I do wish I wouldn't have gone to such an expensive school, but I do realize that every mistake I made in my early years did lead me to this point in my life and I am quite proud of where I stand now. I still have $72,000 left in student loans to pay off and I haven't been late with one payment. I'll keep pursuing my dreams of sustainable travel until that point where I can't pay my loans. As much as I'd hate to, I would then go back to my old career because I understand that this financial mess is my own to fix. Thank you for reading.

Obtained a terminal degree had to pay out of state tuition. Loans with Sallie Mae and Nelnet tried to consolidate but they deliberately left out parts of the loan. Now knowing this and assuming it had been done properly I defaulted on loans-their tricks blew up what had been a 58,000 debt to well over 100,000. They made no attempt to negotiate, when I left reservation job (8 years teaching AIHEC) NNC, SMC called and harassed making it hard to keep the new job. Brought loans out of default. Rolled the loans into Federal Direct program and paid with no problems until Obama/USDOE moved these to servicing by GSMR spent 6 months not having payments credited, not knowing what to pay and etc. Contacted USDOE consumer protection office they stated there was not a 'legal problem.” As a professor I find it sickening that I have to teach students for future careers knowing that the systems I work for have little or no concern that higher education due to student debt is now social subjugation and as such higher learning is no longer the elevation that people like Ruskin, Washington, Dubois and Pell worked so hard to build. Would leave this damned country if I could because of the student debt problems.

I was sold on University of Phoenix back in 2003. I had been to some community college in the past, and was employed as a CNA since 1994. UOP convinced me to sign up and get my degree in Human Services/Management, promising I would get a better job with that degree. I was dumb enough to fall for it. Over the 4 plus years I attended and took classes online, UOP kept raising their tuition and changing my degree requirements. I finally got so disgusted and quit, leaving me $60,000 in debt (and still working as a CNA). My credit is forever ruined. I live in a small trailer and am on food stamps. I drive a 19 year old vehicle and can never have anything nice. I have health issues and hope to go on disability, since there is NO WAY I will be able to ever pay this off. I have horrible luck, so I don't count on anything from anyone, except to be let down.

I went to the U. of Alaska in the mid 70's to mid 80's. I had Pell Grants, Work Study money, and NDF loans. At times I could defer the payment by continuing to take classes. Eventually I paid off my loans (I THOUGHT). In 2000 we went to refinance our house in Boulder, CO. I had owned homes in Anchorage and in Colorado before this refinance. All of a sudden, a Student Loan amount of $2,000 showed up on my Credit Report and we could not refinance until it was paid off. I had saved all my school paperwork over the years and called the State of Alaska about this unpaid amount. They said I had paid off everything except this amount. I was stuck with paying an amount that I don't think I owed and the amount was 20 years old. They agreed to take $1,000 and call it paid. So I paid the $1,000 so our home refinance could go through.

I am a single parent of two children. I decided to go back to school to hopefully be able to get a better job to support them and give all of us a better life. I also want to prove to them that if I can do it so can they. Just in three semesters at my local community college I have already racked up around $10,000 in student loan debt. Watching that amount continue to rise every semester is frightening. Part of me wants to give up now because I know by the time I have my Bachelor's from a university that amount is going to be astronomical and I'm not sure how I am going to be able to feed my kids, provide for them, purchase a house and a new car while I'm paying off 10s of thousands of dollars.

I graduated from graduate school in 1997, and had to file bankruptcy in 1998 after attempting to make payments that took up 1/3 of my take home pay for about 18 months. The bankruptcy gave me a break for 5 years. During that time my balance went from $60k to 83k. Since then, I have only made high enough wages to pay them back for 2 years out of the last 10. I am serving a 3-year contract at my place of employment because it is located in an under-served area. It paid the original $60k while I am still stuck paying $550 monthly on $46k interest that had built on that originally owed balance. I can't buy a new car for another 3.5 years after I have completed another contract to get the remainder paid off. My car is over 10 years old and I want one more new one before I retire in a few years. I bought a manufactured home a couple of years ago because they are so much cheaper so that I will have a home of my own after I retire. These student loans have haunted me throughout my entire profession.

I graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor's degree in Music. I spent all of 2009 looking for a job and by the time I actually found work, forbearance fees, interest, and penalties brought my debt to over $80k. Over the last few years I've gotten to the point at my job that I make enough to cover the payments of over $800 a month (barely) but I'm not working in music, I have no savings, and I am struggling with depression because of my financial situation. I am a songwriter and I have written a song about my struggles with overcoming student loan depression. It's called "Drowning in the Red" and it is on YouTube. Like the song says, "This drain on society is leading me to drink. But this is the price I pay for learning how to think. I'm getting deeper as the interest still accrues, this is just modernized indentured servitude."

My story begins like this. I am a 39year old mother of 3 and wife. I have been trying to get this situation taken care of for years now. I tried to go back to school so that I may get a better paying position so that I am start to pay down my debt but because I chose to stay home with my baby when he was first born, I was denied the opportunity to finish my degree. It is not fair that people who are not even American citizens can get a free education and I have been paying my taxes since I started working at the tender age of 15. I am not saying that I don't want to pay my student loans off, but once I consolidated my loans which were spread all over the place (a whopping 42,000), and placed with the department of education how much I will owe has since doubled because of my trying to do the right thing and have all of my loans in one place(this amount will balloon to 84,000) by the time I have finished paying them off. I have not been able to accomplish the American dream of owning my own home because of this. I have worked and gone to school at the same time and still I am in the same situation. There must be some type of way that we can work through this. I just don't get it. I have been told that I must go to college from the time I could stand up and I will have these bills and possibly pass this debt onto my children once I am laid down to rest. This is supposed to be the land of the free. NO, IN ALL ACTUALITY WERE ARE ONLY AS FREE AS THEY WANT US TO BELIEVE.

No loan. I started undergraduate in 1963 (age 30), and was fortunate could combine studies with full time work, part time studies. Fellowship, assistantships in graduate school, worked more hours and days at them than were paid. I found academic job after graduation. In retrospect, I can talk about some luck in some of these regards. Today, the student situation is much more difficult for education, and general people's well being is not a socio-political priority at all, to the detriment of the whole society. Such a scandal.

I am a parent of a student. She is carrying a student loan debt in excess of $20,000. I am liable for $35,000 in Parent Plus loan debt. I don't understand why American families have to go bankrupt for their children to obtain a higher education and perhaps have the opportunity to have a simple life, basics like food, clothing and shelter! I am so ashamed that congress is only greed based. Why not let just a little bit go to the 92%. Is that asking too much?

It’s not my debt, its my granddaughter, she graduated from Bryant U, with a 58,000 debt, which is now 78,000. Because of the interest, she is working 3 jobs to pay it off.

To whom it may concern: This will be brief. Growing up in inner New Haven, I dreamed often of going off to college to pursue a promising future for myself. Music is my love and passion. I am a professional opera singer and voice teacher. Little did I know that my dreams would be deferred due to mounds and mounds of accrued interest applied to my student loans. The debt has almost tripled to $130,000. After the economy turned for the worst in 2008, I went back to University of Michigan to pursue a doctorate and more loans were added. This year, I transferred to begin studies at Manhattan School of Music and unbeknownst to be, even more loans are starring me in the face. I will not give up on my dreams even at the ripe age of 42 years old. One can only hope that my country will stand up and do the right thing by its' citizens. A dream should not cost $130,000. I need help. Thank you for listening and providing an outlet for others and me in my situation.

I went back to school in my early 40's, had to stop, then continued, and will complete my degree in my mid 50's. I have at least six different loans with varying interest rates. I have no problem responsibly paying back my incurred debt, but wonder whether I will find adequate employment to pay them back timely; after all, I am only ten years away from retirement age. Before anyone judges me, they must first realize that completing my college degree has been a lifelong dream. Now that it is very near, I will graduate with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration in December 2013. I am excited yet skeptical. I incurred nearly $50,000 in student loan debt to achieve my dream and the only way I will be able to pay this debt back is to find a job suitable to my newly acquired degree. I have several things going for me, I live in a 55+ community and my rent is very low, I drive an older car that I maintain well to keep it running well, my children are grown and self-sufficient, and I have the support of my long-time live-in companion who earns enough to provide for both of us. He is not, however, responsible for my debt. For me to pay my debt off within 10 years, I need to earn a minimum of $2,000 per month gross. My home state of Florida is notorious for extremely low wages and, of course, is a right to work state. I am doing everything within my power to ensure my employability; for example, WorkNet, a state and county agency, offers classes that I am taking to prepare myself to write the best resume, conduct efficient job searches, and become a stellar interviewee. These efforts will only pay off if the prospective employer will hire older workers such as myself to fill a full-time position. As I stated earlier, I want to repay my debt. I would certainly benefit from being able to consolidate my various loans into one loan with a very low rate when the time comes for me to start paying down my debt. Wish me well; I have every intention of succeeding.

I went through a divorce after almost 30 years of marriage. Had 2 younger children still at home. Eventually he stopped paying child support & I decided I had to do something to make more money so went back to school. I graduated in 2000 and have been paying on my student loan, but for many years could only pay the minimum, (interest) so the base amount never went down. I am 69 and would like to retire. But with that debt hanging over my head, not sure if I ever can. I have paid about $16,000 over the years and still owe close to the original amount. If I default I understand they will take it out of my social security check, and I cannot make it financially if they do.

I graduated with a BA from UCLA in 1972. My annual college costs from 1967 through 1972 were approximately $1500-$2000 per year, including room and board. I earned the majority of each year's expenses by working in the orchards or automotive garages in the summer and graduated debt-free. After 1972, the Governor Reagan put an end to free tuition in the University of California system. My three children all have a mountain of student loan debt, much of which my wife and I are helping them with. My middle daughter will have a $90K tab waiting for her after she finishes her PhD. All three are looking at a very uncertain job market. The bottom 40% of this country have only .3% of the wealth. The bottom 80% have only 15% of the wealth. The top 20% have 85% of the wealth. The basic economic issue throughout our economy is the disparity in wealth distribution, which is reflected in the sub-issue of education, health care, and general living standards. This theme needs to be a part of your efforts to bring economic equality to higher education. One of the most onerous experiences that we have had in the repayment of our children's student loans has been the interaction with Sallie Mae. My elderly father was paying one of my son's loans with a monthly automatic deduction from his retirement account. Sallie Mae began sending my father's checks back uncashed. No one at Sallie Mae could figure out why. By the time my wife and I became aware of the issue, the loan was in default. Even though we had the uncashed checks and even though Sallie Mae had records of the checks being returned, Sallie Mae would accept no responsibility for triggering the default. Sallie Mae has all the administrative flavor of an exploitive loan shark operation. The story of student debt in this country is the story of wealth distribution. It is the story of 80% of the population being taken to the cleaners. This is the backstory that your noble efforts need to illuminate. Thank you for fighting the good fight.

I'm living a nightmare! I was told that the interest on student loans would be low and the payments would not be too high. Well, what a crock that was! But the worst part of it is this: In my last semester of school I developed a terrible back problem. By the time I graduated I could barely stand. I was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, spinal arthritis, and I have 3 degenerated discs. I never made it to work in my field of study, because not only would it have required standing for some length (which I cannot do), but it was impossible for me to walk from the parking lot to the inside of the building. So here I am....stuck with mountains of debt....and I can't even work! I have no idea what I'm going to do. The payments are more than $600 a month and I have no way to pay them. I am living on $1058 a month from social security. I applied for disability but have been turned down twice. I just set up a request for a hearing, but that takes months. My loans are in excess of $91,000!!! I may have to go o debtor's prison!

At that time I was attending Anthem online college back in 2006, I went under my maiden name. I got married in 2007. I attempted to go to their online school to better myself being a single black mom of 3, which one was always 90% ill. I only took on a part time job at Boston market being a catering driver trying to survive at that time. I wanted so much so when they contacted me concerning going to their online school for a AA certificate in medical coding and billing, I jumped on the chance to raise my kids better, but my son’s health or my own didn't stand the test for me to attend the online courses. I got dropped but left with a huge debt to pay still to this day. I am trying to ask for forgiveness, but have not been successful. I still have my books and stuff from that class. I have even tried over the years to get back in because if I am going to be stuck with a debt that big I figured why not go to school and actually get it but they never let me back in without wanting money. So, I am left with that huge debt, no degree, and my health still flip-flops. Thank GOD my son’s health is better, but as for me I had to drop my classes at the college here in Daytona because of my health. I had surgery in April, and thank GOD I can work the job I have.

I was 43 yrs old before going to college. My whole life I was trained on the job to complete tasks to produce an outcome. During the 2001 – 2003 crash of the banks I had over $8k in a roll over IRA, from loosing my job of 12 years. After steady growth, It dropped to $4k in six months. To avoid any further loss, and unable to find a secure position as I once had, I decided to get some personal benefit from the remaining capital and enrolled in a Technical College. Not having the Full tuition I had to apply for student loans. Confident in my new path, I agreed to the terms in the financial aid office. Not able to find a career in my new field, the loans became a huge burden. After losing job after job, my degree was in Computer Networking, by the time I walked off the stage with my hat and scroll, the products I learned on were, outdated and irrelevant in the current task field. I felt too old to learn that fast. After only three yrs of paying on the debt, I defaulted. I have not worked for a corporate position for over 6 years. I have slowly grown a new realm of exchange of time and service for myself with a tight community. I babysit, work in gardens, collect seeds and exchange them with friends. I design, consult and implement food forests for neighbors, day cares and community spaces. While I do not participate in the consumptive ideology most of our nation is grappling with, I see no future that has me engage in the demands of that bankrupt system that we so fervently believed in, just a decade ago. Currently, I co-house and get a reduce rent for growing food for our housemates. I own no vehicle. I do not watch tv. I am entertained by my friends, children and community. I stay close to home and create paradise.

I graduated from a Florida state university in 1995, when I was 34 years old. I will never in my lifetime pay off my student loans at my income level. I have never found gainful employment in my chosen/degree field.

I am still trying to pay off my massive student loans from law school even after 23 years. No, all attorneys are not loaded and most have a hard time paying their loans. Most time, these monthly payments are akin to another mortgage payment, and unless you are pulling in six figures – which I never did – it's almost impossible to pay the loans. Because I was unable pay the full amount of the monthly payment, interest on the loan skyrocketed. Also, while you are still in school, and most likely not employed, the interest is still accruing. Because I only had to take out loans to cover tuition and books and not living expenses, my initial loan amount was around $40,000. However, due to interest accruing all those years since I first got the loan, I owe more in interest than what I initially borrowed. This should be criminal, but it's not. Something needs to be done to reign in these predatory practices, but I guess our "compassionate" Republican-led Congress doesn't really give a rat's petoot about this. Too bad. They really should.

As one progresses thru life, financial circumstances change. At times better. At times worse. Loans always should be adjustable to the circumstances. Thank you for asking.

Hello: After 30 plus years, unemployed; I registered to obtain my AA, in order to increase my chances of being employable. I attended college online as well as attended some classes on campus. When I first began, I was told due to my age I did not qualify for government grants and had to apply for loans. Which I did. However, the school I attended had stated I could receive my "diploma" as a certified Medical Assistant and could continue online studies to obtain my AA. My unemployment was exhausted in April of last year, so I had to drop out of school in order to survive. Since, I have had to sell my vehicle, and am consistently borrowing from "Peter to pay Paul", have debts of loan repayment, which again I cannot afford to do. I have applied for several deferments as well as debt forgiveness, and am still stuck with my school loans. If things don't change some time soon, I will homeless. Between paying for rent, electric, water, phone etc... AND now student loan repayment... I am considered way below poverty level. Panhandlers do better than me.

My loan is still on going. I graduated in 1985 and at that time was making $17K a year working for an institution of higher education in Florida now 26 years later I'm only making 53K a year. I know it is a debt that I have to repay but I assumed that working for government (higher education) and my spouse being a teacher that I would see some relief but I have not. I got married in 1989 and then made the mistake of consolidating my loans with my spouse in the hopes that it would lower our payments but that turned out to be a mistake. Since consolidation the loans now belong to me and I cannot un-consolidate those loans. I have been making payments of $100 a month, which is all that I could afford but my loan payments are $900 a month. My wife had owned the home and had asked if we could refinance the mortgage. Once I did that then now I'm on the hook for a mortgage as well $303,000. The refinance was done through Countrywide and we are upside down own more than what the house is worth (house worth 175,000) we got no monies out the deal. Since we were never in foreclosure we could not use all the help that other homeowners had available. So our mortgage payments are $2240. My wife is 68 and just retired a year ago and I'm 55. I don't foresee ever having this paid off and I'm afraid of wage garnishment. I have a car that is a 2003 and my wife is a 2004 both paid for.

Actually, this is not my story of student loan debt since I was in college at a time when tuition fees were reasonable and I could earn the money at a summer job – even for the private university that I attended. (I graduated in 1963, later earning a master's degree on a full scholarship and then in a public university, which I paid for myself.) This is the story of my children's student loan debt. My son finished his work for an RN through the public university system and a series of generous grants, but my two daughters, who attended a private college out East during the 1990's, still had outstanding loans, the first of which I paid off about a year ago. My other daughter decided to return to college, and so her Sally Mae loan was put off, but I had it down to $2,000. (I’m wondering if that would meet the 10-20 year forgiveness mark, so that it would not longer have to be paid.) The point is that the situation has gotten worse for the daughter who returned to college. Now a senior in the public university system (UH), the financial aid department has withheld $3,000 in grants and aid, which has caused her a considerable amount of stress. They will not let her register unless she enters a payment plan, which she has, borrowing money to do so. In short, they have made it almost impossible for her to graduate. Then they will come down on her for the loan money. It's unconscionable! When they were attending college in the past, they were not harassed for payment until they graduated. Isn't there a law guaranteeing this?

I was from a poor family, but smart enough to get into a good private college. I am also L.D., and it has created issues with working at higher paying jobs. I worked in non-for-profits for many years at 50 I have still not made a dent in my student loans, consolidated at a robbery of 9%. I will most likely be dead before I am able to pay of my $20,000.00 on which I now owe over $40,000.00 and if I am able to pay the debt off will be fore $90,000,00. I have given back to my community in more ways then I can mention, but I have nothing. I am unable to purchase a house, buy a car, etc. This debt hangs over my head and at this very moment. I am behind on my student loans. I am over my head. It is outrageous.

I've owed over 50,000 for years now in Plus Loans for my daughter that is not counting what she owes for her Master's. Now because of technology I've had return to college because my Practical Nurse certificate is no longer useful everyone wants a degree. I'm trying to keep it at a minimum but it's getting so expensive I doubt I'll ever be able to pay it all back? I drive a used car live in a house I can't afford and get food stamps because I don't have enough money and forget health insurance. I can't even think about that! But I'm not giving up and I'll never give in WE all are stuck in this mess unless you are born with a silver spoon in your mouth like most Republicans! Thanks for asking

I graduated tech school with a degree in computer science and $12,500 in GSL debt in 1992, and became disabled shortly thereafter. In 1994 my doctor sent a form verifying my disability to TX Guaranteed Student Loan Corp., and I was told my loans were "offset." Two years later the US Dept. of Education began collection activity, claiming they never received the forms. Despite my wife's tax refunds being 100% garnisheed (which led to our divorce in 2000) and my SS Disability being garnisheed 15%, I now "owe" somewhere in the neighborhood of $33,000. I don't have access to the loan documents (ex kept 'em), can't establish any kind of credit, and am disqualified from any kind of student assistance to retrain for employment. I have NEVER, despite repeated requests, received an accounting of my balance. I've estimated that well over $20,000 has been paid toward whatever my balance is. I can truly say that getting a college degree was the worst mistake of my life.

My debt started 20 years ago hoping for a better life. Life was rough then and without a GED or an education a decent job was impossible to find. After getting my GED I decided to go to college to help myself. Life got in the way, a child, divorce...etc. off and on I went to school. Mounting up student loan debt as I went along. Before I knew it 10 years had passed and I was still only making less than 8 dollars an hour. I couldn't pay my loans back, medical bills surmounted and providing for my son was impossible. The phone calls started from the debt collectors. I filed bankruptcy but the student loans couldn't be included. Student loan debt collectors were cruel saying things like I was a deadbeat, loser...all because I wasn't paying back my loans. I couldn't afford to. I felt there was no hope. Today I have an AA but close to 100 grand in student loans from interest and other fees. This was less than 30 grand I took out, probably less than 15 but I don't remember anymore. I am able to pay back my loans now and if I could pay the original balance off right now and be done with it I would. Even that with a modest 10 grand would be fair but where my loans are at now is insane. I always tell students DON'T do it...don't take out student loans ... the feds don't have laws to help you if you cant pay them back. They are like the mafia and cap you at the kneecaps for their money. I kid around but it is metaphorically true.

When I was in addiction treatment, 1983, I decided I wanted to be a counselor. I passed my GED and went to vocational Rehabilitation. They paid 2,000 dollars for my addiction studies. I got a job in psychosocial rehabilitation for 18,000 per year and paid for my prerequisite courses at Miami Dade. Maligning 18,500, I went for my undergrad. At the Union Institute where I started to use school loans to pay and sublimely my income. This was 1994. I last made 50,000 per year with my Master's and license paid for with school loans. I deferred payments and accrued interest equaling the principle. I had to file bankruptcy to get an acceptable payment plan and consolidation. I had 300,000 in student loans including interest reduced to 200,000 plus. If I earn more they take more for the rest of my life. 400.00 per month my best offer yet, 24 years in this field, not as marketable as I used to be, recently fired for not keeping up with electronic charting.

I went to Manhattan School of Music in the 1970's. I considered it a great honor because I had only studied music for a year or so before I went to audition. I took a loan of about 4,000. I went there and graduated, I then went to Texas to teach and then went to Ball state for a master's in music playing in the Austin symphony and worked hard in Indiana playing in many orchestras but the loan kept going up in interest and I was falling further and further behind, then the loan was sold and sold and sold to various lenders, each one charging a higher interest and now in spite of continuous efforts to pay ( I am on a automatic payment plan now) my loan from 1975 is now over 10,000 and its crushing me, I have no money to do anything more than survive but a musician needs to constantly upgrade his/her equipment, i.e, better bows instruments etc but there is no money for anything but food and rent and all summer I frequently need to use a credit card to EAT! This loan is crushing me and killing my credit report in spite of decades of my best efforts at paying it. I never ever catch up no matter how hard I try!

Out of college, I worked with my family to get on my feet. I then became a teacher. I struggled to begin paying back my loans right away. I fought default several times and eventually consolidated. I have worked as a teacher for the last 12 years in a public school with very little raises and increasingly greater expenses. After I had my first child, my husband left and I was left with the house and my daughter. I struggled immensely until I finally gave into foreclosure. I worked still to make sure I got into loan rehabilitation for my student loan debt and the state did not uphold their end of the bargain. They were suppose to shop my loan out to another private company and instead, I just kept making payments to the state in a never-ending cycle. I moved on to a new relationship and had a baby. When I was out of work for only 3 months, the state said it would garnish my wages when I returned to work – I didn't have a choice – even though I had been faithfully paying this loan. I ended up allowing my house to foreclose amidst the housing bubble bursting and not being able to sell and moving in with my fiancé. I filed bankruptcy – after paying student loan and my daughter's insurance, my paycheck was somewhere around $900 bi-weekly. The state was garnishing a full 11% of my income. Now I discharged all of my debt and can start over. Except, I now don't know if the state will continue to garnish my wages instead of try to work with me. If I could pay a reasonable amount, I could save money, buy a new house, get a safe car since mine has been wrecked and move forward and be a contributing member of society. As I have contributed to my state by being a teacher in the public schools, I think I deserve another chance for new payment plan that allows me to rebuild my life. The state also takes 3% out of my paycheck as a forced contribution for "retirement." Basically, my income has continued to decrease as expenses have gone in the opposite direction.

I was the first one in my family to go to college, and I did not know the full picture about student loans and how if you do not major in a career path that will make enough money to pay off quickly, you will be in debt for a long, long time. I graduated with my Bachelor's back in 2003 and I couldn't get a job in my field (education/Spanish). I had to go from one job to another, and finally I decided to go for my master's because even though I would need to use student loans, maybe at the end I could get a job that was worth the money to pay both the undergraduate and graduate loans off. So in 2009 I started my master's and graduated in 2011 with more debt and again, instead of being offered more money or my job helping me, I was let go of my job and had to switch careers again. It has been 10 years since I graduated with my bachelor's (when I first got into loan debt) and I only make 30k a year and I see jobs that make more than mine with just a high school diploma and experience. Something needs to change! I know that I will be paying loan debt for a long time without seeing the benefit. Students get in debt and then cannot afford to pay it back because they expect you to get a high paying job right away, so the only way that you see a way out, is to go back and try to get another degree for a different career path (and at least it gives you a break on paying so much back to the loans for the time being) but then you get out with even more debt and still no better paying job... it is just sad and disappointing.. I feel at times like it was a waste to had gone to college :-(.

I am without savings, without 2 401Ks, without the ability to cover a simple surprise, and struggling to pay off debts created while trying to keep the increasing student loan debt paid. The final chapter of my student loan debt story was filing the insolvency form 982 with the IRS to have the cancelled student loan debt taxes of $9,700.00 be cancelled. It was approved. Four years ago, I became increasing disabled when my workplace became extremely hostile. I went on long-term unemployment, filed for disability, and was approved to keep both the unemployment (my work search records were detailed and easily verified) and the back pay for disability without loss. I did not apply for deferment of the student loan debt until my long-term unemployment benefits ran out. The lenders ... kept sending me financial hardship forms instead of the unemployment form. The rest of the creditors have refused to work with me to lower the interest rates, and I have zero dental insurance being on Medicare, which is automatically taken out of my social security disability check each month. My jaw is in tremendous pain, and there is no hope for me to get it taken care of. Chronic pain adds to the daily financial struggle. No new car, house repairs are few and far between, and yet, I share my story in hopes that it will help others to know they are not alone with this horrible life-time student loan debt sentence.

I enlisted in the armed forces in 1980. I started going to college in 1991. I began my schooling at the Community College of Vermont in the summer of 1991. I took one course that was paid for through a govt. program called Aces. I passed and hoped to move on through that program. Unfortunately, after that I was told the program was being discontinued because of a high instance of student fraud. I had a choice to make of either wading through miles of red tape to continue school or apply for student loans. I chose the latter course. I was now motivated to become the first person in my family to earn a college degree. In June of 1995 I received my Liberal Arts associates degree and hoped to move on for my B.A. in history. I chose Norwich University because A) It was military. B) I liked their ADP program, which fit neatly into my schedule. At the time, in addition to school I was working a full time job (working 40 hours and only getting paid for 35), a part time job (another 20 or so hours) and honoring my National Guard commitment. In looking into how to get financial aid I was told that there was none available. It was a non-traditional program and the govt. had no idea how to help pay for my credits. The answer was more student loans (and hope for the best). In Jan. 1998 I received my B.A. I had no idea as to how I would pay back the now over $50,000 I was in the red for. By this time I was only working one job and still in the Guard. I asked around and I couldn't find any help with my debt. That same year I moved from Vermont to Virginia. I continued my military commitment there and still couldn't find any help in paying back my loans. I ducked the issue for as long as I possibly could physically although it bothered me constantly. Again I asked around at my Guard unit etc. and could find no help with my problem. And even when I refinanced I still couldn't pay consistently. After Sept. 11, 2001 the military was offering new recruits a full college education for free but someone like me, who had already served many years and now had 20 years in could get no help. In 2006 and 2008 I went on military deployments overseas, first to Kosovo and then to Afghanistan. Both times I was able to begin paying on my loans. Unfortunately in both cases when I came home I couldn't keep paying. As a result I began getting hit with late charge penalties. Those penalties wiped out all of the money I had just paid in. I had essentially gotten nowhere. I refinanced again. I retired from the National Guard in 2011 after 30 good years. I moved to Florida last December. I still have no idea how I will ever pay off my student loan debt. I am now 56 years old and I guess I will die owing that money to the government.

I spent my life working at menial jobs. I had nothing but a high school diploma and barely made enough money to live. I finally got a chance to go to college and began the long road. I graduated from college at the age of 46. I worked as a teacher but found a struggle to make it. With the legislators constantly aiming at teachers I found it difficult and was told by administrators I would be better served by getting my Master's degree to go into Ed Leadership. To say the least now I owe somewhere around $76,000 and I make a measly $37,000 a year. With prices constantly going up, gas always jumping 20 to 30 cents while declining only a penny at a time, is it no wonder one can't make ends meet. I drive 65 miles each way to work because I was cut from my position in our county because of budget cuts. The principal actually works to get rid of any teacher with a few years experience and especially with a Master's degree because she will spend less of her budget with first year teachers, or teachers who are not already certified. I have lived with my mother for the past year and rented an apartment prior to that but in order to move closer to my job it will cost me more than I can afford. Up until Feb 15th of this year I actually drove my mother's car because I had to file bankruptcy and had nothing. While they don't discharge student loans I will end up right back where I was because I cannot afford to live and to pay the high payments of my student loans. With the amount of money I make I cannot pay rent, utilities, phone, car, insurance, gas, maintenance on my vehicle (it was used when I bought it), groceries, clothing for work, health insurance, and retirement fund. I am 60 years of age and I don't know how I will ever get this paid. I have been a teacher for 15 years. I see no light at the end of the tunnel.

I don't have a massively tragic story to tell in the sense that I owe $85,000 and am struggling with monthly payments or whatnot, moving from refrigerator box to refrigerator box. No, mine is a bit different... I'm currently 29 years old. And, due to this wonderful economy, unemployed. I graduated with a Bachelor's in Broadcast Communications in 2008, with the total bill amounting to approximately $35,000. Between my graduation and last Fall (of 2012) I've been living at home and filing deferment after deferment with Sallie Mae – depressingly so – in hopes that "I'll find work soon." That's what I told myself for 4 years. In the Fall of 2012, I made the decision to go back to school, again, for a second degree. Because I've been unable to find a job that offers a living wage, I've come to the conclusion that it's really the only way that I'd be able to keep my head above water (and my sanity as well). And the great thing is that, in the process, I'll be putting myself even further in debt, but... I've reached the point that it feels like there's no other way. Because of all this debt and economic uncertainty, I still haven't bought my first car, and stuff like renting an apartment (let alone buying a house) and having health insurance are things I can only dream about... and I'll be turning 30 later this year. I can only hope I'll be able to find gainful employment in 2-3 years when I've completed this degree, because I have no idea what will happen, or what I'll do, if I can't... Thank you, for giving me the opportunity to tell my story.

I have already told you part of my story but today things have changed a bit. I received notice from the owners of my Duplex that they would like for me to vacate the premise. I have been given no reason, just a thirty day notice to leave. I would like to buy a house but when I filled out an application to be approved, I was told my school loans would hinder me from accomplishing this goal. It seems because I have allowed the loans to go into forbearance I am not qualified to own a home. I could be free and clear of most of these loans if I were allowed to have them forgiven but because the rules would not allow for the loans to be forgiven because I had to have NO loans before the year 1997. I graduated December 17, 1997. It seems I am stuck. It seems that I am going to end up homeless because I cannot afford to pay first and last and deposit on a rental nor can I afford to make a 500 dollar a month payment on a loan that should have been forgiven, as I had been promised would happen. In fact I had been promised twice. Once when I received my Bachelor's degree and once when I received my Master's Degree. Neither can be forgiven until I get the loans paid off before and up to the year 1997. I am stuck. I am about to be homeless. All due to loans and a landlord who did not like me asking to have things fixed and would not pay rent till they did. I am really tired of everything falling onto my head when they should not have been and truly I would have been better off without a degree in anything and stayed on welfare.

I was going through a divorce; single parent of two small children, when I decided to go back to school to become a teacher. I was living in low income housing, on food stamps, receiving help with day care and off and on Medicaid for my children. I worked as a nursing assistant and received loans as well as grants. I was told that I could receive loan forgiveness if I worked in a Title I school in a high need field. My degree was Special Education and I moved to Florida to work in two Title I schools. The problem came with when I graduated. I have applied three times for loan forgiveness and while I am told I qualify in all areas, except for 1 I cannot get loan forgiveness. The area I do not qualify is when I graduated. It seems I must have all loans that were taken out before 1997 paid off before they will forgive the rest of my loans. I graduated December 17 1997. I have gone for years without a cost of living raise. I went on to get a Master's degree hoping I could get this forgive or at least assistance on the loans and I still cannot. I cannot afford to pay the loans and my basic bills at the same time. We do not go on vacations or fun things because we do not have the money. I currently work my job teaching, do Saturday school and am a Hospital home-bound teacher just to make ends meet. When I thought I was finally going to make enough to be able to pay things off and things met with a raise last spring due graduation and another raise in the fall from the school board, but those disappeared thanks to Gov. Scott going back on the contract and taking money from our checks and the Taxes being reinstated that had been suspended. I now make what I have made for years, without child support to supplement the household. I still work in a Title I school. I still work in a high needs area; Special Education. I probably always will because I have fallen in love with my school and my students. I just cannot afford to live and pay for a loan that I had been promised I could get forgiven. Something has to change quick and in our favor. Please help!

I was a college drop-out. Between the ages of 20 and 38 I followed my 'bliss' and lived poor, close to the land and found my spiritual path. I was frustrated by the barriers in my attempts to work with people because I lacked 'proper credentials.' After much persuasion I took the leap to go back to school and earned both my undergraduate and graduate degrees by age 41. I am 57 now, and have a successful career as a public service therapist, with a small practice on the side. My student loan debt is STILL over 33,000 most of it the cost of my private graduate degree at the prestigious – and expensive – School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I rest my hopes that after 10 years in the public sector, I may be eligible to discharge the remainder of my loan. All these years, and still so much debt. If I still have to pay it, I'm not sure I would even be able to pay it before my life is done. I did what many people do; attempt to improve my financial stability and economic future by pursuing a professional career, with all the right letters after my name. I chose a human services field because I believe in what I do. I live modestly. We must become more aware of how people acquire the education and credentials to improve their lot in life, and find better ways to deal with student loan debt.

I have had to finance my undergraduate and graduate education with student loans. In addition, I went back to school to get another degree relying on loans again. I owe over $150,000.00 and I am currently in repayment and I hope to take advantage of the Loan Forgiveness Program since I am a secondary education teacher. However, I believe even the IBR repayment program is too steep. Florida is a poorly paying state for teachers. I have given up my planning period over the past several years in order to receive additional pay for teaching an extra class. Repayment should be based on net pay, not gross. After rent, car payment, car insurance, student loan, cable/Internet, cell phone, electric, and groceries, I have barely enough to carry me to the next pay period. I don't have any extra money to save or invest. I cannot see retirement in my future as long as I'm enslaved to this debt peonage. I have no problem paying back what I owe and taking advantage of the terms of the Loan Forgiveness program, but the Department of Education should at least structure the payments based on reality and the high cost of living in the Greater Miami area rather than viewing me as a mathematical formula. In my opinion, people who serve their communities through public service jobs should have their student loan debt completely forgiven. This problem has grown too big while the federal government profits off of student loan interest payments. The Obama administration looks more interested in serving Wall Street interests rather than the people who are trying to survive in cities and towns that they serve throughout this deeply indebted country.

I left graduate school in 2000 with a modest (considering the cost of graduate school) $50,000 debt. Since then I have not had a job that has allowed me to pay back more than $1,000 of that. Deferments and forbearances have made it possible to postpone payment until I had a job that would allow repayment. The amount of accrued interest has taken the total up to $120,000 in debt.

I was still going to school to finish my degree up until last year. No one told me that you cap out at $55,000 for Federal loans. That is where I am right now, and I still have 50 credits to go to get my Bachelor's degree. I went to a school because they accepted all of my previous credits from 20 years ago and I didn't want to give up my credits from earlier in my life. I didn't realize that I would never make it to even receiving my degree. The school keeps calling me wanting to know why I don't take out personal loans to finish! I can't afford to! My credit is shot because I don't have a job and show $55,000 in student loans. I have to stay home currently because we have a 6 month old and a disabled 4 year old. Therefore, we have to rely on just my husband's income which barely covers our monthly expenses. I am currently having to pay on one of my loans and really can't afford the payments, but don't have any other options. The other major majority will be due starting in October and they will be around $600.00 a month. We won't be able to pay that at all! My husband makes $34,000 a year for a family of 5. We had to get a van a few years ago to transport our daughter and her wheelchair. I don't know what we are going to do because in October all my options for deferment will be exhausted. I am scared because I don't want the loans to go into default, but if we can't pay what other choice do I have? I contacted a lawyer, and he said I would have to be dead or on life support to be able to discharge in a bankruptcy. Things need to change, because it shouldn't take this long, or be this difficult to finish your degree, let alone as expensive as it is!

I received my loan through University of Phoenix, and when I wanted to stop classes at just taking the four. I couldn't reach my academic advisor or my financial advisors. I had to talk to other financial advisors before I could get to mine. I was told if I withdrawal before notifying them. I would have to pay the school and the department of education back. I told my advisors that I have been calling and wanted to withdrawal from this University and it was within the 30 day period. So after, I was told how much I would have to pay back and how it wouldn't be due until after I graduate. Long story short, I finally got to withdrawal and owed $8.000 for 8 classes. Since, I am a preschool teacher making $8.00 an hour with no raise and trying to find another better paying job, or work two jobs, My husband hasn't had a job since May 2012, and were making 550.00 biweekly in unemployment. I am paying $500 for rent, a $300 light bill, cable for the kids to do homework and my husband to look for a job, and go to these back to work seminars, that the government requests to keep getting unemployment, insurance $141.00, a car payment of $313.65. I can't even pay my loan amount of $65 per month. I can't get help from places to help pay for lights because we make too much, and food stamps says we make too much so that's out. My husband has diabetes and we can get help with his pills, but for how long, and clinics don't really see new patients for months or not at all. My husband needs to see his doctors, and home remedies help at times. I can't get insurance for him because he isn't working, he has share cost, but its crap because the hospitals, private physicians and doctors, and even public clinics can't use it. I am currently paying $15.00 per month for my kid's premium with healthy kids. I have insurance, because I am working and my job offers no insurance. I just cannot afford to pay back even $65.00 per month with what I am making it on and keep sane. I can't buy a house, or pay my debts that I was paying without a second income, or more money from my job, I am 30 years old and have no house except to rent, a loan of $17,000 and I just did a deferment so I could try to pay $500 for a class, so I could make more money. Really, it's either going back to school or working to make money to live off of and trying to pay back loans, or they will garnish my paychecks, and Income taxes at the end of the year. I was thinking of becoming a teacher and applying for the TEACH Scholarship just so I could get some help on my loans, I am at my wits end because all schools want to do is say that you won't pay back as much, and you have six months to pay it back after you graduate, No school wants to look at the person have people apply for grants and scholarships that the school offers, or give a bonus out thanking them for choosing the school to help with tuition. It would be best if schools offer financial aid, grants, scholarships, bonus package, or tuition plans. By the way, tuition plans you pay out of pocket for school but you have like 3-4 payments to make before class ends in order to stay in class. Which is helpful. That's my story what's yours!

$400,000 in student loan debt. $350,000 is private. Obviously can't make the payments to the private lenders but cant file for bankruptcy. Cant: go to dentist, buy clothes, buy car, buy home, buy a new computer despite my career depending on it, get married, move, save anything for retirement buy anything other than food and pay rent. Basically if they don't restore consumer protections to private student loans so I can file for bankruptcy, I'll be leaving the country to start over in a country that actually values college graduates.

I was the first emancipated minor from the state of Ill. by then Governor Otto Kerner. I was 16yrs of age and had been working according to Il law illegally since age 14 to support myself. My father was a disabled Veteran & captain in the Army. Although I continued in high school during the day, I worked nights and weekends to pay rent, by clothes and food. NEVER was I told due to my father's status I could have received financial help for school. An abused, raped, beaten child, I continued to pay my way. I got married to get custody of my sibling who was also being abused. It was 1994 I entered the college world and student loan debacle, still working full time and getting an education working in an Urban school system in GA. I had strokes, MS, and cancer. I had to defer payments, and I'm now 66yrs of age on a fixed income and broke paying almost 500 a month. Something’s wrong with our system.

Although he had no background in computers, and although the market is flooded with unemployed web designers, my brother was not discouraged from signing up to study web design at the age of 55. At first, he was approved for student loans from Sallie Mae, and the loans covered both his schooling and his living expenses since he was not employed. But then, for reasons unbeknownst to my brother, he was switched to using Chase Bank for his student loans. He was approved for one loan with the bank being fully aware that my brother was not employed at the time, but when it came time for the next loan, Chase told him they would not approve another loan without a co-signer. When my brother asked me to be the co-signer on his loan, I had my doubts about doing so. But I had a good job as a legal secretary and $10,000 didn‰'t sound like that much to have to deal with if I had to help him pay it back. I didn‰'t have much time to seriously consider the consequences of co-signing the loan because my brother had waited until the last minute to ask me ‰'" if I didn‰'t co-sign his loan that day, he would miss out on being able to register for the next quarter. So, against my better judgment, I went online to Chase‰'s website and filled in the signature block for the co-signer portion of the loan application. I tried repeatedly to access the terms of the loan so I could print them out and read them in full, but every time I clicked on the link to the loan terms, their system froze up and I couldn‰'t access that information. During the interim while my brother was in school, I started reading about the student debt crises and about how Congress had allowed the bankers to write the new laws governing Stafford loans. The banks wrote some of the most draconian laws ever written governing loans, where if the loan goes into default, the borrower can‰'t get a business license for his profession, can‰'t receive tax refunds from the government, can‰'t write it off in bankruptcy and can even have their social security retirement benefits docked. When it came time for the next loan my brother needed to continue his studies, I had lost my job of 12 years and I told him I could not co-sign any additional loans. My brother was forced to graduate with an associates‰' degree and an incomplete education. Needless to say, he could not find any job related to his field of study, or any job period for at least a year after leaving school. He finally was hired as a security guard making minimum wage. Since he was no longer in school, his loans all became due earlier than they would have. My brother had borrowed close to $50,000 just to complete 2 years of school and wasn‰'t even making enough money to pay his rent and other living expenses. So, even though I am unemployed myself, I have had to take over paying the loan I co-signed in order to avoid my credit rating ruined, making it even more impossible to find a job. Or worse yet, Chase could even take the house I‰'ve owned for 35 years! My brother will be paying on these loans for the rest of his life and will be relegated to a life of poverty if his social security retirement benefits are docked (actually folks who only have social security to depend on in retirement are already relegated to living on the edge of poverty, having it docked will probably render him homeless). I feel that my brother was lured into signing up to study something he had no aptitude for and had too many people in that field. I also feel that he was baited by Chase bank approving the first loan without a co-signer, then demanding a co-signer on the second loan. At that point, he had to continue in school or he wouldn‰'t be able to pay the loans he already had taken out. So he had no choice but to continue taking out loans. Since the interest rate on the Chase loans is 12%, these 2 years of worthless education will cost us both around $150,000. There‰'s nothing like paying that amount of money and getting nothing in return for it, especially as far as I‰'m concerned. Did I mention that after Congress let the bankers write the new student loan laws, many of these same members of Congress became stockholders or board members of private colleges and are making a lot of money off the misery of student borrowers? And the schools are receiving kickbacks from the banks for every student referred to them for a loan. This means that instead of providing advice in the best interest of the student, school counselors are now only looking out for the school‰'s bottom line. Instead of bettering our lives, getting an education has ruined our lives and we are now debt slaves with no future!

I had to drop out of seminary after only one year of study because of my student loan debt of $41,000.00. I would have loved to continue, but I just can not afford it.

I am a 63 year old female. I worked for thirty seven years in low income schools. I retired and began working part time to pay of my $75.000.00 student loan debt. I have paid on the student loan for seven years and the balance remain the same. Recently I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, and just recently had a tumor removed from a bone in my left hip. I live in constant pain, and these conditions will not allow me to continue to work part time. My concern now is how can I continue to pay my student loan and the mounting medical bills without the part time job. I am not asking for anything for free, just help with my student loan.

I was trying to become a daycare teacher. I went to school online. I am 63 and on social security disability for my bi-polar illness. I researched schools in 2004-2005 and only found one that would accept me without money down. It was Strayer University. They didn't offer an Associate's Degree but only Master's in Education. I first had get BA and only options were Business or Math (which is my worst). After a year of taking courses for something I didn't want, Kaplan called me and offered Associate's so transferred credits. I had a 3.96 GPA! Lack one term (2 courses) to get my degree but ran out of financial aid. Still have Pell Grant. I live in HUD housing so could only go to school part-time online. Went from 2005-2009. Now, I am being sued by 3 lenders and going into default. I did all this hard work for nothing and ruined my credit. I am broke by middle of the month and cannot afford payments. Found out from Legal Aid that I could be taken to court and have 15% of my SS check taken monthly. What, now I don't eat or have a phone or Internet? Only way I can get them discharged is for a psychiatrist to fill out paperwork that I can never work. Cannot get a psychiatrist because they are no longer taking Medicare patients. Wish I had never gone to school now.

I was diagnosed with Lupus as soon as I graduated and was not able to use my degree for 3 years. Debit piled up and I am just able to get my life back and see the light. I consolidated my loans and was getting ready to change to standard payments. Now, I may not be able to keep up and possibly go into default if the loans keep rising. Something need to change fast.

Schools attended: University of Georgia Gainesville State College, Brenau University – BS, Athens Technical College, Capella University – MS. I cannot get any more loans, have one private loan, and am very distraught. I am going to have to finish a paralegal degree to get work, and finish the last year and a half to earn my PhD in I/O Psychology. I am 47 and a single grandmother of two, have three disabled children, and my youngest child is 16 with two years left in High School. I inherited a home in 2008 that is paid for but needs repairs. My credit is not good anymore, and I have been disabled since 2008, but I want to work.

I am currently a student just 6 classes shy of earning my B.A. and have exhausted my FASFA. I believe by that listening to the student advisers at the University I attend and taking their advice I am in this situation. Now that I only have advanced 300 and 400 course left they suggested I try to test out or take the online courses for the 100 and 200 courses that I was advised to pay full price for and sit for. This the biggest scam I have ever seen and why Universities are allowed to get away with this is ridiculous. IT SHOULD BE AGAINST THE LAW. I now owe the government money for an education I never finished.

Thank God, it's paid off now, but the $750 check I wrote to Sallie Mae for years nearly shut down my ability to pursue a career in public interest law. In my role as a non-profit contract lobbyist I frequently engage graduate student interns. They all want to know how to become a lobbyist, whether one needs a law degree to get into the work, etc. First answer is no, a law degree is not required however if you do decide that you need a legal education go to the cheapest ABA accredited institution you can get into because the student loan debt will strangle you otherwise and foreclose your career options for decades if you fail to heed this warning. The only thing that preserved my ability to work in the public interest was fact that I had married young and my husband had a decent job with health benefits.

I attended school and acquired my first student loan debt at Ohio State University. The amount was $5,000 and it was for only one quarter. The second quarter, I was told in the middle of the term that I needed to pay the school $2,000 to stay enrolled and receive grades from the classes that I was working so hard in. I am not from a college family. I am the first person in my immediate family to attend college and am the only one who has a college degree. I am only the second person in my entire family to go to college and graduate. My family knew nothing about student loans, most were and are still living in poverty. I had to leave school because I was classified delinquent in 2005. Fast forward to 2009, I decided to try to fulfill my life goal of receiving a Bachelor's degree in a different manner. Through online college. I was approved of student loans every term except for the last. The schools tuition went up it seems every term. The last term, I had to take out a private loan as well as pay out of pocket. At the end of the my educational journey, I owed over $30,000 in student loans. I found out I was pregnant a few weeks before I graduated. Of course it was not expected so I had to try to balance a new baby on top of a large debt. I received forbearance as long as I could until they told me they could no longer allow it. They gave me the amount I had to pay and I let them know up front that there was no way that I would be able to pay that amount. They did not want to work with me. So I tried to keep a roof over my and my child's head and food on the table. I still have yet been able to begin to pay back my debt. And it is not because I don't want to but because financially I cannot handle it as a single mother going through a divorce and on the verge of losing it all.

I was born and raised in South Carolina, the 7th of 10 children. My parents struggled to put us through school. My chosen field, like so many of my older siblings, was education. I continued on with my Master’s and completed my doctorate at UCLA in 1992. My graduate and postgraduate studies were through the Affirmative Action Program and student loans. Upon completion, I chose to work inner city or in the urban communities where the need, to me, was most critical. I was allowed to write off some of the loan debt but was refused the rest. Currently, I still have close to $70,000.00 pending in student loans. It is no secret that educators make less than any recognizable profession. Ironic, wouldn't you say, since they are the backbone to others' successes. Subsequently, my commitment to the hard work in urban American classrooms and communities caused me to become ill. I had thyroid cancer. After my operation and upon my recovery, I continue to be of service to the most needy. I wrote to student loan commissioner in Sacramento, in Washington, D.C. as well as to Congresswoman Maxine Waters as I was working in Watts, California her district at the time. My concern was that student loans should be forgiven especially for those who chose to provide services to the most needy. Needless to say, my plea fell on deaf ears. I am now 70 years old and have no way of paying back $70,000.00. I can barely pay my mortgage. I have gone through postponements and forbearances, at this point in my life, I am not sure of my status. What I do know is that I have given all my life to teaching others in order that they may have a better life. Therefore, I support 100% the forgiveness of student loan debt. Incidentally, I wrote to President Obama when he was elected for his first term and expressed my concern for student loan forgiveness. Since my retirement, I have become a Certified Life Coach; I am now volunteering my time to coaching battered women and girls with the intent of empowering them.

I have been burden with student loan debt all my adult life. It seems like I cannot get ahead financially. I am earning my doctorate and owe more on school loans than what I make a year as a special education teacher Is this what I have to deal with for wanting to make a difference in our young and special needs children? It's not fair!!!!

Unbeknownst to me coming from parents that didn't go to college, how would I approach college and pay for it. I enrolled into DeVry Institute of Technology formerly known as Ohio Institute of Technology for Electronic Data Processing, (EDP). I couldn't receive Pell so I got a loan because this was 1977 the monetary amount escapes me but I only went one trimester did not complete it after obtaining a foot injury. I didn't go back to school until 5 years later. Interest was building up, I fell into default, and my 1981 tax return was taken, yet it NEVER showed up as payment towards my debt and I have called to inquire through the years but all I get is a pass the buck chase with no show of this payment. My interest is more than what I borrowed effects credit. I learned of a consolidation program so I could go back to school and that is my story... at least the beginning of the student loan nightmare.

My story is simply a story of stress. My loans are now due; my first payment became due in March 2013. The payments are around $400 a month, which may not seem like much to some; however, my mortgage is $500 a month, so my student loans are almost equal to my house payment, and I live on a fixed income. My total student loan debt is roughly half of the total purchase price of my home. When I chose to return to school and earn my degree, I thought I would get more help from the Pell Grant, as my income is approximately $100 a month over poverty level. I didn't see how wrong that assumption was until I was close to achieving my goal of a degree, and the stress set in. I had hoped to continue on to earn a Master Degree, but realized I couldn't even afford my Bachelor Degree. I have been out of the work field for almost two decades and am at an age when most are considering retirement; I have little hope of finding a job to increase my income, let alone being able to physically do it. I know my degree was earned more for my personal satisfaction, the sense of accomplishment, compared to those who earn their degree in order to be competitive in the job market today, but now also understand I will very likely die in debt. Now I wonder if my desire was worth the burden I face, and the headache it will be for my adult children, upon my death.

My son has been unable to find a full time job after the job market crash a few years back. He works part time but does not make a substantial amount of money. I have been paying his student loans for him as he has 1 child and has to pay that child's nursery fees – which are exorbitant and a real struggle for him.

Graduated from HS when I was 17 so my first semester of college I was 17, pretty young. I am a first generation American and the first of my family to go to college and graduate. So no one in my family really guided me as far as finances, loans, GPA, school decisions, nothing. I was first in line to figure it all out. I went to Oxford College of Emory University for my Associates degree and then Emory University for my Bachelor's in Anthropology and Human Biology. Even with financial aid, paying for a private school where their average for school attendance is ~$54k a year I am ~$85k in debt for my four year undergraduate education (which nowadays is equivalent to graduating from HS, yay). Straight out of school I worked as a server, then as a bank teller at Bank of America, so clearly nothing too glamorous. After applying to over 100+ job positions in Atlanta, I eventually through a friend got my current position as a contractor for a "Big 4" company doing data entry for the alumni relations department, so no benefits, no holidays, no paid sick days, nothing. And I make $12.50 an hour, so compared to my education I am beyond underpaid. I make around ~$1500 a month and over $700 goes to student loan payments. Not including all my other living expenses like gas, food, car, credit card, city parking, etc. I obviously have to live at home because after loan payments I'm basically living below poverty line. So I went and got a top notch education and now I'm making less than people I know from HS that never went to college. That's awesome! I changed my major and career plan a semester after we had to declare it, but in order to graduate in 4 years and have financial aid cover me I took summer school classes 3 out of my 4 summers in undergrad. I still have not finished my pre requite classes because I work 40 hours minimum a week and spend at least 10 hours commuting to work a week so I decided to take a break this semester from post-bach classes at Georgia State, not to mention the rising costs of public university tuition that I clearly can't afford with the debt I have already accrued. So due to my current financial situation because I have to pay my loans and am underpaid it continues to postpone my capability to finish pre requisite classes to get my Master's for Physician Assistant. Again, I do not have any benefits at all, so I live my life praying I never get sick. I can't think about pretending to afford anything other than necessities, so no new car, no apartment for myself, no new clothes (which I need), no going out to eat or anything recreational with friends. Nothing other than paying loans and hoping the rest is enough to get me to be able to pay my expenses for getting to work (gas) and paying for parking at work, and covering my cell phone bill, etc. So that about sums it up. Its awesome! For sure...

Well to start off I admit I took out too many private student loans and didn't read to fine print. I am paying over $1000 a month I have a roommate. Two years ago I became overwhelmed with the loans increasing so I went to see a lawyer and he told me by the time I pay student loans and credit card debt I would have enough money left to eat dog food. I busted out crying. I left his office determined not to file BK. I got another part time because I'm smart I have a Master's degree I can do this. In April 2012 I filed BK7!! I lost my full time job in June in 2012!!! Part time job made cutbacks!!! Private continues to call and I still don't have a full time job!! The American dream of an education was and had been a nightmare for me!!'

When I finally got to law school in 1989, I was a married stay at home mom with 3 children under the age of 4 and pregnant with the 4th. Trying to find money for law school was impossible, so we opted for student loans. When I graduated from law school in 1993, I chose to move into government work as a prosecutor because the hours worked best for my young children. Fast forward, 3 of those same 4 children are now graduated college students and the 4th has just gone back to college. I am no longer married, now have five children and still have a debt of $100,000 added to the student loans that I co-signed for my children. My credit is so impossibly damaged, that I cannot purchase a home, instead renting a home. The cost of attending law school has definitely not been advantageous to me, and I often wonder if I should have chosen a different profession... It's disheartening to think that I have not been able to get any assistance at all.

I graduated with my Master's in speech pathology in 2000 with what I thought was a staggering amount of debt at $65,000 dollars. Then upon consolidating my loans another $20,000 that I had not accounted for showed up for a grand total of $85,000. In the 13 years since I have been paying on them they are now at $89,000. I have taken on the attitude that I will die with this debt. The sad part is, I WORKED my way through college! Since my lower, middle-class parents who owned a hardware store could not afford to help me, I financed my undergrad and graduate degrees. I would only receive enough in loans to cover tuition and books. I paid rent, utilities and my car payment with my work earnings. I was the exception then, a student who worked full time. I had a job that required a Bachelor's degree but had been promoted with my experience and efforts so that I had health insurance – but I was obligated to keep up with a full time work load. Somehow, I did it and graduated. I resented those students who didn't have to work and was disgusted by those I saw partying and dropping out. I valued my education, as I knew I was going into debt for it! Just how much debt, I could NOT have ever imagined. I was careful to not take out any subsidized loans until graduate school. I did that only because once I started graduate school and all of my internships, I wasn't able to work. I recall my department chair at my university warning me that my debt was looking like that of a law or medical student – but what could I do? In the year 2000, I found myself graduated with my Master's – my father had passed away right before I graduated and I had a little ($16,000) inheritance when I moved to Hawaii for my first speech pathology position. I am currently on maternity leave after having my first child – the interest is ticking away. Over the last 12 years I had only paid my interest and kept my $85,000 in loans right at $85,000. Now, they are crawling up to $90,000. I am disconnecting from caring about this tremendous debt. I must say it is worth it to spend time raising my child but why must I choose? It is sickening that I am in this much debt for a job that clearly can't pay me enough to clear my name. I actually worried about disclosing how much debt I am in for my education to my fiancee. Luckily, he can look past it but it is definitely a stressor. My name is NOT on our mortgage and we have put off our marriage because of this debt that I do not want him to take on. Instead I am unhappily married to my profession, chosen at the age of 19,and the strapping $90,000 I am in debt for it. I will NOT encourage my daughter to go to college right away as I will NOT be able to help her and I do NOT want her to experience the weight of this debt.

Student loan is a major crisis causing many students like myself a problem to get an education of choice, not only we want, but I believe we deserve to have for free like the president and his family.

My story is a little different but the end result is the same. I am on social security disability and I went to college to get a degree (I still believe in the American Dream) so I could go to work. Well, I have student loans only for my associate’s degree. I haven't found a job yet (I am trying). The student loans are coming due and I have no way to pay. I have a 2002 car that needs repairs and I can't buy a new vehicle because I have student loans. I cannot buy a home because I have student loans. Social Security disability doesn't pay very much and I am sick with worry how to repay.

I have over $80,000 dollars of student debt. Most of those are private loans, which do not give me the flexibility and payment options that the government loans do. It is ridiculous that private student loans get the same bankruptcy protection that public loans get, yet they do not have any of the flexibility of public loans when it comes to repayment options.

When my son started college Direct Loan had us sign up for the larger part of his loan as a parent plus loan. My son took on a smaller part of his 4 year college loan amount. My son graduated and is paying off his loan portion. Myself and my husband started paying off our portion until I lost my RN management position and due to economy and I think age discrimination I could not find a new job starting Dec of 2011. I asked for forbearance and got it. Then in November 2012 I had to apply for medical disability and got it and am paid monthly less than half of my regular RN salary and my husband is retired and on fixed pension. Then in April of 2013 our loan is sold to Great lakes and they are demanding us to start paying approx. 900.00 per month. I told then of our situation and they gave us 3 additional months and then expect full payments. I do not intend to not pay back but hopefully they will allow us a smaller monthly amount as I cannot afford 900.00 a month until I get a job again. As everyone knows, the longer I am not paying the interest gets larger as our interest made my payoff from 100,000 to 107,000

I prefer to tell the story of my grandchildren's personal debt. My grandson graduated last year cum laude from a well-renowned university He has secured employment, but he cannot foresee being able to leave parents' home for the foreseeable future, as his payments for his education are about $800 per month and he had been granted a $40,000 scholarship. Tuition costs MUST come down. My granddaughter same family enters university this fall (she was granted a $50,000 scholarship). Even with these awards, they both will be saddled with these ridiculous payments for several years to come. The high cost of education has become all "smoke and mirrors.” I was able to put my 3 children through institutes of higher education for much less money in the 80's and 90's without them being saddled with extreme debt after graduation. What happened? I, personally, don't think institutions of higher learning should be more than $5,000 per year for tuition. If they need more money, than they can get funding from BIG Business. The middle-class has been used and destroyed for the past 25 years – NOT a good thing!!! A middle class has been what has set the USA apart from the rest of the world – do we really want to regress? Thanks for allowing me to vent!

Because of my student loans, I can no longer afford my mortgage and basic living expenses. I anticipate my home being foreclosed on and see no end in sight to paying off the loans. I consolidated the loans and once all scheduled payments are made, the total payment will be double the original loan amount. This is very stressful, not fair and very painful.

My school loan was made back in the late 60's. When I graduated, I was able to find employment in my field of education. The pay was not great but the job offered health benefits for me and with an additional cost benefits for my husband and daughter. Over ten years I was able to pay off my loan. The time frame for repayment for my husband who also had a school loan was the same as mine. That was back when the amount of a loan was not as great as those taken at this time. College costs were more affordable then. My husband and I were lucky to be able to pay our loan so quickly (although at the time it did not seem to be quick). Both of us were employed in the field we had studied. Now I fear that is not the story. Huge loans must be taken by students in order to complete an education. So they graduate with huge debt. That issue is made far worse because there are not enough jobs within certain fields, which makes obtaining a job in their field difficult. My son has found himself in that position. His loan was not as great as some because we did pay for his undergrad degree in full and partially paid for his graduate degree. Unfortunately, he has found himself underemployed in an unrelated field for four plus years after his graduation due to the recession and the fact that congress has done nothing to promote job creation. His is a situation faced by many grads. That is a shameful disgrace. College degrees should be a right for everyone who qualifies and should help advance their career in their chosen field. Many will find themselves repaying much more than they borrowed due to substantial interest payments and might never hold jobs within their field of expertise. I am thankful for what I have had and wish the same for recent college graduates.

I continue to struggle with my student loans. Due to the bad economy and unstable income monthly, I can barely make enough to pay for necessities yet my student loan is my biggest expense. With $250,000 of federal student loan and $40,000 in private student loan, my entire paycheck goes to paying interest. I can't afford to live on my own. At age 37 and I am still living at home. Due to the high interest in my private student loan, will be in debt for the rest of my life. My account was charged off because of unemployment two years ago and I missed two payments. Now my private student loan lender are charging my 3.25% per day toward my full loan amount. The lenders don't care they are all about the money. They can care less if you are homeless. All they want is their money. They are unwilling to work with you on making affordable payments. At 3.25% daily interest of $40,000 loan, how is anyone ever able to pay anything off? I will be taking public transportation and continue to struggle to pay for things.

My son has over $100,000 in debt and my daughter also has over $100,000 in student debt and neither one is able to pay off these loans. Interest compounded on principal over the years makes the debts even larger with fewer resources to address loan payments.

I went to school in 1982-1983. I had $7,500 in loans, which I paid a little on, but never made much money so it was not a priority, though yes it should have been. In 1991 my life fell apart and I entered a mental health outpatient program for six months and have not held a job since. My income from SS has ranged from $6-12,000/ year in the past two decades. I ignored the matter and was ignored until five or six years ago, when harassment started by various collection agencies wanting one loan for $2500 plus $4,000 in penalties repaid. Since I get food stamps and live on mostly potatoes, I never responded to them.

It took me seven years to finish college and earn my bachelor's degree. Even though I worked full-time and went to school at night, I still had to take out loans to pay tuition. As a liberal arts major and a bookstore employee, I did not earn much even after graduation. My biggest problem is the high interest rate that I am stuck with. I consolidated my loans a year out of school to save a half percent, saved another half percent, I think, switching to ACS, but now I am stuck at 8.5%. Many people were able to consolidate around 1%. Doesn't seem fair. After staying home with my kids, partly because of the high price of childcare, and struggling to make ends meet, which resulted in many deferments and forbearances over the years, I now owe $12,000.00 more than I did to begin with. I was not able to pay/borrow for a graduate degree, I feel permanently shackled to that debt, and I feel cheated. Seems arbitrary that I pay so much more in interest. At least with a mortgage, you can refinance. My husband earns enough that we have a house, and cars to drive, but we struggle to get by, live paycheck to paycheck, and that high interest loan payment certainly doesn't help.

My student loan issues began when my wife and I were both doctoral students and we had three kids in undergraduate school beginning in 1995. My wife was at Loyola University of Chicago, I attended the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, my son enrolled in Indiana University, my two-step sons were enrolled in Iowa State University, the University of Illinois, and later one attended Monmouth College in Illinois. Juggling these large loans has been a challenge for a number of reasons. First, my wife and I have changed jobs a number of times. My work since 1986 has been as a school administrator in Oak Park, Palatine, Rolling Meadows and Wheaton. In all of these districts the schools had a fairly high enrollment of students coming from low-income homes. My work continued for two years as a Superintendent/Principal in central Illinois in a small rural school with students from poverty. My final position as superintendent in Joliet, Illinois in a school with 93% minority students and 81% students qualifying for free and reduced lunches. In about 1999 I received information that a number of firms were consolidating school loans so I called the vendor for one of my loans. When asked to move ahead with the agreement, I informed the contact that I wanted a quote for the rate I would be paying after consolidation. He said that would be coming in the mail. I informed him I did not want to the consolidation to occur before I saw the details. He assured me that nothing would happen until I received the information. As I recall a number of weeks passed and received in the mail my consolidated school loans, not as a quote, but as the completed consolidation. I was furious. I contacted the vendor who informed me he didn't know who worked with my case, but my paperwork was completed and I couldn't change my mind. I was stuck with the current rate. In the early 2000s, when a second round of student loan consolidations occurred at a very good rate, I could not apply as I did not have two loans, only the consolidation of the previous loans with no way to reduce the interest. Until my retirement in June 2012, I had been employed as a full time teacher and/or administrator for all but one year between 1978 and 2012. I understand there is forgiveness now for loans with individuals working for 10 consecutive years in public schools. I do not qualify for the any type of forgiveness, as I am no longer working. Of my years as an educator, 28 years were in school serving minority and/or students coming from low-income homes. My wife pays $169.37 each month. My monthly payment is $564.51. What is most frustrating is that I owe more than $70,000, I will be paying this off for the rest of my life, I do not qualify for a reduced loan interest rate or forgiveness of my loans following a long career in education. The banks failed miserably beginning about 2007. For the most part they have yet to suffer a penalty. They were bailed out by the U.S Government. As a veteran, a responsible citizen, a life long educator, I am very disturbed that I have no recourse to repay my loans. I am not unhappy about loan repayment as I did borrow the money. I am unhappy that the company holding my loan, ACS, is making a small fortune from my payments, which they will continue to receive from me for decades. Again I have no recourse. Home mortgages are down, the housing market finally is responsive to some individuals who lost or could lose their homes. I am stuck making payments that could be reasonable if the interest rate was significantly less. It appears that will not happen. This is a grave injustice on millions of former students, upon me, and on my family. This is not the way for a veteran and a lifelong educator to be treated. Banks are again given a free ride to fiscally rape students, former and current, Even if the government would pick up the interest the monthly cost would be less.

My student loan bill is by far my biggest expense each month: $1100. It is more than my rent, more than childcare for my young daughter, and more than all my other expenses combined. It is extremely difficult to save any extra money or even get out in front of the debt. I cannot afford a car so I ride a bike, I cannot save for a down payment on a house so I rent. I have no problem paying off what I borrowed for school. However, it is the interest rate that is crushing me. At 7%, almost all of what I pay each month goes to interest. When I started school everybody seemed to be consolidating loans at 3%, which seemed reasonable. By the time I finished school, consolidation at low rates was history. Over the past five years I have paid out almost $60,000 but my principle has barely budged. This is wrong. The interest rate on student loans should be pegged at inflation; nobody should be getting rich off of student debt.

My student loan debt has grown to over $100,000 over the last several years due to accrued interest and capitalized interest being tacked on to it. Due to low paying jobs and unemployment, I have been unable to make sizable enough payments to pay it down. I have used hardship deferments and forbearance along with income sensitive repayment plans all of which do nothing to reduce the amount owed. It continues to go up, given my inability to make adequate size payments. I have even declared bankruptcy (twice) to try to get it discharged, but to no avail. Congress has exempted student loans from discharge through bankruptcy unless you are dead or totally and permanently disabled. The bankruptcies are now on my credit report and were declared for nothing. Even if a large student loan debt were discharged in bankruptcy, Congress has made it so the discharged amount is counted as income and you will be liable for the taxes owed on this "income" if the amount were allowed to be discharged in bankruptcy. This tax burden could be impossible to meet if you have no/little income and savings. I am one of a multitude of people who is unable to pay back their student loan and it could follow me into my social security years. Congress has also made it allowable for the student loan lenders to garnish your wages up to 15%, even though you need the money to live. They can seize any small tax refund you may qualify for and when the time comes they can take your social security payments or other federal benefits you receive for your inability to pay it off. This, to me, is Usury! The Income contingent repayment plan and the income based repayment plan both simply take too long a time before "Forgiveness" of the remaining amount is allowed. You will be on these plans for 20 years before forgiveness is allowed. I have felt for a long time, I am better off dead than alive! A huge debt you are unable to pay is a burden, worrisome, causes emotional turmoil, and physical ill health. I never did get my "second chance" to start over after my bankruptcy. I have been living in oppression for years and that is NO LIFE! I say if you are unable to pay back a student loan within the first 7 years of repayment, then the remainder needs to be forgiven, so you can get on with your life. This burden is one big reason why I never felt I could bring children into this world, as I never felt financially secure enough to do so. I remain single.

I originally borrowed $ 7,500.00 in student loans. I can't tell you the interest they have added through the years. I've had every intention of paying my student loan debt but, have not been able to due to supporting my entire family. I filed bankruptcy and, even though the judge said that the student loan WAS dischargeable, it is still 'there'. Most recently, I was put on total medical disability after two heart attacks and CRF and yet, again, they yanked my federal tax refund, this year. I will wait until July 2013 and apply to have the loans discharged.

In 2007 I graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a degree in English Creative Writing and Women's Studies. I received an invaluable education and I studied in one of the greatest cities in the world, where I now call home. In my years as an undergraduate student, and in the time since, I have accrued over $60,000 in Federal Student loans and interest and almost as much in Private Student loans and interest. I used all of my forbearance and have been trying to make payments when possible, but those usually apply to interest. I have succeeded in paying off one of my private loans, at 50% of the loan, to Wachovia, a company that bought out the original lender and was BAILED OUT BY THE GOVERNMENT. I defaulted on this loan because it was impossible to ever speak with anyone on the phone, and as a tax-paying citizen I found it inconceivable that with no communication I was expected to give money to a bank that had just been BAILED OUT BY OUR GOVERNMENT. I defaulted on the other loan from that bank. I am on the verge of default with Sallie Mae, but they have at least given me the courtesy of putting an intelligible person on the phone with me, willing to set up payments that nevertheless go only to interest in the long run. I have recently been in contact with the U.S. Department of Education about beginning payments on my loan. They have, until this time, been working with me on the terms of my forbearance, but that time is gone. At a minimum payment of over $600 dollars a month I will have the loan paid off in 11+ years. I worked full time until last month and have been actively seeking other employment. I now work part time. Since I graduated from college, I have wanted to return to school to receive a Master's Degree, however, I cannot fathom increasing my student loan debt any more and have put off my dreams of continuing my education. Plus at this point I do not think it will be possible to get a loan for further education. I rent an apartment with no possibility of buying a home because my credit is so low I can't even get approved for a credit card with the bank I have had an account with for nearly 12 years. A loan for a home is out of the question. I work in the service industry and can't afford health insurance. I will struggle to pay for my wedding. I want to start a family but will not raise a child without insurance or in my apartment with one bedroom that I share with four other people. I was extremely fortunate to have my father as a cosigner for my first few years of college, but after he got cancer and couldn't work and had cosigned loans for my two older brothers to seek higher education, I had an uncle that was kind enough to cosign and help me through the tough years but he has since passed. It is my desire to pay off my student loans in their full but it is not my reality. My education is something that I do not take for granted but the debt is so high it does not seem likely that without more income or a decrease in the loans/interest I will ever pay off either in my lifetime. Interest only payments are laughable, as these lenders need no more money than what I originally borrowed if they have the comforting fall of the government should they ever need billions of dollars. Where is my bailout?

My daughter is in school and will be until she gets done with her PHD, and she has debt in the excess of $90,000 and my son already owes over $20,000 and he just completed the first year of college and can't find finances to continue. We are not able to sign for him so we are trying to find financing for him. They make it entirely too hard for the kids to go to school and get an education and most times when they are done they can't even find a job in their field of study! I went to school to be a Medical Assistant and never worked as one and I had a small student loan over 30 years ago but nowadays a lot of our kids won't be able to attend college or will struggle with financing because the cost is so extraordinary!

I waited a very long time before I went back to school to get my bachelor's in Business Management. I waited until my children were grown and I wasn't sure what I wanted to get my degree in. I went to the University of Phoenix in Illinois from 2008-2010. I am working as a Pharmacy Technician part-time for $10.20/hour. This is really not what I want to be doing but I have to make a living. I think that the reason so many people are struggling financially now is that companies don't pay their employees a living wage and the present state of our economy. I have not paid anything on my student loan because I don't even have enough money to pay my monthly bills. I want to pay back my student loan but at this point am unable. I have joined a local Community Career Center to help me get that management position I so desire but that takes time too. I have been studying for my National Pharmacy Technician exam that I need to take within the next 2 months, which is requiring a lot of my free time. I need to pass this exam the first time because if I don't I will have to pay to take this exam myself, which I really don't have the money. I am frustrated and sometimes depressed that it is taking me so long to get back on my financial feet. I resent the people who say that people who are poor don't work hard to make a better life for themselves. These people have no idea what it means to struggle!!!!

I am 37 years old married mother of 3 my husband and i had just started to go back to school. In 2010 I had not been working nor had he and we figured maybe bettering ourselves was the best option wee have struggled hard to get where we are as is. Yet the student loan debt keeps rising because the job market is not really out there, especially in our area. I myself have approximately 5 more years to go before my degree will be worth a darn to even get a job in the field of study I am going for. What has made it even more challenging is my health I have had 3 heart surgeries which have not been fun to say the least which has put me behind in my studies. also my other financial obligations if it wasn't for the student loans I would not even be able to continue school or support my family. we are in desperate need of help and are falling behind because of all of this. suggestions on this would be helpful.

Over the past 19 years I have made payments to five different entities. These include Citibank, IDAAP State of IL, Intuitions FL, Nelnet FL, and I am currently paying Ed Financial TN. My initial loans were $1,000.00 and $9,000.00. My account summary as of 05/21/13 reflects a balance due of $11,700.00. Each time my account was moved to a different entity, several thousand dollars was always added to my balance. Additionally, with approximately a $200.00/mo payment to Nelnet from 2000 to 2008, records show they credited $3.00 to $4.00/mo toward principle. I have filed two complaints with US Dept. of Ed. However, nothing has been resolved regarding my years of payments.

When my daughter decided to go to college in 2005 right after high school, there was no doubt in my mind that she would finish in 4 years but with her loans and our loans, the total is under 50K. Then in 2010 I lost my job of 32 years, and also my income to pay the loan off. I just got back to work in 2012 at a much lower paying job and I'm 55 years old now. I will never get my parent plus loan paid and will have to pay for it as a retired person. Sad but true...don't take out these loans later in life as you can never get them paid off.

The biggest burden of the student loan is having not been told correctly my best options by the educational institutions. I did not get the best education for my money. However, I am well educated because I took the process seriously and have spent many years in the industry. However, in my particular career, no one is taken seriously unless they are licensed. Therefore, I cannot command a good wage or benefits. The blue collar jobs all but vacated our living area. My estranged husband isn't able to find a good paying job or even one with benefits. We re-financed to pay off debt when he lost his life long job and have since struggled to make the payments. I think everyone should pay their debts but on that note I think they should have good jobs available to them so that obtaining education can be later paid for. The government should be more pro-active in educating students on the likelihood of them ever succeeding and the burden of a government loan. I'm faced with the decision of continuing my education to obtain a license. I cannot get any grant money because I already have my bachelor's degree. It doesn't matter that that my previous years wages were well under the poverty level. If they are going to be throwing away money, they should at least put their money on someone that can complete an educational goal. If criminals' in our prison system don't have to pay for their up-keep and education why should a law-abiding citizen have to.

I have approximately $60,000 in student loan debt. Because of the debt and the fact that I defaulted on payments due to a serious car accident, I have been unable to finish my final year of school. My payments are extremely high and it is impossible for me to move out of my parent's home at the age of 34.

When I was fifteen, I found myself on the street for the first time in my life. I came from an upper class and god-fearing family from the south. My mother developed serious mental health issues and began to hear voices. These voices became rooted in her faith and began telling her that I was possessed by biblical demons that were attempting to kill her. It was then that she threw me out of the house. Though still living on the streets I continued to go to school and had the highest marks in the institute. Later I was nominated to go to the UK as a student ambassador to represent the state of Texas. After graduation, I applied at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I was received on full scholarship the first year. At that time in my life I did not think to myself, "Going to an expensive art school will cause you debt." No I was thinking it was a means to an end, a way to get off of the streets and have a better life for myself. SAIC offered to pay off half of my tuition for me and all I had to do was find the other half. Loans. When I graduated from school I realized that it is true you cannot do much with a BFA. I applied at The Academy of Art University SF, and was accepted. They promised to help students to be goal oriented, professional and help to form their careers for success. After graduation the economy fell and there was no jobs. The jobs that were open that once required a Master's now require a PhD. So I find myself in the position that I have no choice but to continue school if I ever want to get a job in my field. (Running an institution such as a Museum or Art School or teaching). Often times I am able to get grants and scholarships but tuition is so high it never covers all of it. I have no family to ask for help and my husband is too ill to work. So I find myself a struggle full time student, who ranked at the top of her class, waiting tables full time and trying to take care of a dependent and myself. All through this student loan collectors are knocking on my door. I have no car, and I rent.

I'm the first in my family to earn an Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree. My brother and I are the only two of all my family members to have graduated high school. It has always been my dream to teach. I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was 10 years old. As my high school graduation approached, I didn't even think college was an option for me. It wasn't until about three years later. I went on my very first college visit. I was accepted and started the process of trying to fill out financial paperwork. Because I was the only student in my family to go to college it was hard to understand all the language on the paperwork. I signed the master promissory note. I didn't realize that I was signing myself up for life long debt. That was eight years ago. I now have earned a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree in education. As the onset of the financial crisis in 2008, It was extremely difficult to find a teaching job. I worked as a grad assistant at my Alma mater making $7000 a year. I have accrued about $86,000 in student debt – Mostly federal student loans and some private student loans. It has been extremely difficult this first year of my teaching career. I cannot afford to live in the same city that I teach in. I cannot afford to buy supplies for my classroom. I had to purchase a used car because my current car was dying. At the end of the month, after all my bills have been paid, I have about $100 left. Pleas coincided helping fix this broken system. Thanks for hearing my story.

I went through 4 years of undergrad at a university with no loans and no debt. I went to vet school solely on student loans, I was lucky enough not to need anyone to cosign my loans. After graduating from vet school, the total of my student loans (and interest accumulating) was around $300,000. I am single, so I do not have another income to rely on. I also was unfortunate enough to develop several autoimmune diseases while in vet school. So even on extensive (expensive) treatment, I am unable to work full time. I am on income base repayment because I cannot afford to pay any more than that, as I have to spend much of my limited income on my health and medications. I do not live extravagantly – I still drive the car I drove in high school and I live on my family's land next to my parents. My parents technically bought my house (and it's on their land) but I pay the monthly payments, which is less than $400 a month and cheaper than anything I could rent. But I will still never be able to pay off my student loans. I do make more than my required monthly payment but I will still never be able to pay off my loans, I don't even make a dent in it now. I have consolidated all my loans but the rates are still so high, I can't even keep ahead of the interest.

My story begins with our son, Jim, and his quest to further his education. First of all, I now voice to all parents of college bound children that they should attend community college FIRST because although they may know what field that they wish to pursue, community college will give them the opportunity to get their required courses (English, math) out of the way AT A MUCH LOWER price tag. It will also give them the opportunity to take classes in their desired field to "feel things out" and make sure this is the direction they want to go. If they find they've changed their mind it is not as pricey as changing their major and basically having to start from scratch. We live in a rural area and I must say, the counselor at our high school was not educated enough or did not care to help the kids along with choosing a school or a career path or even how to apply to these schools, when paperwork needed to be done, etc. Also, my son missed two weeks of classes because the high school took three weeks to send his transcript!!! (They were waxing the floors!??) We are now $120,000 in debt for his loans, and he's told me that he will not be graduating until Spring 2015!!! I haven't even added the price of that to this figure!! Both my husband and I work two jobs to pay for this, but he was in a car accident on his way home from work one night and as a result has endured five surgeries now. He is an auto mechanic and I don't know how much longer his body will hold up. The bills from the surgeries, medicines and time off from work have used up all of the monies we set aside to pay for our kid’s college education. As a result of the injuries/surgeries my husband lost his primary job and our health insurance along with it. His new job covers him alone but to cover me would take about one third of that paycheck we so desperately need just to live. I have Crohn's and fibromyalgia and physically I do not know how much longer I will be able to do this. If I don't, we will have to sell our home. I think about this every day, I pray for a windfall, but let's face it we're in serious trouble. The student loan payment per month will be higher than my mortgage payment. Once the parents fill out the original student loan info and include themselves as a part of the loan process they just keep adding on to our loan. My son owes about $8000 but we owe (as of this date and as I said he still has about 2 more years to go) $116,800. I have no idea what we're going to do...I feel as though I am free falling and have no control. I called the school to discuss this but they told me that I should just leave it this way because if they transfer the info for future loans to my son that he will need a co-signer, etc. My husband and I would be the only possible co-signers and obviously we would not be good as our debt-to-income ratio looks like a bad cartoon. We will not have a happy retirement, because we will have to work until we no longer can – 2 jobs each – to pay for this astronomical debt. My son says he will help of course, but he will need to have a job to do that. The job market is still horrible...I pray every day for relief/some answer but I don't know where to go for help.

If I had ever known that getting an education was going to be the one of the biggest mistakes in my life, I would have never done it. I'm 38 year old, my current debt by the time I was able to start repaying (July 2012) was $63,531.61 from $36,793.70. Unfortunately, is not that I did not want to pay for my student loans just that I had to pay for rent and food, this did not include health insurance for most of my adult life, including now. Right now, I would like to buy a house and start a family and that is not possible mostly for the compounded interest on my student loan debt. I went to college to try to make a better future for me and my family and because I decided to go to college, I live the American Nightmare, instead of the American Dream. I do not seem to understand how financial institutions borrow money from the Federal Government for not even 1% interest and we student pay as high as 7.68% interest and more. It also makes it even harder when you see people around who live from government assistance, getting free housing, free food and free health care and the government pays for everything and they have 2, 3, kids and counting. Then a person who decides to go to college in this country might not even be able to start a family. My name is Wanda, I'm 38 years old and due to my college education I live the American Nightmare.

My job is minimum wage. I took loans out through a non-profit organization but they changed to a private funder and now they tell me they do not work with President Obama's new laws that would allow me to stop paying after 20 years. I am 57 with no retirement, and no savings. I rent a home and my cars are 20 years old. My daughter lives in another state and I am raising her son while my son finishes college. All of this is more than I can bear. My payments will rise every few months and my wages won't. I work at a university and I was told that we would not get a raise this year; the economy of course is too bad to raise our wages (more excuses). I can't live like this for much longer. I will never have anything to retire on and my children still need me. Please fight to help some of us who really need to be able to discharge our debt in order to live. I will be homeless if my payment continues to rise. I can't afford the increased payments, and my job won't keep up. I only make $12.00 an hour. I am working very hard to keep up but at 57 my life looks very bleak. I think prisoners are at least guaranteed housing but not students who put themselves through school to better their lives in this country. How shameful that the Republican's forced all of us into a debtor's prison, but again prisoner's have health care, education and housing, not students. We all need to march on Washington!!

I started college at age 24 in 2002. I am five courses away from completing an MS in Engineering. If everything goes as planned I will have earned the degree exactly 12 years and $140,000 after beginning. Like many others, I am very concerned about finding a career opportunity within one of my fields of study. I have yet to reap any financial or emotional gain from the 12 years I spent working towards a better life for my family and myself. At 36, I am sure I will still be paying my loans off after 20 years from now. I am grateful that I was able to earn a higher education, but I would love for my family to benefit from the time I spent away from them.

I was fortunate to graduate with not much student loan debt at all. My degree cost $49,000 to achieve. Between the GI Bill and Pell Grants, I graduated with only $7000 in student loan debt. This is why I believe we need to institute a program similar to the GI Bill for all Americans. Personally, I believe that public colleges should be free. The extra money I am saving is going back into the economy instead of banker's pockets.

In 1982 I decided, that after some years of being employed as a truck driver and that type of employment was not right for me, that I would attend a state run technical college to get a degree in a trade. In the first year, I was able to enroll with GI Bill benefits, which then ran out in the next year. I was then able to get Pell Grants to continue. Over the following years while working a full-time job as a siding contractor with low income and attending classes in the evenings, I was able to continue on a full-time basis. Eventually, because of scheduling of classes needed to complete my degree, I was forced to switch majors in order to remain a full-time student. The major I chose had classes that coincided with the first major but, also others that were not in the first major. Even so, I saw that as a plus, to obtain the first degree while working on the second. Then I ran into the same problem again, scheduling of classes required for the second degree and the inability to stay at full-time student status. This all led to the point at which if I was going to get my second degree and Pell Grants wouldn't fund it, I had to take out a Student loan. Actually, I had two over the next two years in order to attend on a part-time student basis. In total I borrowed about $7800 to complete two degrees. In the last year before receiving my degrees, I was hit with a paternity suit that dated back to the late 70's that I was completely unaware of until then. Surprise, now I owe child support, back child support, DNA testing costs, while trying to support my present family and our medical costs. I was forced to declare bankruptcy on all this, except for student loans and child support. From that point on the county prosecutor confiscated any tax refunds and demanded payments on back support along with current payments. Because of state laws, those confiscations and payments took precedence over any payments due on student loans. After graduation and receiving my degrees, I comprehensively searched out all local companies in the fields pertaining to my training but was told over and over that I had no experience. A couple of those companies did offer me a job starting at $5 per hour for the first 3 months. There is no way my family and I can survive on that. So, I go back to being a truck driver for a living, which then leads to a divorce and more child support. All of these unfortunate situations precludes any possibility over some years of actually making any repayment on my student loans while the amounts owed, due mostly to the interest compounding annually, to just keep increasing to about 4 times the amount originally borrowed. I applied for all the deferments I could qualify for and went on ICR plan some time ago. About 4 years ago I had to retire at 65, partly because of no jobs available at my age and my health concerns. I have paid off any and all other debts I owed except this one. I have no credit, never able to buy a home, never able to buy a newer vehicle, and certainly unable to pay any on those student loans that just keep on increasing. I can't even get a loan now to buy another vehicle and the one I have now is over 24 years old. Sometime in the near future my loans will be forgiven per the rules but, then I will owe income taxes on the large amount that the loans have increased to over those years with annually compounded interest at 8%. The IRS will probably take my SS for that and I will be destitute. Or dead! In all truth, I've made some mistakes in life, yes, but do I deserve an end like this?

I have no stable job to pay off the loans with the Bachelor's degree I acquired, I recently quit the Hilton because the steward department I was overstaffed as soon as I was hired. They kept giving me less work hours that I took a second job at FedEx. But now even at that job I'm not giving enough money to pay off the apartment rent let alone both the Dept. of Ed loans and the private loans. Now my private loans are at default and I'm scared that I'll end up in prison because I have nothing to give and I'm going to suffer for it. I really don't know what to do aside from desperately playing the lotto. I just want this to end I don't care how.

Back in the day, I attended a private liberal arts college, got some scholarship aid and took out student loans. I had no support from family because their income was limited. I ended my undergrad years with $3,000 in debt, which of course was more in proportion to income back in 1972. Still, it constituted only 33% of my first job, in state "civil service" as an employment career counselor. Fast forward to 2013: My daughter already has 10Xs the loans I had: $30,000 and she is just finishing her sophomore year of college at a public university. In fairness, she chose an out of state university, but even if you adjusted for that she would be at $15,000 in debt now and at $30,000 by the end of her four years. THAT IS 10X's THE COST FOR MY UNDERGRAD EDUCATION. Unfortunately, she will not generate 10X's my starting salary . I was at about $10,000 per year, she likely will only command $40,000, even in similar work. SO her debt will be 75% of her starting earnings. My husband and I bootstrapped for years to get ourselves through grad school without help. This meant that paying off our more modest loans took about 10 years. How will this generation be able to do anything but pay off student debt? We did without a TV, a car, or even an electric typewriter back in the day. We waited until we were secure and in our 30's to have children. Will our kids have to wait into their 40's? States have pulled way back on support for higher education and in Indiana the politicians beat up on the colleges for what they have to charge in tuition, to make up the shortfall, yep, caused by the politicians. It is a vicious cycle and there are myths about why it is happening. The elephant in the living room is this: Why is it possible to buy a house at 3.5% interest, but student loans, both private and public are at twice that interest rate? As a matter of public policy: Isn't it better to capture the huge pool of talent and get our young people through the higher that will make them better citizens and higher wager earners/tax payers for decades to come??? Or are we capitulating to those who think banks and lenders should be able to do a business on the backs of the next generation? No one seems to be yelling loudly enough, and our young people simple accept the realities in front of them. THEY CANNOT REMEMBER A BETTER AND MORE SENSIBLE TIME Look to the United Methodist Church for some thoughtful foresight and leadership. They offer a 5/5/5 loan $5,000 at 5% paid back over 5 years. They also offer a 3.25% loan of $5,000 over five years if you begin repayment 90 days after taking out the loans. They are doing better than the federal government. Why? As a parent, I find myself in the quandary of fearing that our four kids are doomed to decades of debt with potentially less earnings due to the recession and the roiling impact on all sectors of our economy. Should we have even let them go to college at all? Yesterday I heard (on NPR) that 300,000 college grads are among the working poor in our nation. That is 6,000 college grads in every single state, who are not only not thriving, but who are now becoming a "burden" to the other "lucky" ones who graduated from college. WE need to do better. Restricting the interest rate on federal loans is the starting point. Bravo to the Obama Administration for at least steering students away from private lenders, who were asking for 15% interest in recent years. Greed and a lack of restrictions have begun to take a long-term toll on our society.

I served four years active duty in the Navy, but I served after Vietnam, when most people seemed to hate the military. The GI Bill was eliminated and replaced with a paltry program called VEAP where the service member had to make contributions in order to receive any assistance at all. The grand total of assistance (if one contributed the maximum amount which I did) was $8,100!!! My total loan amount in 1992 was $33,000, mostly in Federal Direct Student Loans. I paid off my higher interest rate loan first, which was 5%. That balance was only $2500.00. I had consolidated all the other loan debt from my master's degree and one year of law school under the US Dept. of Education loan consolidation program at 3.25%. I am now 54 years old & am still paying the $10,000 loan for law school. My current balance is $7,305. I have been paying on all my loans since 1992, and have not missed any payments. How can I still owe so much 21 years later? My first few jobs did not provide any health insurance – I paid for that. I HAD to start saving money for retirement because I am single & do not expect to receive any inheritance. I also HAD TO EAT, FIND A PLACE TO LIVE, AND BUY A USED CAR TO GET TO WORK. By the time I made all those payments every month, there was next to nothing left for student loans. I have no children or other dependents. I couldn't even afford a dog until a few years ago. So I had to get my monthly payment reduced, and I have basically only been paying interest all these years. As of next month, my car and furniture payment will be paid off, and I will be able to triple my monthly student loan payment. I expect to pay it off within two more years. The elite of Wall Street and Washington cannot fathom why millions of Americans are so desperately bitter. We have worked like slaves, only to realize, we are slaves. There has been no American dream for us.

I was 20 when I first went to college in 1992, because I was independent financially, and back then, you weren't considered an independent student until you were not claimed on your parents taxes for two years. My parents were never able to support me financially. So, I waited and then got my degree in 3 1/2 years while working part-time. I had accumulated approx. $40K in student loans. I worked in my field for 2 1/2 years and was not able to support myself the way I would like and didn't want to be trapped in a job all my life where I could afford only to pay my bills and felt I was in a dead-end job So, I decided to go back to school for a nursing degree where jobs were plentiful. And I knew that I would be able to afford to live more comfortably. I then had accumulated $68K in Federal loans and $13K in private loans. I have been paying $450 each month for 10 1/2 years and am nearly finished paying my private loan, but still have a balance of nearly $57K on federal loans. I am fortunate because I can at least make the payments However, I do feel as though my purchasing power is very low. I am able to make all payments on time, however I haven't been able to build up a savings account so if something were to happen, I would not be comfortable for long. I also do not have any children so I don't have that strain financially. I can't help but wonder how my purchasing power and of so many others could help this economy if we could get some assistance or relief after years of paying regularly and in some cases, making extra payments. I have felt so trapped most of my adult years due to the decisions I made in my 20's. But I thought I didn't have an option that I would not get ahead if I didn't get a college degree. So I feel lucky that I have my education, but I also feel it is so hard to be successful that by the time I get my loans paid off it will be time to retire and will not be able to retire comfortably. I want to feel secure, just once. I wasn't secure in high school, my parents were financially unstable and I felt like the only way I could get ahead was go to college, but at what cost? Thanks for listening....

I am a single mother who cannot put her own daughter through college because of my student loan debt. ($35000+) One third of my take home pay is my payment amount!

I'll be 50 this year. I have 180 college credits and no degree. I walked in to each of the 3 universities I attended with a 4.0 GPA. I have a brilliant mind that's being wasted as a part-time minimum wage retail clerk, all because of the way online schools are run. I know that I will never see the day when this will be wiped off because I saw that there's only a 1% chance the Student Loan Forgiveness Act will even be seen or considered by Congress. My story means nothing. I live in absolute poverty and am treated less than a citizen. I am told that I deserve nothing and that I am a lowlife for being poor. It's a domino effect. I wasn't allowed to complete university – see my Ripoff Reports – so I couldn't get a good job, now I'm facing Ch. 7 bankruptcy but it won't make the school loans or false taxes go away which doesn't make sense, because a bankruptcy is supposed to give you a FRESH start and a clean bill of financial health, but when they keep the two devastatingly large bills intact even after the bankruptcy, how in the hell does that help me?! I have begged for help from all levels of government and from all factions – from Congressional Representatives and U.S. Senators to the U.S. / Iowa / Illinois and Florida Depts of Education, and so forth. I've contacted the media (newspapers, talk shows and news stations) but no on was willing to listen, so in the end I have taken a crappy part-time minimum wage job, am attempting a Ch.7 bankruptcy and trying to move on under the radar of all the Goliaths after me for I've lost my slingshot and have no defense or voice. Here's a chronological in a nutshell: 1. 3 years old – parents divorced, father left. 2. 5 years old – mother marries 1st abusive stepdad 3. 7 years old – mother sends all children to abusive sitter 4. 9 years old – mother divorces abusive stepdad 5. 11 years old – still molested / abused; mother informed of my brilliance and need for special magnet school, she refuses 6. 12 years old – mother marries psychotic lowlife 7. 13-15 years old – run away from home as possible, can't attend school due to unstable home life. 8. 15-16 years old – spend a year in juvenile hall; family could care less. 9. 16-19 years old – live on streets / with friends – find odd / temp jobs. 10. 21 years old – get in head on accident with drunk woman – boyfriend was driving – massive internal injuries no real compensation 11. 23-28 years old – get a good job as data entry/receptionist; leave when downsized 12. 28-32 years old – have great job in real estate data field; ends on a sour note, but obtain dual GED/HS diploma during night school 13. 32-33 years old – attend Austin Peay State University for free; pd by most current stepdad (not the psycho) until he screws it up to ensure he doesn't have to follow through on promise 14. 34-35 years old – attend University of Phoenix online – find out their 'teams' mean I do all the work, the other people take the credit. – Large debt incurred for no true education 15. 46-48 years old – attend Kaplan University online – find out they lied about one payment needed and use that excuse to literally drag me through the mud. 16. 49 years old (2012) – Mom died, JobFox does an illegal blanket termination of all telecommute workers, absconds with last 4 paychecks, can't even attend own Mom's funeral or see her one last time, lose everything and Kaplan still contends that I am a lowlife loser that needs to pay for an education they denied me. 17. 49 years old (2013) – Learn that all online schools charge 3x the normal fees (i.e. the same IT class I took at Kaplan online for $1800 could be taken at University of California Berkeley online for $600!!?!!) and usually only for people who are poor and can get fed loans like me. Now in a crappy part-time minimum job, seemingly blacklisted for any position above retail clerk and not even at Wal-Mart or somewhere I'd get health benefits. I'm on Welfare (Food Stamps/Medical) and I have a bunch of creditors after me. My car is about to die and I have $11.00USD literally. The United States treats its citizens like me worse than an illegal alien and most U.S. government workers are proud to announce that to me. Hell, recently I called the IRS and found out they believe that a) the IRS is not part of the U.S. federal government (last I checked it was part of the U.S. Treasury...correct me if I'm wrong) so what are they, pirates? And b) that supposedly our taxes are NOT used for civil services, programs and projects but to pay the U.S. federal workers and ensure they have bonuses and perks (this is a true conversation had on 4/30/2013 – hopefully recorded on their end. And finally c) I was told that even if taxes did go to these mythical civil services, programs and projects, it wouldn't apply to me because although I'm a citizen, I'm an unmarried, uneducated, childless white woman nearing 50 so I don't matter and would not be qualified for any kind of help whatsoever. – These are the exact words of the IRS agent I spoke with! So you see the disease is not just the student debt, but all things connected with it. Had Kaplan online allowed me to complete my law degree with them, I could've found a position in a law office and paid off the debts I owe, but I have found that reverse discrimination is a key to what's happening to me as much as exorbitant costs, out and out lies and cover-ups. I don't expect anyone to ever hear my story, or care, hell they didn't care when the State of Iowa sterilized me, so why the hell would they care when I'm denied education, dragged through the mud, kicked in the face, spit on and left for dead in the gutter? You're right, they won't. Which is why I continue to work at my crappy part-time minimum wage job and am pursuing a bankruptcy because in the immortal words of Tom Petty and the Hearbreakers, "...even the losers get lucky sometimes." and with that false hope I live on :-)

After being unemployed since 2008, I decided to go back to obtain a Master's degree by 2011. The state of Iowa encouraged me to go back to extend my unemployment benefits. Now I am almost 55 and still underemployed. While I have a Master's Degree in Business Leadership, I find employers unwilling to hire people over 50. I have around $40,000 in student loan debt, and would love to land a decent paying profession to pay the debt off. However, given the state of economy and poor career prospects, the only positions I found is Adjunct Professor positions. I overlap three different schools and teach up to six classes a year. I make around $12.000. A friend recently hired me out of the goodness of his heart and I remain severely underemployed. I need to remain current on my loans to be able to continue to teach at the college level. I need a better way than the current loan options.

I got my undergraduate degree back when loans were "cheaper" and paid a 3% and a 5% loan back, with intermittent deferments for times when I was able to return to school. I graduated in 1986 with my Bachelor's degree in nursing. During those times of deferment, I also had to pay tuition and fees and continue to work full time to support my family. My student loans are finally paid off, having just completed that process after well over 20 years of struggling. Having completed that process, I can now invest in what is required for my current position – a new car (this job requires vast amounts of travel), but I'm unable to afford to complete my advanced degree since I can't incur further debt, don't qualify for most loans and can't afford them even if I could qualify. I was able to buy a home during the housing bubble and still struggle to maintain the payments, let alone maintenance, with paying my tuition. I've finally given up my hopes of getting that advanced degree in spite of thousands of dollars invested in my education. I just can't afford that and having this relatively low paying position. Others with the credentials I have outside healthcare are not breaking their backs and breaking their budgets just to have a career they like and are good at. My income is regressive in spite of my growing value to the organization, (a 2% raise at the highest, while the cost of living goes up 3.5 to 4%) while tuition climbs ever higher. And I watch those who chose to chew up others and spit them out be able to gain income and bonuses while I still struggle? No wonder I plan to emigrate!!

As a kid growing up in Iowa during the '60s I was told, go to college, get a degree and then work for the same company until you retire! Wow! Have times changed. In 1991 I went back to school to get my Bachelor's degree, unfortunately for me, I choose to go to DeVry Institute of Technology, now know as DeVry University. Tuition was 225 dollars per hour by the time I finished my degree. Over all, I was, at that time, 1996, around 90 thousand dollars in the hole. In my last semester I found out that my degree was worthless because companies in Dallas, TX no longer needed people with the type of degree that I had received. Then in 2005, I decided to get a Master's degree in Management and that added another 20,000 dollars to my total. So now my bill was around 120,000 dollars. I finally found a really great job in 2008 and then the economy tanked and so did my great job. The interest on my student loans kept growing. I moved back to Iowa and am living in a small space in my brothers' basement. I'm now working for a fast food place and earn 7.70 cents per hour. I'm 61 years young and I don't know how I'm ever going to pay my student loan bills off. ACS, the company that holds my loans, has given all of the forbearance opportunities available, but now that time has run out. I tried to get set up for another type of delay but because of the new changes coming to health care I no longer can work 30 hours a week and ACS states that I have to work at least 30 hours per week. So now, my student loan debt is a little over 162,000 dollars. I want like to move into my own apartment but I don't see that happening when the Treasury Dept can take up to 15 percent of my Social Security which would leave me hard pressed to live on my own. Thank you,

I was an education major at Purdue University on a National Defense loan. If I taught for 5 years and paid off half my loan, the other half was dismissed. After 2 years teaching, I went to the University of Michigan for my Master’s in curriculum. After 38 years of public school teaching, I retired in 2003 when I taught/supervised student teachers for another 3 years before having open-heart surgery. The National Defense loan allowed me to become the first in my family to get a college education. Knowing that if a pursued my career choice and made regular payments on my loan, 50% would be forgiven after 5 yrs./ 50% paid in. I felt my country supported me when I needed it most, and required me to make and keep my commitment. I don't believe post high school education should be free, but I do believe that financial circumstances should not keep someone from obtaining post high school degrees. Everyone should contribute to the cost of their education, and consider post high school schooling their job, not an entitlement nor a party! I do believe our attitude toward education has hurt our competitiveness/achievement compared others in the world. Those who value/respect education are most consistently the highest achievers and most successful during school and postgraduate. Thank you so much for your efforts!

Student loan debt succeeded at times in "ruining my life”, which I hope was the opposite of the intent of such loans. I borrowed for Law School in 1978 and it was a disaster. The School admitted many more students it could comfortably teach in later academic years, so 1/3 of the class were destined to not be asked to return. It became obvious that some were admitted with the sole purpose of getting their student loan money and then asked to leave. The criteria were Bar Association members in your immediate family (lawyers in the family), ties to the school in some form, or being a genius, if the other two criteria were not met. I was a pawn in this business scheme, masquerading as higher education. I later worked in the area of my undergraduate minor, much overtime, and repaid my college loans (small loans) and repaid one law school loan, but forced to default on three loans. The collections started, demanding full payment, when just weeks before the banks refused to take payments! Ronald Reagan elected and laws changed about the loans and collection. RR hated students and hated their debt even more. They added the excessive late fees, in order to create more incentive for the debt collectors. I was not paying and I was not certainly going to pay even more than I owed. The collection agencies, over the years, broke every law they can. I add that there are only weak laws protecting a debtor, with little or no punishment for their actions, and I could not claim bankruptcy. I finally attended Graduate School (in another area) in order to get a better career (so I could pay these debts). Even though I told them I could not pay as I was a student with limited resources (grad assistant pay), the collection agencies hounded me, waking me at all hours, calling associates, and threatening me physically and verbally. I have been threatened with death (more than once), and I was frightened by these animals. The stress by these lawbreakers, or collection agencies, added to the stress of obtaining a graduate degree and I took a leave of absence, with good standing. I never returned and worked at self-employment, in order to not have my tax return confiscated, because I was determined now to NOT pay them a dime. Forgiving decades of abuse from the federal government's strong arm collection agencies (which act no different than street loan collectors), and after my financial condition has improved, mostly due to my wife, I decided to negotiate a settlement with an agency about 5 years ago. I did and they refused to forward to me in writing, so I did not pay. I tried again and again, but they want my wife's financial information, which she refuses to forward, because even the IRS maintains that she is not responsible for my debts. I can not negotiate because of rules, so I will let it die with me, but I tried to pay many times in my life ...first the banks refused payments, then the loan shark feds, led by Ronnie Reagan, added tens of thousands to the loan and I refused to pay. I could not gain meaningful employment for decades due to this nasty loan, because I did not want for them to get any money from my paycheck. I borrowed from the devil and now it is clear that he has snared many more. The insult is that the USA gives billions in foreign aid to people that have never ever paid taxes, billions to risky investments by big banks gone bad, we spend trillions on wars that will benefit nobody, yet we can not forgive anything related to education! I have suffered physically, mentally, and largely wasted my life in some ways due to my own government, the same government that my ancestors paid for with their lives since the Revolutionary War. It angers me, as it is much larger issue than an unpaid loan. I would sue all the collection agencies for what they have done to me, but there is only a "one year": statue of limitations, yet no statue for student loan debt. This is very telling that the people of this great nation have lost control of it.

My story? Well? Where to begin?? Before I write anything about my story I want to first acknowledge that I have never been the best manager of money. I have always and always will take responsibility for every financial decision I have made and will make. I blame no one else for my financial problems. I make no excuses. I was stupid in my spending. I also want to say that I am not looking for a bail out from the government to take care of my student loan problem. That being said my student loan is a REAL problem. I went to college at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas, from 1984-1991. I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I got my B.S.E. in December of 1988 and went on to graduate school. I completed most of what I need to get my Master’s degree and then I encountered some mental health issues. I did teach school half time for one year. I and another teacher in the Emporia, Kansas, unified school district started the alternative high school program in the district. After the year of my contract with the district expired (and was not renewed) I became unemployed and moved back with my parents. I spent money very foolishly in college and came out owing about $30,000.00 and about $7,000.00 in credit card debt. That was the state of affairs in the spring of 1991. A short time after moving in with my parents I found a job working with the State of Kansas in one of their juvenile correctional facilities. When I began that job I worked with a consumer credit counseling service to pay off my credit card debt, which I did over a three-year period. While I was in that period I did not have to make any payments on my student loans. After I got done paying off my credit cards debt I began to pay on my student loan. In the mid 90’s I got in to credit card debt again and had to go through a bankruptcy. I have always felt bad about this and if I could go back and do it again I would not have chosen that route. While in the bankruptcy period I, again, did not have to pay on my student loans. When I came out of the bankruptcy I began paying on my loans again. So fast-forward to today. Since I got out of college I have paid about $11,000.00 on my student loans, most of that towards interest. I currently owe about $60,000.00 on my student loan and I am actively in repayment. All of my forbearance time has run out so I have to pay or go into default. I also owe about $12,000.00 in credit card debt. I have talked with a consumer credit agency and they have advised me at this time that they are not able to help me due to the nature of my credit card debt and the fact that I have a few of my accounts in a 0% interest rate period. I am current on all of my credit cards bills. I have a good credit rating. Having said all of that I cannot, on the income I make from my job, make all of the payments on both debt loads for much longer unless I can increase my income. I have tried to cut my expenses where I can. In July I am going to drop my satellite TV service when my contract is up. I stay pretty much at home and don’t do anything much for fun. I interviewed for two higher paying jobs with the state and did not get either one of them. I have several applications in for part time work but nothing has come of it yet. Now, to the crux of my problem. Without question I have to change my spending habits. I am where I am, in part, because of my poor decisions made over the last 25 years. As I said, I freely acknowledge this. But the problem I face has been greatly compounded by the fact that my wages have not kept up with the cost of living. I have worked for the State of Kansas for 22 years. I worked 18 years in the juvenile corrections facility I mentioned previously. I have been working at one of the state's hospitals for the mentally ill for the last 4 years. It is my best estimate that I have not had a pay raise in the last 8 years. Currently, there is legislation in the state house that may reduce my income further by taking away a longevity bonus that is awarded to state employees who have 10 or more years in. The amount was reduced last year and it may be eliminated altogether this year. If that happens I will lose about $900.00 in income. Last year I made less money than I did the year before. Right now I make $0.41 cents an hour more than a brand new person starting work in my same classification. My situation is compounded further by the fact that I am 9 years away from being able to retire from the state. It makes no sense for me to go outside of the state system for work. So the numbers just don’t make sense when it comes to being paid well and the timing of my problem makes it more difficult to leave my work for the state. What is even more troubling to me is that my years of state service have counted for essentially nothing when it comes to reducing the balance of my student loans. Under the new law, as I understand it, anyone who works in a public service field for 10 years and who makes 120 on time and in full payments can have the rest of their student loan balance forgiven. That is great for those who have just started working in a public service field. It is GOOD for me because, IF, I can keep up with my student loan payments I can have the rest of my loans forgiven by the time I am ready to retire. What would be GREAT for me would be for my 22 years to count for something as well. As I said, I’m not looking for something for nothing. I am not looking for a bail out. I have tried to pay my loans. I have tried to find higher paying jobs. I am cutting my expenses. I am looking for part time work. In short I am doing everything I can to pay my debts. I want to pay my debts. But I need relief. There has got to be more that can be done to help me, and others like me. I have written a personal letter to President Obama and sent him all of my documentation. I received a letter back expressing his concerns about the student loan debt problem in this country and the ideas he and others had to address them. These sentiments and ideas are all well and good but I need ACTION and I need it NOW. Please help me.

My wife and I graduated in 2009 from a traditional 4 year university at the ages of 47 and 37. The whole experience will cost us approximately $80,000. Going to a traditional 4 year college ($305 per credit hour) was the only way we could go because no other college offered classes for adult students. Now almost all colleges in my state offer classes for adult students. My wife and I drive our cars into the ground before we buy "new" used cars because we cannot afford brand new cars. We rent because we cannot qualify for a mortgage due to our high student loans. If I would have known that it would be that expensive for college and that I would have this much trouble after graduating, I would have had my wife attend college instead of both of us.

Becoming a psychotherapist has been my dream until I was 12 years old, however no one told me I must marry rich to pay back the government. I owe $110,000 in student loans and have kept them in forbearance since graduation for Grad school. I believed I was intelligent waiting to have my 2 children until I completed my education. I was wrong, If I was to have children prior I would have qualified for pell grants. My oldest son has special needs and requires extra assistance and certain daycare. With my two children being 11 months apart, I pay over $20,0000 per year in daycare and make $22,000 (this is my personal highest gross income since graduation 7 years ago). My husband has grossed at the highest level $29,000. I am not a mathematician, but this does not give my family of 4 enough to live on and pay at minimum $550 to $1100 to my student loans. I pay all the same utilities, rent, food and yes shame on me I bought a new car (which had a lower interest rate than a used car) to assure my children's safety. I go without new clothes, make-up, food that I did not eat in college, and any extra activities. Even with all of the penny pinching I still must ask my parents for assistance at times, which makes me feel ashamed as I am the person with the highest degree in the family. I feel asking for government assistance is wrong as I am capable to work, everyday I get closer to applying for food stamps and Medicaid. I cannot pay and my loans have transferred 4 times, which makes applying for forbearance difficult so then I can have my limited wages garnished. I work with Low SES individuals and help them daily, but I still do not qualify for forgiveness. Something must be done. I did not get loans with the thought of not repaying them. I am more than willing. The issue is I must help my family survive and this is IMPOSSIBLE with how student loans are currently set-up for repayment. I appreciate your time. Please help us that truly want to take care of our debt appropriately.

My student loans have put me in such a financial burden that I am constantly sick to my stomach and I feel like I'm going into depression. I can't buy a house; I have to rent at a discount just to be able to feed myself. This is not how my life was supposed to be, college was supposed to make my life better. Instead it has only made it harder. The worse one is the personal student loan I have, they won't do anything to help me. That payment itself is the equivalent of a house payment. I feel let down also by my financial advisors because I was not given the knowledge and advise when starting college.

I graduated in 1992 with a B.F.A. I had plans to get an M.F.A., but paying for college had taxed my resources and I wanted to build up my finances before furthering my education. At the time, my student debt was about $8,000. I started to repay the loans when they came due. Unfortunately, I could not get a job using my degree, and was underpaid and underemployed for some time. As a result, I had occasional periods of late payments. Over the next few years, the original loan service Sallie Mae (to whom I had signed my promissory notes and owed my debt), decided that they were not making enough profit off my loan and sold it to a different service, increasing my interest rates and principle in the process. This happened at an increasing rate with several new services, each time enlarging my debt and making it harder and harder to pay off. In the subsequent years, I have never utilized the degree, and have had mediocre employment living on a tight paycheck to paycheck budget. I have had to make do with CHEAP used cars, a thrift store clothes budget, and making hard decisions at the grocers. Recently, in an effort to try to minimize my interest and principle and make my debt easier to pay off, I brought my loan to the Department of education, thinking that they would be fair and work with me in my 21 year effort to pay off the loan which had mushroomed to $28,000. This was a HUGE mistake. Instead of helping me, they made things MUCH worse. They increased my interest and principle, and then garnished my wages for even higher payments. Now I take home about 60% of my pay and barely pay my bills. I will NEVER own a new car, My tax returns are also garnished, so I never get ahead, I will probably NEVER pay off this loan, so I am screwed for the rest of my life for a degree I can't use. And I have become a financial burden on my significant other, I am depressed all the time, and have little hope for a better life,

I originally borrowed $81,000 for a Bachelor's and a Master's degree. I was a divorced mother of 2 with one disabled daughter and very limited family support. I was not receiving child support regularly so I could not depend on that. I worked as a secretary making $7 hourly. I decided that I could not live like that. I decided I owed it to myself and my children to pursue a better life. So against many obstacles, I earned a bachelor's and a master's degree. I was never really good in Math and did not particularly like science, so I pursued the most practical degree that I could within my limitations and interests. I had originally intended to pursue a law degree but when the time came I realized that law school and the practice of law would not be a good fit for me or my situation; therefore, I pursued a professional degree and am now a licensed professional counselor. I make fairly decent money 10 years into my career. However, getting to the point I am at now – I had to suffer with somewhat low paying and unstable jobs. And during this time, I had to put my student loans in deferment and forbearance. Because of this my student loan debt has gone from $81,000 to $121,000. In some ways my life is still the same, I still have a daughter who is disabled that I care for (an adult now) and still have very limited family support. I can however support myself and my daughter now at a decent standard of living. I have also inspired my children by bettering myself and taking them and myself out of a life of poverty. However, I regret the student loans that were necessary for me to get us to this point in life. I cannot sleep at night if I think about the student loan debt that I know I will outlive me. Thankfully, I never took any private funded student loans and thankfully I qualify for the IBR repayment plan, though at 15% cap (not the new 10% cap available now to new borrowers); payment at 15% cap is still a little stiff and I will have to face a huge tax bill on any forgiven amount 25 years from now. I am afraid I can never marry again if I want to because of my debt. I am afraid I will not be able to enjoy retirement ever. I did what I had to do to escape poverty and to not be dependent upon society in the form of food stamps and housing assistance. I feel I am being punished for trying to do the right thing for myself, my children, and for society.

I was married and had a baby at 17 years of age. I was the victim of domestic violence and had to leave my husband to save my life. I was a teenaged single mom with a High School education. I was written off as doomed to fail. With the help of student loans I got an undergraduate degree followed by a law degree. I paid off my student loan plus interest, paid for my daughter's 5 year college degree, paid off my home in an upscale neighborhood, and recently retired with virtually no debt. I am a model tax-paying citizen. Student loans changed everything about my life and the life of my child to our benefit and to the benefit of the society in which we live. I think the money loaned to me was a good investment.

I completed your survey but I am not the student. There was no opportunity to explain my situation. I'm hoping this will be read... I am a parent who co-signed on my son's student loans. Against my advice, he borrowed more money than I thought necessary. He was maintaining his home (and expenses) in Louisiana while attending school out of state. He graduated with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy but had extreme difficulty passing his licensing exam. He has never functioned well under stress and felt tremendous pressure to be employed and be able to start repaying his loans. During the two years it took for him to pass his license exam, we (his parents) spent an additional $20,000 (most of our savings) paying for forbearance, an intense refresher course, books, license, and state board exam fees. The pressure had such a devastating effect on our son. We paid over $2400 for psychological services. We were desperate for him to be able to obtain his license and be able to pay on his loans. During those two years, his loan balances increase tremendously (by almost 25%) as a result of interest. He is currently employed but struggling to make his loan payments. As a result, he fell behind for a short time. I have always guarded my credit rating. But my credit has now been ruined along with my good financial history and dreams of a comfortable retirement. I retired in 2008 and had carefully planned to have an "emergency" fund for unexpected expenses. That is now gone, along with my good credit rating. I could not even borrow $1500 for needed dental work. I did not benefit from a single penny of the loans, and yet my good name has been destroyed. I have been mercilessly dunned for this debt any time my son fails to make full monthly payments. I doubt that I am alone and feel sure other parents are in similar situations – for only wanting to help their child get an education. My son is very good at what he does but I don't see how he can possibly live long enough to pay off his student loans. And I certainly never expected to be in such a horrible situation at age 70!

I owe for three college degrees, the most recent one for a PhD in counseling. As you might imagine, my student loan debt is high, over 200,000. I am in private practice as a psychotherapist and don't earn a fortune – though I didn't go into this profession for the money. I was fortunate enough to consolidate my loans under Obama's recent law that made it possible to take income into consideration when figuring loan payments. As a result, though my loan payment is manageable, the impact of having 200,000 in student loan debt on my credit report is not. I have always had stellar credit as has my husband. We are paying off our house and have about 11 years left, but even with that, we were unable to get a home improvement loan substantial enough to help us replace old, literally crumbling plumbing in our 160 year old house. My husband lost his job about 3 years ago and was unable to find a new one, so he retired early (which reduces his social security retirement payment by a lot). I am our only source of income. We are in our 50s and 60s and need to plan for selling this house in the next 10 years or so, as part of our retirement plan. However, even if we could sell it, having such high student loan debt on my credit report will prevent me from qualifying for a new home loan somewhere else. Lastly, our car is almost 10 years old, but I do not qualify for a car loan (used or new) because of my student loan debt. I drive over 50 miles round trip each day to work (we live in a rural area), and we simply have to hold our breath and pray that we will be able to repair any problems that arise with the car, for a very long time. In summary, though the school loan payment is manageable, the impact of having such high student loan debt on my credit report is not, and threatens our current as well as future financial stability, and overall well-being.

Being a retiree 77 years of age, mine is one of those "good old days" stories. The year I applied to college, my parents earned a total of $5,500. I went to a public high school in Baltimore, graduated in 1953, got my AB from Harvard in '57 and an MAT from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in '58. After teaching English in the Denver Public Schools for two years, I enrolled at the U. of Minnesota to earn an MA but ended up staying for a PhD, which I received in 1970. (By then I was teaching full time at Washington U. in St. Louis.) At every level of my education I worked and was aided by enough financial aid to pay my way without incurring any long-time debts. In fact, I graduated from each school debt-free. I believe this should be possible for any qualified student willing to work his/her way through College/graduate School.

My family did not have money for college. Even with scholarships and grants and work study plus under the table jobs I had to take out loans. I am married with kids in college. My husband is still paying off loans with no end in sight. It makes our financial situation tenuous.

My story is the story of my children and me. They are both in their early twenties. They both graduated from college or university and each have $20,000 – $30,000 in student loan debt to repay. I have $60,000 plus to repay, accumulated from both children's tuition costs. I need to save all I can right now for my retirement. I am in my early 50's and see this debt hanging on to me for a long time. I qualified for Parent Plus loans while my children received UN-subsidized student loans. They could not even receive "subsidized" loans. My oldest child works full time but has to live at home because her salary is very low in a position of her chosen field. The other has been out of school for one year and worked at a non-permanent job, so far. He is living at home for now as well, and continues to work on certifications to better his income opportunities. This is a very tough situation for both of them. If they did not have us, they would be in deep financial trouble. And with talk of Congress raising the student loan interest rate, I shudder to think how much worse this will become for our younger generations. I am astonished the Republicans are dead set on raising this interest rate. They are simply not acknowledging the realities our young people are facing. This is just plain difficult.

After my children were gown I went back to school at age 45. I knew I had to learn to take care of myself after living with an alcoholic and pill addict. My passion was to be a counselor to help people no matter what their life problems may be. It took me over 5 years because I had to have a Master's degree. I took classes year round while trying to work part time. I ended up leaving my abusive marriage after 1year of classes so had only student loans to live on. I had to travel 60 miles one way to get to school and went two to three days a week for the entire 5 years. After graduating I left the area for two years finding a job in an impoverished area of Florida with very little pay. I was able to defer payment of my now $70,000 loans because my son was still in college. While still in Florida I was convinced to consolidate my loans at an 8% rate. I had to move back home to prevent my husband from selling our home that was purchased from my grandparents. I could not find a job in the area so decided to go into private practice taking one full year before making enough money to pay any bills. That was in 1998 and my student loan debt has grown and grown. Several times I have made payments for a time but would then not be able to do so. I have exhausted all deferments and forbearance options and have offered to pay an amount that was less than the required payment but it was not allowed – at this time my debt has risen to over $170,000 and I am 69 years old – I use my vehicle in my practice as I go to my clients homes so need a reliable mode of transportation. I have always had used cars not new ones for this. I am not able to have income based payments because I had one $3000 plus loan for my son. I am having health issues but feel that I cannot ever slow down as the last time I talked with my lender I was told that I had to find another job because I was not working 40 hours a week at my job. I currently work 20 hours a week which is all I can handle this time. I am so stressed about this as I have always tried to pay but had circumstances happen beyond my control to hamper my best intentions. My clients are comprised of Medicaid recipients with very few exceptions but because my home is located in a place tat is not impoverished I cannot get any relief in that area. It was always my desire to work with the less fortunate and I have made it my life work to do this – however, I am paying the price as I cannot afford my student loan payments – I cannot refinance them and I have no options left open to me at all. At my age its difficult – I have tried my best to serve my clients and feel that I have done so to the best of my ability – my clients' interests have always come first and will continue to do so – however, aim sinking under this debt that I have no way to pay off fully.

I never had a student loan. College was "prepaid" by spending 4 years in the military during the Korean War so I had the GI bill, supplemented by working during vacations. I worked to pay for law school, going at night. It was never easy, but I graduated debt-free.

My story is atypical because I borrowed money to complete both undergraduate and post graduate degrees as a single mother in my late thirties and early forties. I now realize how foolish I was to borrow money for this purpose. I am now in approaching my mid-fifties with no hope of ever owning a home. I currently rent a tiny apartment that is the size of some people's living rooms. Additionally, I drive an eight year old car with broken AC and a broken driver's side window. All first world issues I know, but I work long hours as a teacher and stress over every penny I spend, as well as the ever growing demands placed on educators. It is a ridiculous way to live. I was certainly better off as a grocery clerk, but I wanted to make a difference as a teacher. When I worked for an hourly wage, I thought there had to be more. I had no idea what the true cost of that dream would be. It is a nightmare that keeps me awake at night, and keeps me from experiencing a full life. I am not able to support my adult children in their endeavors; heck I can't even invite them over for a meal because there is no room for them to sit! I can't travel, buy work clothes, afford to join a gym, or really even eat at a restaurant. I live more like someone who makes minimum wage than nearly $60,000 a year. I know that I made my choices, but I was not counseled about the facts of this loan nor was I able to visualize how much of my monthly income would be devoted to this debt. When I borrowed the money, the interest rate was 2%, but somehow, despite completing the paperwork purported to keep the rate at the lower one, interest on my loans jumped to 6.8%. I think this spike in interest in the largest factor contributing to the current problem. My biggest gripe with student loans, however, is that there is no counseling or assessment offered to borrowers. It is the only loan that I know of that does not require approval based on sane factors. I could not buy a car or house without approval based on income, credit history, and current debt to income ratio. On the other hand, I was able to borrow $75,000 when my credit was poor and my average income was less than $25,000 a year. Who in their right mind would lend me that kind of money? Only a lender who had no consequence for lending. This whole situation is completely absurd.

This is a family story. My daughter took loans to go to grad school and then got fired, inappropriately and unexpectedly, from her job. This was in the Bush era, and when the economy went downhill there were no jobs for anyone although she was well educated and very qualified (after two years of unemployment, and VA refused to pay benefits, she did get an excellent job). She and her husband split up, he refused to leave her home or pay the mortgage. Meanwhile the phone never stopped ringing for the student loan payments and housing foreclosure people. So my wife and I paid what we could – thousands each month. Now all three of us are deeply in debt, mostly because of her failed marriage and legal costs, but certainly due to the student loan episode also. Every penny that I make is devoted to getting myself out of debt, and my wife is in the same boat. My car is 18 years old; I would like to replace it but for now I am grateful I have an 18-year-old car to drive that is paid off. I am 71 now and looking forward to my retirement years and travel. But the only travel I will do for several more years is commute to work.

I had to take loans out to help my son get through college. I have somewhere around 58000 in loans, that I am having a very difficult time repaying. I have had them in forbearance many times, due changes in jobs (had to take a job with less pay), medical reasons, etc. I have been doing this since 2007.

I had to sign for a loan with state of New York and my interest rate is 8.5% The banks get the money lent to them at all most 0% yet we get gouged. They can write off the debt but I can't? Give me a lower rate if your going to make me live like a bum.

I received a ma in education in 1995. I paid out of pocket for my BA, teaching credential, and my MA degrees. In 1995 tuition at Cal State Northridge, which is a public school was approximately $500 per quarter or semester. In 2010-2012 in an effort to obtain a MA in English so I could teach on the college level, I have accumulated a debt of $35000. And I still don't have a degree. That is a lot of money! Especially for a public school education when people are not working and not making a good salary if they are. I lost my house because I lost my main stream of earnings, which was as a real estate broker, when the economy crashed. That is why I was pursuing another degree but was not aware of what a shambles the higher education field was in because of the privatization of education. I've had to move cross country to move in with my daughter because with so much debt I can't afford to live alone on my retirement income alone. I want to get the degree but I am afraid that I'd simply owe more money and still not get a job. But I already owe more money than I can ever pay off and for nothing. I HAVE NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT! I am in a tough situation possibly damned if I do and surely damned if I don't. I hang on to hope, as there is nothing left.

After working as a para-professional for twenty years and making less than $19,000 a year with 4 children I decided to go back to school. I had just become a single mother and found a degree job for $30,000. Once I received the job I realized that in order to keep this job I needed to get my degree. Over the next 15 years I accomplished my goal and earned a BA, degree in Human Growth & Development, a MS, degree in Special Education and a MS in Public Administration. Along the way I struggled financially because the money I received in grants did not cover all of the cost. I went to school in the evening and had child care costs. I had to student teach and needed to go to a part-time status on my job which led me to take out more loans to help pay my mortgage. When I finished my BA the bills started coming in and I tried deferring for awhile until I could catch up on my bills but I just could never catch up so I got back in school to defer payments. Graduate school came with a cost because there was no free loans only cash loans. Graduate school cost me over $40, 000 and by the time I finished school I was over $67,000 in debt in student loans. The the economy went downhill and my job put me on furlough. Now I had all of this debt and less income and the loans were due. Several loans have went into collection which has affected my credit rating and a few I have been able to defer. I thought getting a higher education would help me have a better quality of life. Instead I have been looking for work that will allow me to pay my debt but it has not happened yet and my student loan debt hangs over me. I feel defeated thought about getting back in school and get my Phd. but I am discouraged by what I have faced this far. It makes me understand why so many people do not go for a higher education it is like buying a home or some luxury car that is out of your reach. I thought getting a higher education was out of my reach but I went for it and did it but the cost has made me wonder if it was really worth all of the fustration and financial stress. Although, I feel a sense of accomplishment for finishing my education I also feel dispair that it really did not help me much but impact my quality of life.

I am a single mom who worked full time while obtaining my bachelor's in business in 2006, & I am now one class away from obtaining my master's degree-which has to be paid for in cash & I cannot afford that). I thought by me getting a degree, a better job would be easier to get. I never had trouble getting a job, with a degree, I would get better paying ones...right? Wrong! The economy tanked & I have been stuck in my same job. I have acquired $124,000 in student loans. I can barely afford to keep a roof over my 12 year old's head & was struggling along, making ends meet & barely escaping eviction because of my financial situation – I am living paycheck to paycheck. The student loans were in forbearance, but that term expired & they started to come after me. 6 weeks ago, I received a notice from payroll that student loans were going to start garnishing my check $260 biweekly! My son & I would surely get evicted! I called Them in tears asking if that amount could please be reduced because my son & I would surely get thrown out...I sent them prior months eviction notice before the garnishment, so WITH that amount, I would not make it! They said they had been trying to reach me, but could never get me. But, I had no money to give them, along with my other creditors. I was just trying to survive. They said there was nothing they could do to stop the almost $600/month garnishment, unless I filled out a request for hearing & send my bills to them (collection agency) & they send it to the Dept. Of Education for review & consideration of possibly reducing the bi-weekly payments. That can take 6-8 weeks. Until then, I just paid my rent $150 short and will have to miss a few days of work because I cannot afford the gas or commute. I can only get $50 food for my son and I for these 2 weeks. I had to actually go to a food bank to get some free food to help us make it. I have always been good with stretching my pay, but having $267 per pay taken out, has really crippled me & my son's lives. I hope we don't end up in a homeless shelter & hope the Dept of Education will lower my payments. I know I have to pay the loans, but I am just hoping they can work with me so that I can still provide for my son. At least until I can get a better paying job, which has been very difficult in these times. I am just at my wits end, but will rob Peter to pay Paul because my son is depending on me. This has been a total nightmare & I cannot believe how cold & insensitive these people have been. I am now looking for part-time retail work. I thought this Degree would assist, but I now wish I had NEVER gone to school at all.

Although, I am not a doctor, lawyer, or mad scientist. I have student loan debt that exceeds $100,000. How's it possible! Here's how. My subsidize $20,000 student loan was consolidated twice, and with each consolidation my loans became unsubsidized, and the inflation game was on. Now, to the tune $176,000. Sallie Mae, said it was me; we didn't unsubsidized your student loans, blame the other consolidating student loan broker!

Yes, people call me Dr. on occasion and the title was earned. There were many long hours of reading, plenty of time doing research and struggled with loops the institution puts one through during the process. In March 2008, my dissertation committee called me Dr. and the moment was surreal. Since then, the denial of payments has been in the forefront of financial decisions. Two daughters are in college, mortgage & car payments, life's expenses, etc. What am I to do? When is the right time to stop taking the deferment or forbearance? I am in the hole for almost $200K and when my daughters are done with school, the debt will won't have more zeroes but it will definitely be more. All I can do is shake my head. The American Dream to be a college graduate, own your home and the picket fence can be achieved but the price attached is daunting. It seems there are detached promises.

While married (I divorced in 1995) and mother to 3 I began studies for my BS degree in 1991, at 40 years of age. I wanted to begin studying and hoped to go on to obtain an MSW degree. I worked hard and did graduated in 1996 with a BS in Sociology from Suffolk University in Boston. I had $44,000.00 in student loans upon graduation; I felt that I would be able to pay off these loans over the next 10 to 15 years. After all, I just wanted to work and take care of my 3 kids. When I began working after graduation I was earning 22K working for The Boston Public Health Commission at Woods Mullen Homeless Shelter. I slowly realized that I would not be able to make any sizable dent in my student loan so in July 2000 I left public health and joined the forces of a large law firm. I remained there for 1.5 years until illness forced me to take leave so I could undergo treatment, (48 weeks), for Hepatitis C. I had benefit time to last 4 weeks, but after that time I wasn't earning any money. I did file for SS Disability and was eventually approved (1+yr after) and received about 10K in disability funds. However, by this time I was so behind in all my debts and also student loan payments. I did eventually return to work (2003), but at a very low paying job, so once again I was not able to keep up with the payments. Fast forward to 2013, and my balance is approx. $58,275.25, and I am nearing 62 years old. I'm looking at having my SS benefits garnished when I do decide to retire. Since 2005, I have been all my monthly payments, but my balance does not seem to reflect that. I'm really scared for what my life will be like when I retire, (which I'm in no hurry to do), and I must say I have less than $20,000.00 in my 401K. I appreciate being able to share my story with you. I'd love to speak more about this if the situation arises.

In 2008 I received my PhD. While this was a proud moment, it came with a loan of over $160,000. While some may say I was foolish to take on such a loan, the institution I graduated from had continually assured me that I should be patient, and that I would find a job that would make having such a debt worthwhile. Indeed this justified their charging me an outrageous continuing fee while I was writing my dissertation. At the time I was not using their library or taking classes as I was living in another state. And, I was discouraged from taking a leave of absence – even while I was in the process of adopting my daughter and starting a young family. I have not been able to find a job in my field. The best I could find was an offer for a job paying 40K, which would require me to live away from my husband and daughter. It does not make sense to risk not moving my family when the chances of getting tenure seem so slim. After giving up on the job market, I have started my own business doing editing. I enjoy the work, but I barely make enough to pay back the nearly 1K/month fee for my loan. Every time I get a request for a donation from the institution I graduate from it feels like a combination of slap in the face and being laughed at. We would like to move to a town with a better school district so our daughter will receive the education she deserves and would value, but this is beyond our financial abilities. My husband and I need to do repairs on our condominium but have not been able to set aside money for this. I am unable to save for retirement. I believe in the humanities and higher education, but the cost for participating is unfair, to say the least.

I have student loan debt exceeding $53,000. I am at retirement age. Unable to pay bills so I am filing for bankruptcy. I am filing for bankruptcy so I can attempt to make monthly payments. I am underemployed, once a teacher, now a paraprofessional due to budget cuts and teacher layoffs I am hard-pressed to make payments. Help!!

I am fortunate enough to have had my father pay for my undergraduate education, yet I am on my own for graduate school tuition. I will be paying off my Stafford Loans for the ten years after I graduate – while also likely struggling to establish my career in my fields of yoga instruction and dance/movement therapy. I am sure that this struggle will greatly influence my psycho-social well-being during that period. Therefore, for myself and others who will face similar challenges, I emphasize the importance of fair and effective legislation on this issue. Washington, we're all stepping up to the plate, now it's your turn to.

I went into bankruptcy in 2007. The loan payment for school was never paid it was put on hold for payment. Now the 7 years are up and no conformation of the amount due, I had maybe less than 40k in loan. Soon I will find out the damage because I just got the finalization letter of bankruptcy. This will be a wake up call to the game of money.

I graduated in 2000 with about $25,000 in college loan debt which I am still working to pay off. (Just about there.) The debt has been a yoke around my neck.

I attended a community college the first two years of college to keep my debt lower. When I attended there was still such a thing as money granted for doing well on the MEAP testing. When I transferred to a four-year college I was able to live off-campus to save money instead of creating more debt to live in the dorms and be required to be on an outrageous meal plan. When applying for federal aid I was not granted enough money to pay for tuition. My senior year of High School my dad was laid off and my mom was a full time teacher. She was trying to help my brother (two-years older than me) and I through college. She had to work several other jobs as well as both my brother and I working to be able to afford tuition. Even though I was able to take measures to not rack up a lot of debt I still have over $20,000 in college loans. I obtained a degree in secondary education and the market for teaching is horrible and very little pay for beginning teachers. I pay my small private loan every month and currently am on an income based repayment plan, in which I do not make enough to pay any each month. Even when I worked 40 hours a week at $8.50 an hour as a front desk clerk I still was in the category to pay nothing back. This plan is convenient for me know, but I know it will not last forever. THE GOVERNMENT MAKES COLLEGE SO EXPENSIVE AND A NECESSITY TO GET A GOOD JOB THAT WE BECOME SLAVES TO THE SYSTEM IN ORDER TO REPAY OUR DEBT!

I owe just under $60,000.00 in student loan debt and I am not even done trying to acquire my Bachelor's Degree in Secondary Education. Since the cut off in federal aid is that amount I am paying the rest out of pocket. I do not have assistance from parents. My parents lost their house when the economy went into recession. I pay my own bills and live with my husband on our own. He also is paying on student loans and has not finished school. We are both terrified to try and get further loans of any kind because we owe so much already. This has made us postpone many life events, such as marriage, which we finally just did for under a grand because we couldn't afford more. We rent because we cannot buy a house with our debt and current low paying jobs. We have put off having kids because we don't want to be another strain on the welfare system. But, we are getting older, and we want kids so badly. We may have to look into what kind of assistance we can get if I do get pregnant. Its not how we wanted or intended this to happen, but what else are we to do. School is not cheap and we are not from wealthy families. Had we of had knowledge of what we where getting into when we started college things would be different. We were never made aware of available scholarships and grants and where not told how much aid money we could pull out or what our interest was until it was to late. We were just told to file a FAFSA and hand over the money to the school. The most I was ever told was that my payments would be $50 a month. Naively, I kept pulling out more aid money. I am not done with school. I am cut off from federal aid. I do not dare pull a private loan to finish school so I am stuck barely paying for one class a semester with eight classes left because I can't afford more when one with three credits when the class is a little over a grand with added fees and the added insult of textbooks that cost half that much. Five hundred dollar text books I could try to sell back if they didn't require a new edition every semester. My parents are getting older and I am terrified that we will have to help take care of them when we can barely take care of ourselves. I already help my parents out once and a while financially with prescriptions they must buy. My dad has now had two hip surgeries, one to fix a botched one and now can no longer work. My mother is legally blind. I simply feel like I am on a sinking ship with a giant rain cloud over my head that is fastening my decent. I was a kid when I started taking out these loans and I was straight out mislead on how to handle them and what my options really were. I am smarter now but I cannot go back in time and fix my mistakes. All I can do is pay for them now. I just never expected the cost to be so high. This is not just my story. Almost eighty present of the students I know are in that same sinking boat I mentioned. We are a whole generation drowning. We don't want to be burdens on the future. We don't want make the decision of food on the table or paying the student loan bill or having a beautiful baby snuggled in your arms or forgoing the opportunity of parenthood so we can pay our student loan bills. And, don't get me wrong, I know I made an agreement to pay my loans back and I would like to, but how? Interest rates double and anything paid means nothing. I can't afford to keep up on my medical bills because I am trying to pay for school. My actual health is suffering all so I can get through school. All I am hoping for is for the government, lending agencies and schools to realize we are more then a wallet. I and many other fellow students where never educated about and were straight out lied to about what to expect and what they were really getting into. All we ask is for a fair shake. We just want to live. We have long since realized that the American dream will not exist for us. It would be nice if they stopped adding insult to injury by raising interest rates. It would be to much to ask for loan forgiveness, I know. But how about a little compassion for kids who where just trying to better themselves and have found themselves practically starving and almost homeless trying to pay on our debts.

I lost my job in Jan. 2009. I subsequently had to file bankruptcy and lost my home of 24 years to foreclosure. At that time I owed $56,000 in student loan debt, partly my own and partly parent loans for my son's education. I have been unable to find employment despite three years of constant attempts to find work in or out of my field (architecture). Last year when I turned 65, I decided to consider myself retired. In 2012 I won a raffle through Sallie Mae and they forgave $23,000 of my loan debt. The IRS treats this as income and as a result I had to cash in the last little retirement account I had to pay the tax bill. Currently I live in low-income HUD senior housing. I am in an income based repayment program on my student loans and my required payment is $0 because my income is so low. However, the interest rate is 8.5% on my loans and the balance keeps rising. The current balance is $37,000 and after 25 years the debt will be forgiven, but then, at the age of 90, I will owe a huge tax bill on the ballooned student loan balance.

I thought a Ph.D. would provide a comfortable lifestyle with a savings for retirement, my own home, a new car and pay for my child's education. Instead, the prime years of my adult life were spent struggling to pay off student loan debt. Since graduating 24 years ago I lived from paycheck to paycheck. Now I'm going into my retirement years without a savings or a home. In reflection, earning a Ph.D. was not worth the time or money.

I just started my 3rd year of graduate school, and frankly, I am terrified of what my loan debt will be when I graduate. A friend did the math and she said if we were to graduate right now our payment would be $800 a month! In some states, that is more than a house payment! I'm scared to see what my payment is going to be when I do graduate!

When I first started college in 2002, I was battling anxiety, depression, and panic attacks and ultimately ended up suffering from bulimia nervosa for three years. I was a full-time student and a yoga instructor part-time. I accumulated over $100,000 in federal and private student loan debt over the years, mainly due to the fact that I was barely surviving and not fully understanding the severity of my student loan debt. It wasn't until after I graduated in 2009, as a single mother to a newborn boy, that I began to understand just how difficult my life was going to be after college. My son and I live in subsidized housing because I cannot even afford to rent an apartment, because of my entire student loan payments. We also rely on food assistance from the DHS to keep us alive. All of my income goes to paying my living expenses (which are government subsidized) and my student loan bills. Fortunately, my father is helping me pay my loans because I am also a part-time graduate student and cannot afford to work outside of the home. I work from home and home-school my son, who is now 4 years old. I started my own business in 2012, selling yoga videos and writing instructional yoga books. I am pursuing my Master's in kinesiology, first of all to add to my credentials as a yoga instructor, but mostly, to keep a majority of my student loans in deferment. My son and I are fortunate enough to qualify to build a house with Habitat for Humanity, so, we will either begin building with them this summer or net. We just signed a contract with them and are very excited about this unique opportunity to give my family some autonomy and freedom from government control. It sure as hell would be nice to have had a clean slate when I graduated from college, though, so I could afford to purchase my own home and actually contribute financially to the growth of my local economy. With my student loan debt, that will never happen. I just pray that my son never has to help me pay off these loans after I die.

My loan debt has caused me tremendous mental, emotional & financial hardship. I'm in a manic depressive state caused by this debt. I am a widow, living on a fixed income provided by SSD. I am Bipolar & struggle with back problems from a car accident. I'm not always aware of things I do, where I am, decisions I make, etc. I loose time and sometimes find myself somewhere that I don't even know how I got there. I am fighting to keep my house right now & am even considering filing for bankruptcy. I feel like I'm fighting a loosing battle. I'm ashamed to say this, but I don't even remember applying for the loan. It was right after my husband of 32 years died from brain cancer. I have no recollection of almost anything for over 5 years after he died. No matter how hard I try, I can't get ahead. I was counting on my measly $500.00 tax return from the state of Michigan to help me with some medical bills. I just found out it is being garnished to go towards my student loan. I have been hospitalized for being suicidal in the past. This has not helped with the shit that's happened been in my life. I'd like to see what they could get out of me if I wasn't around any more? That would be a big Fuck You from me to them!

I am 32 years old, have 2 associates degrees and $60,000 in student loan debt. I work full time as an RN and declared bankruptcy in 2009; and I am still drowning financially. One quarter of my pay goes to child support, and half goes to rent. I have never owned a home or a new car. I can't even begin to consider paying my student loans making the wages I do right now, and I am considering moving in with a parent 2000 miles away in order to start paying on my loans.

My daughter got her degree with the help of government student loans in the hopes of a career as an architect. After her sophomore year, the economy turned and the job market to architects dried up, so she changed to a different major and prolonged her college education. I signed for half, she signed for half. There are 60,000 in student loans that accrued, totalling $575 a month. She is not able to find work in her field and makes about $13,000 a year, so I am paying the loans. She can't afford a car or rent, so can't live on her own and we share rides to work. I have ruined my credit trying to pay my bills and these loans, if it isn't Sallie Mae on my answering machine 5 times a day; it is someone else who didn't get paid because SM is up to date. My property taxes are a year late, and I keep thinking about what I could do with ~$600 more a month. I went to college; paid my student loans, make a good living. I felt there is no better investment to make with my money than on my only daughter's future. I feel so defeated.

When I was 26 year old in 1979, I finished paying off my undergraduate school student loan. I'm telling you this so you don't think I'm some kind of irresponsible freeloader. Every job I held, after undergrad, required no more than the bachelor's degree I had earned, between 1971-75. During the late '90s, educational requirements were changing for the licensed social worker, mostly due to insurance company, third-party payer and state accrediting agency "increased standards." Increased standards required further education, in my case, a master's degree. Not holding a master's degree would not only exclude me from promotion, but, also, it would bar me from applying for a better job. The deciding motivation to return to school to earn a graduate degree came when I was informed that I could not keep my job, if I didn't also have a master's degree. I HAD NO CHOICE: I was forced to go to graduate school or lose my job or step down to a lower-paying job that would not provide for my dependents and me (I was caregiver to my elderly parents, at that time). Therefore, in 2002, at 52 years old, I began my graduate school education, part time, while continuing to work full time. At first, I tried to pay for school out of my paychecks, without borrowing any money, because I did not want to create a debt. But, school costs were so high that I discovered my job's earnings weren't enough to 'pay-as-you-go,' nor were employers willing to wait around, indefinitely, for me to more slowly acquire the MSW they said I needed to continue working in my field. I HAD NO CHOICE: I had to borrow money to complete my graduate studies. Six months after graduation, when loan payments became due, I began requesting and was granted forbearances to the maximum number allowed. Also, my MSW, while it was required of me, failed to provide me with the higher salary I had expected because that's what I was told I could expect. Consequently, I couldn't afford to make payments on my student loan with Sallie Mae. Then, their collections people, Michigan Guarantee Agency, began threatening me with garnishment of wages. I HAD NO CHOICE. I decided to pay what I could afford: $25.00 per month. And, that's what I've been paying them, every month, for the past few years. My credit standing is crippled by the delinquency of loan repayment reported by Sallie Mae, and I have a $70,000 student loan hanging over my head for the rest of my life.

I do not have a personal story to tell about my own student loan as I never tried to get one. I did see the results of the GI bill that was enacted after WWII. It educated the returning soldiers and many of them went on to become the leaders of our country after they graduated. The investment in their education paid dividends many times over the cost. I think it could be even more beneficial if applied to our current generation.

Well between my wife and myself we are 80+k in debt with student loans that can't even produce jobs in our chosen fields. It seems that the propaganda that is the educational system, should give loan refunds for a market and system that can't back what it sells. It feels like we were pitched and promised high-speed Internet, yet really only received a telegraph with morose code.

My story begins in 1980 when I entered the University of Michigan as a freshman. I put myself through college, on loans and working full time. It took me two years to declare myself financially independent as my parents were billed for part of my educational expenses but did not pay them. I received grants during that time but had to come up with the parental portion of my tuition myself. When I finally was independent, I only received loans from there on. I graduated with my BA, worked a low paying job for several years and then went on to grad school for my MSW, hoping to gain access to a better paying career. I of course accrued more loans in the process. Marriage came soon after and I worked 3 jobs supporting us as my husband finished his PhD. I raised 2 children after moving across the country to a place where my MSW and training were dead in the water (adult psychotherapist in Salt Lake City...no one went to therapy there) and had to change careers in the midst of a divorce – more debt for nursing school. Throughout all of this, there were years where loan payments were put on hold due to lack of income, raising kids on one income, etc. Now, I have over 300,000 in loans accrued – much of it from interest. I am 51 years old and each year my loans gain another 10,000 in interest. I will never be able to pay back my student loans during my lifetime.

I grew up in a house where my brother and I were told we could do anything, that there was no limit to what we could achieve, that we should let nothing get in our way. Unfortunately, the thing that I saw as the way to all this has actually ended up being the greatest hindrance on my life. I went to a private college in Minnesota and graduated with a total of $50,000 in student loan debt. With my shiny new degree I went to meet the world head on, but with few jobs in general and even fewer in my chosen of field in teaching, I find myself, going to a job each day not because it makes me happy, but because I have to pay for that 'golden ticket' to happiness, which has ultimately caused me to close the door on my dreams and aspirations...for now anyway, because I remember that my brother and I did grow up in that house where we were told we could do anything, that there was no limit to what we could achieve, that we should let nothing get in our way.

I am just finishing up Grad school in Education. I am a Nanny, and I make pretty good money, but I pay more than $1200 a month on student loans and should be paying about $1700 a month. I went to ASU for my undergrad and graduated in May 2007. After college my student loan debt from ASU was $180,000. After college I had my first job and got laid off 6 months later. Since then I have been a Nanny. I decided to go back to school to get my teaching license and my Master's in Education. My student loan debt is at $210,000. Which is crazy! I have mostly private loans from ASU, which totally suck and they are awful companies. For Grad school I only have Fed loans. I am in the IBR program for the Fed loans. It is very stressful. My parents were suppose to pay for half of my undergrad. When I graduated they were going through a divorce and three years ago my Mom was diagnosed with Stage 4 Breast Cancer. I am still renting a townhouse with my boyfriend, but there is no way I could buy a house with my debt to income. My only debt is my student loans. I feel like I can't enjoy life such as travel, shop or thinking about a wedding or babies because of my student loan debt.

As a single mother, I was working as an entrepreneur to pay off over $20,000 in student debt. As my business income would vary, I would have to take deferments for periods of time, and then try to catch up when my income was better. With the economic collapse of 2008, I was no longer able to sustain my business and closed it in the spring of 2009. I decided to return to get my Master's in occupational therapy, and was only accepted to a program out of state. Following my 2 year program, I am now $140,000 in debt, and finding that my entry-level positions will pay only $60,000 per year. I have a daughter entering college, who luckily received pell grants and scholarship money for music. When the pell grants end next year when I become employed, I am not sure how I will finance her education. I am finishing my final internship and looking for work, finding that I will have to move again to find a permanent position. I am currently in Minnesota, where the entry level positions are casual, part-time, or on call – which will not pay for my family or my loan payments. I have sacrificed to complete this degree in order to be employable, but I now fear that I may never earn enough to pay my student debt in my lifetime. I also need to buy a car and hopefully in my future a house. I don't truly know how this will ever work out for myself or my family.

Returned to a community college this year, and I have already accrued over $4000 in debt for only 2 classes! I am seeking a 16 credit course/certificate for Communications Studies. Then I am transferring to 4 year college to complete my Bachelor's. More debt added to more debt. Doubtful if I will employment in this field, out of work for 11/2 years as of 2011. I have never owned a home or purchased a new car – at my age of 53 years old, with more debt probably never will. The Sequester /Federal cuts have reduced my unemployment benefits by 89%!!!

I have been a commercial artist since 1968. When I was 50, ten years ago, I realized in order to remain competitive, I needed to go back to school to learn computers. Now, 10 years later, I have a web certificate, and seeming no chance of a job in spite of my 4.0 GPA. I still have a $14,000 loan that takes all of my freelance income. At my age, going for a degree seems redundant. I don't have a car or bike and my house is falling down around me. That is where my income would go if I didn't have a loan to pay for.

I was a stay at home Mom for 20 years. To try to make up for the "Lack of work experience," I went to college. Because of my location and situation I chose to do online courses. I majored in Computer and Network technology, and after graduation I was unable to obtain a position that used my degree. In the mean time I had loans totaling $30-35,000. Four years ago we lost our home, three years ago my spouse of 30 years decided to walk out and I was laid off (again). I finally found a job for less then what I made before, less hours and no benefits, and still not using my degree. Thinking maybe it was to broad a subject title I have chosen to go back again to school for a business management degree. Thus far I have increased my student loans by another $10,000. My loans have been in deferment since I graduated the first time in 2007 and accruing interest. I will never be able to afford a new car and will have to rent for the rest of my life.

I got a GI lone back in 1973 I think it was for about 1900.00 and because we were so poor at that time with 5 in family that the lone was forgiven and told that there would be no payback so after I got through school got job and went on with my life we never heard from anyone because it was wrote off as far as we new so we never heart about it again was never on any of my credit reports never showed up at all even got GI lone for house later and other credit for things and now some 35+years later some collection agency has come after me for this loan and they say I owe 9000.00 now with interest and now I am on SS and do not have enough to hardly live on but they do not care I am trying to get out of this now and they are trying to make it hard as they can is that fair you think about this

I have about $65,000 in student loan debt. I expect to be paying this off for several more years (I'm 34 now). Unfortunately, I have no one I can blame for my student loan debt but myself, but when I was young and naive and 17, I clearly didn't realize how crippling it would be for my future hopes. I went to private school because it was a Christian school, and at the time religion was a big part of my life, but I now regret that decision because of the debt load I took on to go there. I have been fortunate to be well enough employed as to maintain a decent lifestyle, but I do have rather poor credit, have always driven cheap ''beater'' cars, often worried/stressed over money, and feel a bit of despair at the prospect of having this debt for life. It has definitely prevented me from living the life that I want, traveling, having a decent amount of savings, giving to charities, furthering my education, investing, etc., although I'm better off than others who live in true poverty, or can't afford school at all, or who are finishing school with very little employment prospects after paying the current exorbitant rates for tuition. Other countries have somehow kept these costs manageable. Can the U.S. try to learn how to rein in student loan debt? I'm not optimistic about the future of the U.S.

My story is simple and yet somehow very complicated. After I graduated college with a BA in social work I was unable to find a career or even a job where I could earn a modest yet respectable living, instead I found jobs that paid enough to pay the daycare lady. "In order to make more money, a livable wage, I would need a higher education." So at 45 I am starting all over, no retirement, dependent on social support services; health insurance and food supplements. I was told that the people that make in this world are the people that go to school and work hard. I have done and continue to do both. I do not see that as being true. I went back to school to get my Master's degree hoping to find employment in my field. I now have over $100,000.00 in school loan debt. Six months after graduation my school loan payments will become due and are expected to be about 800.00+ a month. I highly doubt as a 45 year old, recent graduate that I will be earning enough money to pay my rent, bills, food, childcare, groceries, and health insurance AND be able to make my school loan payment. I am a person that understands how social services work, both from a social worker/ social services perspective and as a recipient. I understand why people in need get stuck and I desperately see a need for change. Looking back my contributions could have been much greater if the rewards for higher education were more practical. I would have had the job with insurance, saved for retirement, contributed to social security, and taxes, helped others find their way. Instead, I became a super smart client, a dependent of my state's services. While I am grateful the supports were there, what I went through, what every person goes through to receive said services is depressing and crazy making – for starters. It has become obvious to me why people get stuck. I am not sure what will become of my family and me once I am finished with school. The debt is overwhelming! The last thing I want is to remain a recipient of a welfare system because of Higher Education DEBT!!!!

I borrowed totalling $5000 federal guaranteed student loans from between the late 1970s until 1982. I just can't believe that I still owe $14,000 when I have been making payments. Some years I did ask for a deferment because I couldn't afford to make the $93.00 payment monthly. $5000 to $14,000 (was more) 30 plus years later and I'm still paying. I am old now!

I graduated with an undergraduate B.A. in elementary education and went straight on into a Master's program for education finally graduating in 1999 with an M.Ed. and $53,000 total student loan debt. I moved to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi immediately upon graduation to help with my terminally ill father and found the first teaching job I could. It only paid $23,000.00 a year. I was a single mother with ailing elderly parents trying to live on this amount of money. There was nothing left over each month to make a student loan payment, so I began the great downward spiral known as deferment and forbearance. As I was unable to pay my interest on these loans, the interest began to be dumped back into principal on a quarterly basis. This was something I did not understand when I took out the loans. This was something the ramifications of which I could not fully grasp, but it began the "end" of me financially. To make a long story short, my loan began to grow exponentially. My salary did not grow proportionally. The cost of living also increased and my salary did not grow proportionally. I was never really able to reach a point where I could afford to make a monthly payment. After 10 years of using the forbearance/deferment provisions that Sallie Mae ENCOURAGED me to use in order to keep my loans out of default, I then owed 179,000.00 because of compounding interest into principal. So here I am almost 15 years post graduation. I owe 200,000 on my student loans. I have held a job consistently all that time working in a system that underpays me and blames me for all the ills of society. The little $10,000 "loan forgiveness" the government is offering teachers in title I schools is but a mere drop in the bucket to my mountain of debt. I am currently in chapter 13 bankruptcy. I still get no ultimate relief from the student loan debt from this measure, but I do get 5 years on a bankruptcy plan where my trustee pays the Student Loan folks a pittance and they leave me alone. When the bankruptcy is over, I will go into Income Based Repayment, but even at that, I will have to pay $700 a month on a debt that will not be forgiven for 25 years. I will be 80 years old at that point. I am ruined financially. Before the bankruptcy, I could not get a car loan, a home loan, or a credit card at a decent interest rate because of my extremely high debt-to-income ratio due to the loans, The fact that I had these student loans forced me to have to pay MORE money for the basics of life, like my mortgage and transportation. If the student loans weren't enough to bankrupt me (which they were) the other increased debt I had to assume simply due to the fact that I DID have so much student loan debt WAS the tipping point in bankrupting me. The system was set up to exploit people like me. The student loan folks don't make their billions of the little "low interest" student loans they offered. They make their millions off of the folks like me who took on debts they could barely afford to pay by offering these folks a "system" by which to avoid default by dumping that interest into principal each quarter. I now owe almost 300% more than I borrowed. What a profit ratio for the bank!!! What a racket on the American public.

I'm too old to be paying these enormous sums for deciding to go back to school and fulfill a dream I put off for over 20 years. It took a long time to get a Ph.D. on my own with only childcare funds coming to me while I worked for it. I did it while raising a daughter. Now, when I decide to retire, I'll be collecting social security and paying it right back to the government in student loan payments. I've taught only in land-grant, government backed universities and helped a lot of students with my experience and expertise. I think these loans should be called closed after a long time of taking huge chunks out of a paycheck that's not that big to begin with. It also makes me crazy to think that these loans are sold to super wealthy business/industry conglomerates. Are not "we" supposed to be the Government in a democracy? At the risk of sounding maudlin, the rich get richer and the striving keep striving.

Even when I was in school I paid on my student loan. Even if it was only a little amount. I wanted to get my doctorate in education, but had to give up because I owed too much in student loan for my BS and MBA. I struggle each month to make my payments and still pay for some living expenses. I am unemployed and have used up my savings to stay afloat, but approximately $1000.00 a month in student loans is choking me and I do not know what to do next.

I was a single mother of three not receiving child support. I decided to go back to school and although I was awarded the pell grant every semester, I had to support myself and kids while I was in school also. I did this to try to better my situation and take care of my children better. When I graduated school of Cosmetology I realized making money in this industry was not as easy as I thought it would be, still struggling financially I took a job outside the industry. My student loan debt is 35000.00. I met my husband who's ex wife had no credit when they were married and he got everything in his name. They filed for divorce, and when it was final they agreed he would keep all items since he had all debt. Divorce was final, he was at work and she cleaned out the entire house and took the car and moved to LA. He couldn't find her and with nothing to sell to pay off debt he had to file Bankruptcy. His debt is 78,000.00. We married, and his debt was not discharged in bankruptcy. So we had to start paying on our loans. They total about 600+ a month. Plus we have car payments, 4 kids now, he pays 800.00 a month in child support and we rent. It is hard for us to get ahead. We started the Dave Ramsey plan to eliminate our debt, but with over 100k in student loan debt it feels never ending. We can't save for a house and we feel under this debt indefinitely. My husband does not use his Master's degree because he makes more money outside of the degree he was awarded. We just want to feel an ease in our debt so we can provide better for our family. Soon my first child will go to college while I'll probably still be paying on mine.

I live under a constant cloud of worry due to my astonishing student loan debt. I went into debt with both my family and myself knowing nothing about the borrowing process or how to avoid being taken advantage of. The school told me I had to go through loan entrance counseling, which I did. However, it did very little to elucidate the true consequences of borrowing, the differences between private and federal loans, and the steps I would need to take after I graduated and had to begin paying the loans back. Yet my parents couldn't afford to send me to college, I was suffering from several medical conditions and could not work (I had a hard enough time keeping up with my course load in this regard), and all I kept hearing was that if I didn't go to college, I had no future. So I took the loans. I *begged* for the loans. Anything to get me through university. Now I've got over $100,000 worth of debt, a degree I can't find a job for, a job that doesn't pay me enough to push me over the poverty line, and a line of private lenders who will do only the bare minimum (if that) to help me pay back my loans. And I do want to pay them back. I don't need a 'get out of jail fee' card. I just want a payment plan that is manageable, that isn't making me live paycheck to paycheck, lose sleep, and borrow money from my parents (who really can't afford to lend it, as they will be entering retirement soon and need every bit of income they earn) who are driving themselves nuts right along with me trying to keep my head above water. I have to justify every dollar that I spend. I am 24 years old, and I can't see a future for myself anymore.

I have over 70,000 in student loans between my husband and I. I come from low income family my mother was a teacher's aid and my dad did odd jobs. In my community there where not many jobs and my parents have a high school diploma raising three kids. My mother always preached the importance of education. So I graduated and received scholarship to play basketball at small community college. As much as I loved the game, I finished one year and struggle with do both. Still unsure what I wanted to do I went one more semester and quiet and did what I enjoy and went to cosmotology school graduated and work for seven years longing to get education. Now married with a son and struggle with both rent and just trying to make it and not ending up like my parents. Married now with a son and both self employed no insurance. I am my parents so I talk my husband into go back to school and we both finish and have went back and got our Master's so I fill very blessed for our education and I broke the cycle along with my husband twin brother and old sister we all have college education insurance and monthly student loan payment. It is rough to pay every month but I have broke the cycle and I feel my children will have it better then me and hopeful will not have student loans because I'm more educated and have educated him as my mother did on get education and studying so college won't be so hard for them. I've made education important and they also see and hear me talking about money student loans and how I can't do everything cause I have loans that have made my life better but also limit me and create lot of stress. Finally you don't get to pick and choice where you come from you just do the best you can. I can't help or fix the way my parents raised me or what they choose to do. All I can do is improve my life and my family's life.

My story started with going to a for-profit college and not knowing what that meant. I went to what was called allied college now called anthem all under what use to be called high tech institute now called anthem education group. They are changing the name to stay ahead of all the pending lawsuits due to fraud they commit the classes and the degrees mean nothing to anyone anywhere on this planet. I wasted so much of my time and now I owe over $60,000 to this place. They tell you the classes transfer and I find they don't even transfer within the school that makes me want to scream. My wages are garnished plus a pay a lawyer for another private loan that I was told I took out. The worst part is last month this law firm sent out a mass mailing to find hidden accounts I might have. What happened next was horrible and most don't know this is now become common practice. After the mailings go out to all financial institutions and they have located an account they take the money and now mind you this one account was not in my name but in my uncles name he had for me. It was a cd he had gotten for me in 1980 because it didn't not have pod which stands for pay upon death they were able to take, now I pay them $50 a month and another $350 from my wages. I will be dead before it's paid off and no one cares. I've thought about suicide several times just to get out from under it and get away from the embarrassment of knowing I went to this school its like being raped and have to replay the nightmare over an over in my head. I will never have my own home I'm over 40 years old and living with my mother. So if there is anyway to stop these schools I would like to know because I can't get my own state rep or anyone here in MO to help. This is consumer fraud in the highest. Thanks for reading this

I originally borrowed $50,000 to attend two professional graduate seminaries, one in Missouri and one In Oklahoma. I chose to attend graduate school because it was, in my opinion, the best pathway to success in the church as a professional minister/pastor. I was wrongly accused by my cousin and the church for child molestation and sexual abuse of my cousin. I could not prove my innocence and lost my ability to pastor and to make money, which caused me to default on my student loans and go through bankruptcy. I also went through a divorce that cost me over $100,000 in lost pension funds and paying off my wife's and family debt. My business failed. My health failed. Then for years I was underemployed and could not afford the exorbitant amount of monthly payments demanded for my student loans. Now, what started out as $50,000 in consolidated debt is over $400,000 and counting! Help! I'm drowning!

My story begins during my undergraduate years when I took out some small loans in order to fund my education. During subsequent years I had obtained a brief forbearance in order to suspend my payments. Later, I again took out loans to fund my graduate education. Following the completion of my training I was unable to find employment for some time so I again obtained forbearance. At that point I had failed to realize that only my initial forbearance was granted without interest accrual, additional periods would not be free of interest. I then realized what a problem this would be as my student loans ballooned far beyond the original loan amount. Later, although I had obtained employment some illness limited my ability to engage in work full time. When I began repaying my loans the capitalization of interest was actually outpacing my monthly payments so my loans continued to balloon far beyond their original amounts. At that time interest rates had dropped significantly so I contacted the Federal Direct Loans agency, with whom I had consolidated all of my loans, to determine if I could renegotiate my interest rate. That is when I discovered a second major hurdle to repaying my loans, the fact that once consolidated interest rates were not negotiable. I took it upon myself to accelerate payments in order to reduce my principal to the point where interest would not be accruing at a greater rate than my payments. Despite several years of repayment, at this point my loans are still near the amount I had originally borrowed. The fact that I've not made significant progress despite all my payments is disheartening to say the least. I'm not typically one to carry regrets but one clear regret at this point in my life is funding my education through student loans. If I had to do it over again I wouldn't. The benefits that those loans have offered have not been worth the disputable financial gains of a professional degree, and certainly are not worth the stress that my ongoing financial burden will cause me well into my retirement years. The large monthly burden of those loans significantly impairs my ability to save funds for my children's education. They have also indefinitely postponed my ability to save for retirement. Obtaining a higher education has traditionally been viewed as a route to improved financial security. I do not believe that this is the case any longer. Instead, it has become a new form of indentured servitude – service to the aspirations of our parents that their children have more financial security than they did, service to our own dreams for life long satisfying careers, and service to organizations that are reaping huge dividends from obligations formed during times of financial vulnerability. Obtaining higher education should be about the fulfillment of dreams. Instead, it has become a nightmare about trailing crippling debt and burdensome regret for the rest of our lives.

I graduated from law school in 1998 with a $60,000 student loan – I specialized in domestic violence & family law – for people with little or no income – after practicing for 10 years – 100 hour weeks & little sleep & little money – I lost my home & had a nervous breakdown – then tried to find a job outside of the legal profession – but the recession had eaten up even minimum wage jobs – Now with interest & penalties my student loan is – $166, 762.28 – NCO Financial Systems Inc. is trying to attach the little wages I have – $131.32 a week gross – I have no assets to speak of & no savings & live in a low-income studio apartment with my two dogs – the idea of living on the street here in Montana is suicide – others with unpaid student loans are struggling with families to get by – what else can I do to help get this bill passed?

I paid off my student loans in less than ten years. I am an 'old guy'. But my children are selecting colleges based on finances more than on learning opportunities. Many schools have priced themselves out of the market. And I believe we are Upper Middle Class family. We put money aside in 529's for most of our children's lives and have enough to send them to an in state Public institution. This is ridiculous. Our economy depends on education. Yet we do not pay for it, at any level, like the best of our competitors pay. If we want to be No. 1 we are going to have to tax and spend like No. 1.

I could never afford to pay my bills, student loans and take care of my child. I never went on section 8 housing, and tried to keep a position that had benefits to provide health care also for my daughter and me. I never defaulted on the loans. Most of the time, I had to work 2 jobs just to pay the bills and still could not make a living. I have never had a new car – they have always been at least 10 years old. I am now 54 years old and have remarried 10 years ago. We bought our house and I was just starting to pay on my student loans (which are now 65,000) I was just laid off my 9 year job May 3, 2013. So much for paying on the loans, I am not sure how we are going to make the house payment now. It will be harder for me to find a position at my age and I really do not believe I will ever be able to pay on the loans. I was never able to obtain a position in the fields I chose for a career and feel I was screwed by the last college where I studied – another story for another time.

In 2001, I graduated from ITT Technical Institute in St. Rose, LA with an Associate's Degree in Electrical Engineering. I had the incredible fortune to have graduated with a two-year degree in a tech field right as the tech bubble of the 1990s burst. I was located a job, however, for various reasons, it did not last. Afterwards, I found myself in a flooded job market, with a premature child, and no way to make more than minimum wage. Left with no choice, I participated in what has to be one of the less dignified practices for an increasing numbers of my generation, I moved back in with my parents. I bounced from job to job there for a while, continuously putting the student loan debt, originally around $12,000, into deferment before finally finding a place as a security guard. I began then being able to repay some of the now $15,500 loans, when Hurricane Katrina and all of its happiness struck. My wife, now two children, and myself found ourselves heading north to live with her family in Montana for a bit. I was able to again find a job in security at a local mall, but the pay was nowhere near the $18 an hour I had been making at the shipyard in Louisiana, so once again, the loans went into deferment. After five years of wallowing in the cut-rate wages of Montana, I decided that the only thing left for me to do was to return to school. I am currently enrolled in Rocky Mountain College as a Computer Science major chasing after a Bachelor's Degree while trying to maintain enough hours to feed my second wife, my now five children, and myself. I have no idea of the total of my current student loan situation as I am quite frankly scared shitless of seeing debt piled that high, so I try to ignore it simply so that I can continue concentrating on completing my degree without the added stress that number would bring.

I have made the decision that this year all of my money is going to go toward student loans. I will set a side $40/month for gas, $20/month for food, I will not devote any of my funds for little luxuries, travel, entertainment, savings. I will devote the rest of my paycheck to my student loans. My original loan has ballooned from $50,000 to $55,000 with 70% daily accrued interested. My interest rate at one point was at 14% and there was nothing I could do about it. I wanted to buy a new vehicle, the bank would not loan me out any money because I already owned my loan company too much. I am living to pay off my loans. They are private loans. Please, try to avoid private loans, they will feel like they are sucking out any effort you try to make to improve your life. You will feel like your goal in life is to make that loan payment on time and for nothing else. It is very hard to enjoy life when all of your money goes to loans. At times it make me very depressed. I regret signing my life away at 18. I had no idea, my parents had no idea. They co-signed on my student loans and are still paying for them. I am so sorry I got them involved, I wish they weren't still paying for my two year associates degree. I want to go back to school to get a degree that helps people. I'm afraid I may never get to do that because not only do I owe so much money, I owe so much in interest. Its a bad uninformed decision I wish I could take back.

I lost my job to the recession in 2008. Although I was paying my own way through my Ph.D., I had made the mistake of asking my parents to co-sign a private student loan through Sallie Mae to get me through the first years. I had no idea that this was akin to making a deal with the devil. When I lost my job I lost my apartment and most of what I owned. I had to pay over $1000 to break the lease. I had to move in with friends, and was kicked out when I tried to work out a compromise for lower payments while looking for work. The stress of being an adult in my 40s who was basically homeless and unable to find work even with a Master's degree took its toll. I couch-surfed to a friend's home in California and while there was treated for severe thyroid problems. Despite dozens of applications in two states I found no work. I had no insurance and was too sick to concentrate on returning to school, though I tried as a long-distance student. When I had worn out my welcome in California and had qualified for Unemployment, I couch-surfed to Ohio. My thyroid became worse and I underwent treatment, including heart medicine and other pills. The stress of finding no work and abandoning my doctorate was horrible. Then my student loans came due. I soon learned that there is little to no mercy for people like me who have no resources and are caught in a recession. My parents are in their 70s. My dad has cancer. They began to receive letters regarding my payments. No amount of working with Sallie Mae kept them from wanting ridiculous amounts of money. I finally found work as a college instructor and eventually taught at three different colleges at once as an adjunct. If you know anything about adjunct teaching it is low paying, and most work – preparing lessons, grading papers, reading essays, etc. – is done for the institution for free, on the instructor's personal time. I was exhausted, but I had to pay $500 per month. There were times when I could not afford the payment. I had to borrow money to make ends meet for clothing, medical payments, and transportation. The calls and letters from Sallie Mae caused my parents to view me differently. When I earned my MA and was accepted into the doctoral program they were proud of me. Now I heard words like lazy, selfish, and uncaring. My mother tearfully asked if I wanted to see her and my father living in the street because of loan payments they could not afford. A terrible rift developed between me and my family that has never been fully repaired. I wanted to kill myself many times but I could never do so knowing my debt would be borne by my parents. Depression has yet to leave me. Sallie Mae has continued to raise my payments. In 2009 I moved in with my partner and her three children. I have helped raise the younger two boys ever since. But Sallie Mae threatens our stability with outrageous payment demands. We made the painful decision for me to move to Nevada in 2011 when I finally got my first offer for full time work with health benefits, solely due to a connection I had there. I had applied to so many jobs I had about 5 versions of my resume, some with the doctoral studies, some with the MA or just the Bachelor's. I was desperate. I cried half the way to Nevada because we couldn't afford to move together. I've been in Nevada ever since. I make $15.27/hr at a call center. I can't afford to finish my doctoral degree, despite only needing to take the comprehensive exam and embarking on the dissertation. I make about $1100 per paycheck. My partner and children arrived in 2013. My son grew tall and his voice changed, all without my being there to witness his transformation into a man. He understands that I came here for the work. My partner understands that I worked three jobs at once in Ohio and will work 20 hours of overtime per week here at the call center so that my student loan has the least amount of financial impact possible on my family. But the stress is unnecessary. It was caused by a broken and merciless student loan system that doesn't care about families and mental health, and doesn't care about recessions and the dearth of jobs. I now am paying $720 per month. I will never this loan off. That is a fact. I will never afford to finish my degree. I will never buy a house for my family. My life will be about robbing Peter to pay Paul. If I survive my parents, which I pray I go to spare them the fear of losing everything they own, my stress will lessen because I won't have to worry about them financially. That's an awful way to think of the end of life, but that is where I am. I hate that we ever discovered Sallie Mae. They were so eager to have us sign for these private loans, and I was so thrilled to start the journey toward a rewarding academic experience and career. My hopes have been dashed and the light has diminished for me. I hope and pray for the bailout received by the thieving banking institutions and the help received by so many homeowners. This would allow me to amass a savings account, invest in a home for my family, and contribute to my parents' last years.

I have a daughter who spent 8 years in college and obtained a Master’s in Biology. Here in Nevada, she can only find a part time job at all colleges. There are no benefits. She makes about $1600 per month and has a $40,000 loan. She can only afford to pay the interest on this loan. To get a Teaching Credential for High School, she would have to go back to school and spend another $10,000 in addition to the loans she has! That is simply out of the question. So she is in limbo like so many others in this "lost" generation. SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE TO HELP THESE KIDS!

The debt makes me feel like I went to school later in life for no reason. I enjoyed school would continue with a Master's and maybe a PhD but the cost keeps me from even thinking about it. No one cares, the rates are sky high and I know I will go into default and screw my family. What a waste.

In 2003 I encouraged my wife to get her degree. University of Phoenix seemed like the best way. Five years later she has a multi-Master's degree in Business Administration, Human Resources, Marketing and Public Administration with a GPA of 3.97, student loan debt of about $160,000 and the best job she can find pays $11.00 per hour. Her background is spotless. Not so much as a parking ticket and has never bounced a check. I really don't understand why. But, if I had to venture a guess I would blame most of this country’s problems on the top 2%. America is much like the Golden Goose and the wealthy have forgotten that a Golden Goose that is not fed will produce no golden eggs. They also forget that when taxes on the rich were high, they were still able to get richer because the average person earned a living wage and bought cars and homes and all the other stuff the rich want to sell.

I attended graduate school in order work for the public interest. I graduated in 1988, had two children and a husband at the time. I worked as a waitress to help pay my school expenses. I accumulated approximately $34,000 in student loans. I got a job earning $10.00 an hour after graduation. I consolidated my loans with Sallie Mae, but ended up defaulting due to my husband's (now ex-husband) unemployment and my low salary, and the refusal of Sallie Mae to base my repayment amount on what I could afford based on income and expenses. The Higher Education Assistance Foundation (HEAF) added approx. $10,000 to the principal of my loan after I defaulted. Therefore, the 10% interest on my loans accumulates on a $44,000 principal amount, even though I only borrowed around $34,000. Throughout the years I have paid what I could afford. The collection agencies throughout the years would call and make threats to me such as, "you should drop dead", 'you are scum", ‰'you and your family/parents should die‰' etc. The collection agencies refused to agree to an amount I could afford based on my income and expenses. For over 20 years I provided my financial information to the collection agencies. Despite all the payments I have made, my principal has never gone down, and my loan continues to grow. The Department of Education has tried to garnish my wages twice. In 2009 I filed for bankruptcy. Of course, this did nothing for my student loan debt. I work for a non-profit organization. I do not get raises; and due to health insurance costs my income has actually decreased by $2,000 per year. My student loan will never decrease because 10% interest compounds on $44,000 every month. Bankruptcy would have been the only solution if it was available to me. I will never, at 56 years of age, be able to pay this loan off or make enough money to live on and pay it back. I have been paying for over 20 years. This is a ball and chain around my life. I have put up with horrible abuse and threats from collection agencies during the past 20 years. I have all the paperwork to prove it! There should have been a way to pay back loans based on a person's income back when I graduated in 1988. The new IBR is not available to me because I am in default. The DOE claims I currently owe over $120,000!! Even if I could afford a house, I would not be able to have any property in my name due to this situation.

I have two bachelor's degrees and a teaching certification and because my parents didn't have the money to pay for my college, I went entirely on financial aide. I currently have almost $80,000 in student loan debt and pay almost $600 a month. My wife is even worse off. She's got a masters degree and owes over $130,000. We pay more, collectively for student loan payments each month than we do our mortgage! We're both teachers so it's not like we're making tons of money and we have no opportunity to pay more that the minimum on the loans so they are not going anywhere for a long, long time. We'll literally be retired from our jobs and will be still be making student loan payments. And my payment is going to increase this summer if the interest rates go up. It is ridiculous to think that two public school teachers owe over $200,000 for student loans and just bought a house for $120,000. Something has to give. We need help!

I myself have to-date paid back 24% more than the original amount I borrowed to go to college, but because of compounding interest and exorbitant consolidation fees added to my principal, I still owe the Department of Education more than double the original amount. People want to pay back FAIRLY what they borrowed, but the system seems, as Senator Warren puts it, rigged against us, making it impossible especially for those who are struggling financially but are making every good-faith effort to pay it off. What is needed is a reasonable cap on the total amount paid back over the original loan amount. Most, if not all, new proposals for student loan reform just kick the can down the road – making things better for future student borrowers but do nothing for all current student loan debtors (whether for private or government-backed loans), many of whom, like myself, have already paid back well over the original loan amount and are still paying off huge amounts of that capitalized interest compounded to principal. The total amount paid back ought to be capped at a reasonable percentage over the original loan (e.g. no more than 10% or 15% over). How much return/profit ought lenders (federal or private) of student loans make? 100%?! 200%?!! Is this in line with the original mission of the student loan program? If any new legislation would include removing retroactively all compounded, capitalized interest (from public and private loans), that would be a start to restoring fairness to the system.

Here is my web site about the horrible effects of Sallie Mae private student loan I was manipulated to use when I went to student at Full Sail University. Hi! My name is Alejandra, and I am a 25-year-old, single woman still living at home. Why? Let me paint you a picture of my life as a victim of Sallie Mae private loan. First, if you do not know much about Sallie Mae I will explain. According to The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S. History by Alan Collinge, Sallie Mae, the dominant student loan company in the U.S., was initially a government-sponsored entity until it was privatized in 1997. Its success stems from its large lobbying influence in Congress and its extensive university agreements whereby schools profit when their students borrow from Sallie Mae. Fortune magazine called Sallie Mae the second most profitable company in 2005, and its CEO topped the list of highest paid CEOs in D.C. As of 2007, Sallie Mae's top two executives together made more than 500 million. Universities often have "preferred-lender" arrangements with the universities and receive kickbacks. The national average interest rate is 12% for private student loans. Student loans are the only type of loan in U.S. history to be non-dischargeable in bankruptcy. They are also exempt from statutes of limitations for collection, usury laws, Truth in Lending, and Fair Debt and Collections. Borrowers wanting to consolidate their loans must use the original lender, if there only was one, giving them an iron grip. Further, only one consolidation is allowed, even if other firms are willing to take over. I wish I knew that when I walked into the Financial Aid office at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, to continue studying my passion in Recording Arts. The Financial Aid officer told me that I could only take out a private signature loan because I could not get any scholarships since I was not a Florida resident. (I am from New Jersey.) They had a Wells Fargo loan and a Sallie Mae loan, but the Financial Aid officer said I would have more benefits with Sallie Mae than Wells Fargo. So as a new 18-year-old passionate student ready to learn, I signed the Sallie Mae form to help toward my tuition and living expenses. I have a loving, hardworking single Mom, who is a phenomenal teacher, brought up my sister and me by herself and faced her own challenges along the way to make ends meet. My mom helped me out as much as she could with living expenses, such as food and small bills. Upon graduation, I received the information at my exit interview for financial aid, and I was in shock! I knew I had to pay my bill, but I never dreamed how they took advantage of me. I have paid $30,897.00 since 2008 and my balance has only gone down a few thousand dollars. Between the capitalized interest and interest on top of this entire balance is a killer! I have never been late, nor have I taken out forbearance when I was laid off because the interest would have been worse. I still owe $66,000.00. I work full time, earning less than 30K so most of my salary goes to my student loans, both private (Sallie Mae) and public (Federal Government). What was even worse, I was a victim just like the rest of my town of Little Ferry, NJ where we weathered the wrath of Sandy. My Ford Explorer, 6 months ago to the day, was floating in 5 feet of murky water along with the other 40 cars in the condo complex parking lot, where I live with my Mom. So I lost my car and now I had to get another one. So between the car payment, insurance and student loans, it has been difficult. I am a hard worker and very positive. I have set up a website with pictures of my documents because I do believe this would be included on a class action lawsuit. I will be 26 on July 4 and I am still living at home. I really need financial help. Any help from anyone, would be a blessing!

I am 54 years old and I do not expect to ever own a house or a car, nor do I want to. I had returned to school 8 years ago while I was working at a good job at a bank. I was doing quite well until our department closed and we were transferred to another department. A year after the transfer, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and I took time off for treatment. During that time I was harassed by Sallie Mae for payment even though I was on disability. To make a long story short, I was eventually terminated from my job, after taking a second leave to get treatment for depression. While I was recovering, I did manage to go through a training program for Massage Therapy. I was collecting unemployment during that time so all my student loans were put into deferment. Anyone who receives unemployment knows that it is required that you accept any job that you are trained to do whether you are paid the less than your previous job. Well, I do work as an independent contractor and my income varies each week. Right know, I can't pay the 134.50 a month that Sallie Mae is asking for and they are threatening to put my student loan in default. I don't take threats to kindly, especially if they are empty threats. I have to make at least $217.50 each week in order for my wages to be garnish. They even threaten to take disability if I should ever have a cancer recurrence because as they say, they will be able too. Also, they have threatened to take my mom's social security to satisfy the debt. My mom co-signed for me on a private student loan. My mom is 84 years old. I will never own a home and I will happily rent. I owned a car for five years and with the maintenance, registration, and parking tickets, I rather rent and take public transportation. Sallie Mae will threaten you even if you don't have an income because as they say you took out the student loan. You owe $46,000, you're going to have to pay or we will default your loan and put you in litigation. Don't get sick or don't lose your job. They believe it is their right to take from you because they are the government and they can. Excuse me, I thought this was America. So now that they threatened to put my loans in default, I'm just will wait and see what happens. I'm sorry but I refused to be threatened, coerced or be made to feel bad because I can't afford the loan but Sallie Mae doesn't see it that way.

In 1993 I wanted make a difference through art and couldn't qualify for any grants because I was told I made too much money at $10 an hour as a single 19 year old female working as a teacher's aid in a school for kids with learning disabilities and autism. I dropped to part-time and qualified for non and federal loans. The college I attended misled me – and in retrospect I am certain was getting a kick back from Sallie Mae. No one in my family went through college so I had no one to guide me and educate me on how loans worked. The academic adviser suggested I take as much as I could out for four years. I graduated in 2000 with an BA in Art and over $50K in loans – which I must add I worked part-time and paid some out of pocket, had I had two/three scholarships. Over $50k for an Art degree? I had to defer for awhile until I could get a job and Sallie Mae continued to tack on the interest which got up to over $70K – I made payments when I could and it all went to interest and not principal. I wasn't able to find work that could pay the bills so I went to graduate school and I got an MA in Marriage and Family Therapy and an Art Therapy certificate. I was awarded the President's scholarship each semester (one and a half years) to waive some of the tuition and I worked part-time too. I graduated in 2004 and I remained over $76K in student debt. I worked with Alzheimer's disease in a non-profit agency and as a rehab art therapist at $22 an hour (this was in the San Francisco Bay Area – one of the most expensive areas to live in, I could only afford to rent in the poor housing sections with high crime). While I was working at the Alzheimer's Association I made payments over the amount required and I received a letter from Sallie and Nellie Mae telling me to stop making payments because I was "ahead of schedule". They told me not to pay for six months. I was confused and not sure why but assumed they knew best. Well, my student loans were going down and after six months of not paying because I was told not to – my balance went back over $76K. I was furious. It's been since 2000 that I've been paying off over $76K of student debt, and in 2013, after consolidating in 2007 – I see no end, as it is still over $74K. I'm at a loss. I am angry; I work in Alzheimer's disease and make over $300 payments for the past ten years. Something is seriously broken in this system. Kickbacks, corruption. I have a BA in Art and an MA in therapy and art therapy... working to support and trying to end a disease that is also breaking this country. Politicians getting kick-backs along with CEO's, academic higher ups, and other diseased decision makers are making millions of dollars – our country is broken and seriously, disturbingly sick. I'm in a profession of a human disease and my only debt is a corrupt student "loan" that should have been more than half the amount and paid off years ago. This is my story of student debt. When will it end? Never...unless congress fixes the corruption. There is NO way my loans should have EVER been this much.

My first mistake was buying into the myth that in order to get ahead in this country one must go to college. At 18 years of age I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. They say that its okay to enter college without knowing what you are going for because you will be sure to find something appealing. So I took on my first student debt loans and embarked on a twisted nightmare. As I sit here today at the age of 27 I am still enrolled in school one class short of earning a B.A. in history with my graduate school looming as I try to become a history teacher. I have over $120,000 worth of student loan debt and the life ahead of me seems hopeless at best. I work up to 18 hours a day at two jobs just to make ends meet. I don't own a car and I still live at home with my parents with absolutely no foreseeable way of obtaining independence and starting a life of my own. I pay upwards of $1500 a month towards student loans, add on to that my small amount of credit card debt, phone bill, and the dismal health insurance I pay for each month, I barely break even with just enough disposable income to buy a cup of coffee each morning. I am one missed day of work, one illness away from falling behind on my debt obligations. I literally cannot afford to get sick. The stress of my crushing debt makes me lose sleep. I cannot enter into any meaningful personal relationship that may lead to marriage with a clear conscience. I feel it would be irresponsible for someone else to take on my personal struggle with debt themselves. In summation my student loan debt has crushed any dreams that I may of once had of traveling and experiencing different cultures, having a wife and kids and a family of my own, buying a house or owning a new car. Everyday is a stress filled struggle to make ends meet. College, I was told was the key to economic and social mobility. However; the reality of College and paying for it has set me so far back that I see no way of achieving any meaningful life achievements until I'm close to 50 years old. College was not worth it and everyday I regret making the decision to enroll in higher education.

I quit High School in 1975 and joined the US Army when I was 17. I met my wife after my discharge from the service and worked at a number of retail jobs, my wife often worked as a waitress. We always wanted higher education and as our children were growing up, decided we would each go to college one at a time in the evenings – my wife went first. She completed her Master's degree and is currently post doctorate and then I went next back to school in the evenings and recently completed my Master's in Social Work and passed the License exam to practice Social Work in my state. My wife has a great job at a state college and while I am currently unemployed I have three interviews this week and two next week. As a result of my level of education I am sure I will get a decent job and be working in the next couple of weeks. I am grateful that at the age of 55 that I am even able to attain interviews when I look at others my age. However, we have a combined total of $200,000 in student loan debt that we will be paying until we are in our mid 80's. Our student loan payments are over $1,200 right now and consumes about a quarter of our take-home income every month. While we are grateful to have our education and the opportunities it has brought, we are straddled with student loan debt until well past normal retirement age.

Acquiring students loans was the only way for to go to college. I came from a one parent working family. Dad work nights and mom was a stay at home mom to take care of the kids and house. I have been paying my loans now for over 5 years and feel like I will never be able to buy a house for my son till I'm done paying these loans off. Cost of living seems to rise and my pay really doesn't help to keep up with rising costs. Student loan debt is the worst thing I could have chosen to do but it was the only option at the time to pay for higher education!

In 1984, I had the American dream in NJ. I developed low back pain and treated at a local chiropractor who cured me. I was so impressed, my wife and 2 children left the family, friends, job, and home, to learn chiropractic in Davenport, at the prestigious Palmer College of Chiropractic. I only had to borrow $20,000 from the GSL and upon graduation in Dec of 2012 I had three children and left Iowa with nothing. In 1987, I interned with an existing chiro practice in Mass while trying to develop my own practice in RI and had to go on forbearance because I could not afford the monthly payments and now with 4 children and a wife who could not work because she had to take care of the kids while I was working at various clinics. The stress, and financial difficulties, bankruptcy, and mounting debts led me to declare personal and business bankruptcy and in the end, loss of my wife and children of 19 years who divorced me and had the marriage annulled due to lack of due competence which means failure to provide a decent living situation. I now had child support and more deferments on my student loan, which was increasing with interest to a tune of $28,000 even though I was paying what I could over the last 25 years. My loan with the Dept. of Education GSL was consolidated by Sallie Mae and I have been paying monthly but at a reduced rate because I was unemployed over those years working FT/& PT in 4 states for 20 different chiro offices. My American dream quickly turned into the American nightmare, and, it is still going on after 25 years of erratic work history, 2 bankruptcies. one due to a business failure, the other due to a medical bill That I could not afford to pay and personal debt and child support payments. So, In 2013, I still owe about $28,000 and make monthly payments to Sallie Mae at $188/Mo. I am currently unemployed and t the age of 63, very few chiropractors call me for office coverage or to work as an associate, due to age, too much experience, or whatever. I am not blaming the system which was good enough to give me a small loan at the time, I did become a chiropractor and helped hundreds of people feel better in 4 states, but I lost my family, my own clinic, and my American dream and, I am still trying to pay of a debt that is going on 26 years. It has been a tough life.

Currently saddled with over $700/mo. in Student Debt, and unable to find employment in my field, in hindsight, my choice to return to higher education appears as a 'risk not worth taking.' That is a dysfunctional, tragic phrase to apply to higher education, or education at any level; in my opinion, a significant factor in the decline of Western Civilization in a number of areas. My student loan has resulted in a decline in my life style: Unable to purchase a house, and grinding work out month after month underwater, where the American Dream is visible only in refracted and distorted form. I'm a rarity, in that I returned to Higher Education in my 50's with the goal of increasing my employability, and my 'marriageability,' by increasing my chances to be a reliable source, if not a beacon, of financial stability. The $700/month debt burden that I currently face for decades plus, has meant a forced return to non-academic fields for survival, and one major step backwards in terms of financial stability. The cost of education and the system to repay loans is symptomatic of a have/have-not arrangement that perpetuates itself. The names Freddie Mac and Sallie Mae may sound benign, but they are carcinogens inducing overspreading malignancy for those of us trapped in the cancerous body known as our student loan system. There are a zillion solutions to this, the most obvious one being repayment based on ability to pay, or as a percentage of net income. Why does the U.S. have the most feudal system in the world when it comes to funding education? The answer is blowing in the wind.

I went back to school to get my degree at the age of 40, and of course, I had no other choice but to take out student loans, in order to get my degree. I received my online Bachelor's degree in Business Management from the University of Phoenix in 2006. I incurred a student loan debt totaling 37,000 plus dollars, and I received a bill from my lender a month after I graduated. I reached out to them to let them know that I couldn‰'t afford the required payment, and they offered me the graduate plan, in which I'm still paying up to this date (05/06/2013). I already had a full-time job, a home, household obligations, plus others bills I had incurred, and two children to raise. I did go back to school online in 2008 for one semester to get my master‰'s degree, but after one semester I quit, because the online course was more tremendous than the bachelor‰'s degree program, and I knew my debt would be more than I could actually afford once I was done. With me going for one semester I incurred an additional $5,000 to my 37,000 plus student loan debt, which totaled over $42,000.00. I have been paying the graduate plan amount for 7 years, and I've only seen a 1,000.00 difference off the principal amount. Every month when I go to pay my bill I get depress, because it seems as if I'm paying towards nothing, because the amount that's applied to my balance is so minimal. I don't know if I will ever be able to afford the regular amount, because I now have to prepare for my youngest son to go to college in the year 2015. I don't know if I will be eligible for any parent loans, being that I still owe so much in student loans and in other bills. My first born son went to community college by choice and he has incurred over $17,000.00 in student loan debt under his name. His loans are now in deferment, because he couldn‰'t afford the payment. It's been hard for him to find a full-time job, and there were times he didn‰'t have a job. So, hopefully he will find a full-time job that will help him pay off his student loans, being that he's still at home, and he doesn‰'t have huge obligations yet. I just pray that someone will hear the cries of the many people who are struggling to pay these student loans and give us a helping hand, by changing the laws in order for people like me and many others. We need to be release from these agonizing student loan debts, especially those who have been paying them for the last 7 years and up. I guess I will be in debt with student loan to the day I die at the rate I am paying them. And I guess my debt amount will be triple when my youngest son goes off to college, at least until he is able to take out loans in his own name. I can already see he will be leaving college with a tremendous amount of student loan debt, because school costs today is totally ridiculous. It‰'s a shame the children of today, have to endure so much debt, before they even start to life. What happened to this world? And what happened to the people in it? I know that God is not pleased with the greed and unjust that‰'s being done to the people who are not as fortunate as others. No child should have to leave college owing over $200,000.00. This generation of kids will never be able to purchase cars and homes, because their credit will already be overextended, especially if they can‰'t find a job that will meet their obligations. Thank you for allowing me to tell my story. And I am so glad; we have people out there like you that are proactive in trying to address an issue that has plague many of us for decades.

When entering college I was not eligible for financial aid due to my parents’ income however they did not make enough to help me with taking out loans. Some of my loans are federal with low interest rates and affordable monthly payments. Unfortunately it was not enough to cover the cost of the tuition of the private college in NJ that I attended. I then was forced to take out private loans for the rest of the tuition. I had established credit due to a car in my name but it was not enough to keep my interest rates low. When graduating I was $80,000 in debt with my highest interest rate being 14.5 %. After 6 months I was required to starting paying. When I contacted Sallie Mae they informed me that my monthly payment for 15 years would be 1200 per month. I was unemployed and unable to afford such a high payment so I increased the number of years to 25, which lowered my payment to 850 per month but increased my overall payoff to over 200000!!! I am now making a wonderful salary and working for the state of NJ but the challenges with my loans continue. I luckily am able to afford my monthly payments but currently have to wait on buying a house due to being unable to pay both my loans and a mortgage at the same time. I have reached out to many banks to consolidate into one lower interest rate because my credit is significantly higher then when I applied. While conducting the search the programs for private loan consolidation are few and far between. If I continue to pay the monthly payment for the next 25 years I will be debt free in 2036 at the age of 49 after paying 211000 in total on the 80000 balance that I originally finished college with.

I obtained a private student loan for our daughter in 2007 for $31,000.00 in her freshman year with agreement not to repay until six months following her graduation. During her sophomore year I obtained a government loan for $15,000.00 with agreement to start repay in April of 2009. Government loan is $139 month and started repaying private loan in 2012 with monthly beginning at $457 but increased to $458 within 3 months. I believe this will continue to increase as rates change. Government loan will be repaid in 2018, and private loan will be repaid in 2037. For a $31K loan my total repayment for private loan will be $132,000.00, if I live that long. I've been without a full time job since 2009 but have found periodic contract assignments and collect unemployment. I was able to lease a new car in 2010, but lease expires 2013 and feel when applying for new car will be denied since private loan is now in affect. Loan repayment is astronomically high, specifically for private loan! Children are encouraged to go to college by parents, schools and society if they want to make it in this world. But if you're not fortunate enough to obtain a significant scholarship, grant or benefactor to help pay for it, the children of our future will suffer. This country's reputation as being one of the highest powers in the world will diminish. My grandchildren are on the cusp of graduating from high school and I fear for their future as well as the millions of others who cannot afford higher education even though they want to attend!

There is a story that no one seems to have interest, and that is the millions of parents who took out student loans for their children to attend college. It was my expectation that my daughter would secure a job that would enable her to assist in the repayment of the over $150,000 loan. It was also my expectation that as a PhD, I would have full-time employment that along with my daughter's job would allow us to make steady payments on the student loans on her behalf, which does not include the loans she had to take out. Well I remain underemployed, only able to secure part-time work, and my daughter, although she has recently secured full-time hourly employment it only allows for a payment plan for the amount she owes. To make matters worst, during her final semester her father was diagnosed with cancer, and she was being tested for breast cancer causing an emotional downward tailspin resulting in her not successfully completing her studies, which makes her job prospects for a decent paying job that more challenging. The loan in my name is now in deferment until September 2013, but as a sixty-two year old, I am leery about my job prospects in this economy, leaving me extremely anxious about my future with such a large debt looming. I really don't know what I am going to do.

I graduated college in 1987, when tuition and fees were less than $300 per semester. I graduated with less than $5000 debt with no interest until 6 months after graduation and then it was very low. I paid it off quickly. I considered it a commitment then, but can't imagine facing what our young people are forced to face now just to have a shot at a decent life.

What good is a community of people who can't seem to understand one another? Is this not the primary reason for "higher-learning" to begin with? I think Jefferson had the right idea when he created the first free public university; school shouldn't be an industry, it is (should be) requisite. As for my own loans story, there really isn't much to tell. School is necessary, and no matter what, governments cannot take back the knowledge I've gained. I think the major hiccup in schooling, is the fact that it's been dubiously hijacked by financial incentives, which is a symptom for the overall sickness of capitalism. This seems to me a stark contrast of economic governance, against democracy, it's paired policy partner. If the rules of corporations or financial institutions seem able to supersede law that is by and for the people, how then are these two governing ideas complementary? So then what's my story? I'm not worried about going into debt, indeed I hope for it. The way that this government has treated it's people so far, it seems to me due justice to tarnish their credibility as they don't look out for mine. We will always have the fertile lands on which to grow, and I can't see NEEDING much more than that as a nation, rather than pretend we NEED aide or trade with the rest of the world; though I do understand this would make things a little less cheery. I would gladly pay back – in fact feel OBLIGATED to the utmost – the loans in which I've taken out, if I felt that the current administration cared at all about doing their actual jobs of public servitude. Instead, I see politicians excited to take up such a charge as if they've won the lottery, rather than have taken on a great burden. There is much too much wrong with this current system, enough to be a bit neglectful of ones own responsibility towards a system that seem without constraint, or good conscious.

I went to college to improve my life but I was about 32 years old. I am an African American female. I worked many administrative jobs before that but couldn't make more than 20K per year. I had no children, never owned a new car or a home because I couldn't afford it before or after. Unfortunately I went to a very expensive liberal arts college. The only way I could do it was to go into debt because I had no savings. Getting my degree made a difference, as I was able to become a trainer in organizations and make more money. However, with the cost of living and my debt it didn't make much of a difference in me being able to buy a home or a new car. I'm 62 years old and I currently have 200,000 in school debt. It is a shame that I have spent a life living at the mercy of this debt but I was unable to file bankruptcy and I certainly need some help to pay it off. Thank you.

I'm a 62-year-old woman who does not have enough money for retirement. I was laid off my job and realized I needed to return to school to learn new skills and to help pay for my school debt. I earned a Bachelor's degree in 1998 but the debt was too large and my income, though it had increased, paid my expenses but was not enough to cover the debt. I owned a 2001 Toyota Camry with no anticipation of getting a new car for another 5 years or unless the car wears out. I owe almost 200,000 in student debt and don't know how to get out of it. I rent a home that I share and probably will never own one unless someone gives it to me. I am very frightened that once I receive Social Security they will take it from me and I will be living on the streets, as I have no children or spouse.

I was harassed for repayment while I was still in graduate school. Then when I finished my internships, several loan companies called me wanting payments, all totaling more than what I made in a month as a part-time adjunct faculty at a local community college. I was continually harassed. I sent in a few payments, less than what was asked for by some of the companies. I made sporadic payments and ignored most of the companies' requests because their requests for payments were completely unrealistic. A congressional committee closed the Air Force military base my husband was stationed at, so we had to move. We got another military assignment. Our mail was forwarded but nothing came about my student loans. My husband decided to retire from the Air Force and we relocated once again. It was almost 3 years later that I heard anything again about my student loans by phone. At that time, I was a stay-at-home mom because my children had special needs and required many special services. Again the demands for repayment were unrealistic given our family's single income. I told the company trying to collect that I would be unable to repay and was given instructions for deferment, which I followed. Then I'd be harassed again by the company claiming I didn't file a deferment or abatement. I gave up and ignored the company, as they seemed not to want to help. I did briefly go back to work for 2 years, and my wages were garnished for loan repayment. When I was fired, I was unable to repay my loan on our family's single income. I was later notified that my repayment would be taken out of our refund from our federal income tax. In order for my husband to get his share of the federal income tax refund returned, he would have to file an Injured Spouse Form. This form has given us back some of our tax refund. However, in 2009, I filed our tax returns. IRS returned them saying there was an error. So I filed a tax extension because I didn't want to rush in the last few days before the 15th to find the error. In the summer 2009, the IRS started sending us billing notices saying we owed them money for not filing our taxes. But the extension was still good until Oct 2009. When we got those notices, I read that since we had a refund coming back we had 3 years to file. I contacted the IRS with that info but was rudely told we still had to pay the fees, although the extension still hadn't expired. When more IRS notices arrived with increased fees and penalties, more calls about this, but each agent acted as if I had never called before. They still said I owed the money, even though I said we had a refund coming for that year and had 3 years to file. Now after all is said and done, the IRS has put a lien on our house that we are trying to refinance to lower our mortgage. We will also have to hire a tax lawyer to fight this tax issue. I now know our tax return was targeted because I owed on a student loan that is about to expire in 2015. Our tax return is targeted because my share of our tax refund is paid to the Dept. of Education for my student loan. Currently, I am handicapped because my total knee replacement surgery didn't heal properly so I can no longer sit, stand, or walk for long periods of time.

I have been out of school since 1991. I had $40,000 plus in debt when I left school. I got out of school in the fist recession, so I delayed making payment unit I got a full time job. I paid on my student loan until the great recession/depression of 2008. During the depression, I lost my job, saving and any professional dignity that comes with making money. I am starting to get back on my feet, but now my loan has once again grown beyond $40,000.00. The student loan sharks have not allowed me a reduction in interest rates. Stuck at 8% interest, I feel this debt with be with me until I die and beyond. As our county becomes more and more corrupted by money in politics, a bad economy and plutocrats buying the system, my only hope of paying my debt is death.

I came from a single parent home and therefore had to borrow money in order to attend college. Once I graduated, I got married and had a child. He was born with a deformed kidney and I was unable to work since he required round the clock care. I contacted the federal student loan office and told them my situation and asked if I could make a small payment until my son was well and I was able to go back to work. They said I could make whatever I wanted, but if it wasn't the amount they required, my loans would go into default. They did, and now my $25,000.00 loan is over $60,000.00. I went back to work and entered into their rehab program and made the required payments for the year they required. At the end of the year, my payment increased from $300 a month to almost $1,000 a month, which I couldn't afford, so they put me back into default. They seize my federal taxes each year and can't even give me an accounting of where it has been applied. With the taxes and what I have paid, I should only owe maybe $11,000.00, but with the high interest rates, interest and fees, I will never be able to pay them off. My parents told me that if the student loan program would apply all of the money paid and remove the interest and penalty, they would take out a loan and pay them off. However, all I get told is "that isn't how it works!" So they would rather get nothing than be paid in full. Something needs to be done.

When I was younger (I'm 58 now), I attended college and was able to pay my student loan back with the money I made. Loans were cheaper then and so was tuition. After raising four children, and going through a divorce, I reentered school – a graduate program in counseling. Although I did well, I worked only 1 1/2 years before going to another state to take care of my mother during the last year of her life. This happened during the recent bad economic times. I have been looking for work now for nearly a year and since I've been out of school and a licensed counselor, I have only been able to pay some of the interest on my loan. I haven't been able, even during employed periods, to touch the principal. The amount I owe has increased by 1/4 due to accumulated interest and I can't imagine how I'm going to pay it. The field in which I work has loan forgiveness and loan repayment programs for working in seriously underserved areas, (of which there are many) but there are not very many of these jobs to be had, and I have not been able to get one. I know the work I do is valuable to our society, even though it is not well reimbursed. While I'm commenting, this is a chance for me to say that the combination of very high education costs and a poor economy with high unemployment is a terrible bind for many people. I'm not too "lazy" to work at a grocery store or McDonald's, but if I did, I still wouldn't be able to pay my loan, the cost of which increases daily at 8%. My former husband and I are also paying on student loans for our kids. Personally, I would like to see the military budget dialed back and more of that money put in to investing in our own workforce, especially in the area of education. I don't see another way to remain an innovative leader on the world stage without that, no matter how much military might we have. It seems that our short-term solutions have completely hamstrung our long-term national security and health.

My student loan debt has followed me around since 1997. It has hindered me from doing activities with my family that might stimulate the economy in other ways, like going on vacation. I am an educator in an impoverished area and I qualify for student loan forgiveness in every way except for the dates I received my loan. Every year I call the student loan people and ask them, "Do I qualify yet?" and the answer is always, "No." Every time I defer or forbear, the interest is capitalized and they sock it to me by adding it onto my loan. I see young, trust-fund babies working in the education field for Teach for America and they are working in this impoverished area to repay their students loans. Why can't I do that? Because I didn't receive my loans in their time frame. Now, legislators want to take my livelihood if students do not improve their scores. If I am deemed inefficient then the student loan people will get me again and I will not be able to pay it back until I die. Is that what they are waiting for?

With great humility, honesty, and desperation I am writing to disclose my formidable and desperate financial situation. Since being a graduate student beginning in 1997 and receiving a Master’s Degree in 1999, I have been unable to secure a viable full-time job in my career field as a college English and reading instructor beyond 25 hours per week even though I have applied for numerous positions at various institutions. Now, I am 61 years old and I am becoming doubtful of securing a full-time tenured position in my field due to my age. I have accepted the fact that I will probably have to work to at least age 67 or older to ever receive a beneficial retirement check. That means each and every day I wake up with the fear and disappointment of my inability to pay my financial aid debt and as I continue seeking hardship deferments, the capitalized interest continues to put this debt further and further beyond my reach. Currently, I am barely making enough money to pay my basic frugal living expenses, rent and utilities I work as an adjunct instructor at community colleges and universities on a semester-to-semester contractual basis, and the pay structure in these jobs often leads me to four to six week dry pay periods between contracts. I never know how many courses I will be teaching until the semester gets under way, so I find it difficult to plan a budget ahead. By the time I get paid, I am facing bringing my rent and utilities current, so I have very little money for to cover other larger debts. I feel like I am on a financial tightrope 24/7 and 365 days a year even though I am a hard worker and my skills are productive to society. I am not alone in this situation. Many of my peers are facing the same circumstances as well. In my wildest dreams, I am unsure of how I will ever be able to pay this debt in my lifetime and yet, I am so grateful for my education. My education has given me the ability to view and experience the world in meaningful ways. It has made me a better citizen in many different arenas. My country and community are at the forefront of my being. My education has allowed me to support three children through their educations, and two of them are student loan free. The third child is working to pay off his student loans and I am trying to help him and his young family. Furthermore, I am a skilled, experienced, and effective college instructor who has touched many lives through my classroom teaching and dedication to education. I came through college under a documented head trauma disability, hydrocephalus, otherwise known as water on the brain, but I graduated with a 3.8 GPA and Honors. My teaching endeavors are focused on GED, ESL, Developmental Studies in English and Reading, English Composition and Literature, and technical writing at the university and community college level. In other words, I have taught predominately taught over six thousand vocational and second-language learners job skills to enhance their abilities to become productive members of society. If I were teaching these skills in a public education arena, I would be entitled to discounts for my education and experience for working with minorities. Instead, I am teaching immigrant parents so they can secure career-level jobs, relate to our cultural traditions, and motivate their own children to become productive members of society as well. I would also be given consideration for working with low-income students who are desperately in need of workplace skills to advance their situations. Instead, I am giving my all and still face financial student loan duress. So my dilemma becomes a choice between long-term continued services for the benefit of many or seeking early disability retirement to eradicate this debt and live without fear for the benefit of myself. I want to keep teaching as long as I am able because I have a great deal to offer students, but I will never make enough to pay this debt so it will hang over me as a dark cloud of indignity forever.

From the time I started considering higher education, around the age of 14, I realized the quagmire that existed with college education financing. So I planned ahead and worked hard to make sure that I had the funds to acquire the knowledge and take the classes I needed and wanted. It meant a lot of work, and a lot of sacrifice, but I am not under the yoke of those in society who are basically parasites, making their living off of the throttling of the public's efforts.

I am currently owing about $69,000 in student loan debt to Sallie Mae and the government, and I am not done with school yet. I have two more years of school to go, and by the time I graduate I will probably owe at least $100,000. I have no idea how I'm going to pay it all off in a timely manner without sacrificing things such as a new car or health insurance.

My story is that of the person stuck in the donut hole of teacher loan forgiveness. We tend to be the people closest to retirement – the people who have the smallest amount of working years left to pay it off – people who make perhaps $1,000 too much to really benefit from the other programs. You see if you took your first student loan out prior to October 1997 you are not eligible for the teacher forgiveness program. That excludes just about anyone over the age of 30. I have worked in the special education department at a Title I school for 9 years. Last year when I tried to apply for the forgiveness program I was told that I didn't meet the requirements because of one loan I took out prior to that date. I am 49 years old and I owe $51,000. I have been paying on this for the past 9 years and still owe the original amount. I will be paying on this for another 20 years because I am on the graduated payment plan. If I wasn't on this plan, I would have to pay about $500 a month on my $50,000 salary. I've had a 1% raise in 8 years and my benefits take 20% of this salary, so I can't afford a different payment plan at this time – and am really not sure how I will afford it when it comes. It's just frustrating that young people who have the rest of their career to pay this off get relief and people who have a limited of time left in the employment pool get no relief. I am writing my representatives and anyone else who will listen – hopefully we can get this changed.

I started repaying my student loans back in 2007. From 1992 until 2004, I accumulated over $90,000 in student loan debt, for both undergraduate and graduate school. I was always told that if you got a good education, it would pay for itself, so don't worry about the debt. But when I finished my master's degree, I couldn't find a job that would enable me to pay it back in any reasonable amount of time. I deferred repayment due to economic hardship for 3 years, and the only reason I could afford to start repaying is because I married and my husband agreed to pay half. But I cannot pay back on a 10 year repayment plan because they want over $1000 a month! I myself only bring home just over $2000 a month. So I am on a 25 year repayment plan, which means I will be repaying until I am 57 years old. At that time, my husband will be 68. We cannot buy new cars. I am currently driving a 1999 car, and my husband a 1994. Both need to be replaced but we cannot afford A car payment, and saving enough to buy even used cars is difficult. We were able to buy a house, but only because the mortgage was the same we were paying in rent. However, there is very little extra. We cannot afford to save for retirement or even pay off our credit cards. So, by the time my loans are paid off, my husband will be over retirement age and I will be close. But neither of us will be able to because we aren't able to save for it. And every two years my payments go up (a graduated repayment plan) but our income does not. And in the 6 years we have been paying, less than $2000 paid has been principal. We are mostly paying interest. We would be financially solvent if it was not for the loans. Had I known this is how it would be, I never would have gone to school. I never had anyone helping me pay for school, so loans were the only way I could afford to go. But it wasn't worth the price.

After my twenty-four year marriage ended, I knew I had to be able to support myself financially. I also knew my interests were in the field of social work and human services. I decided to pursue a Master's in Social Work degree from a private university I could commute to, but needing to work full time, I had to complete my degree part time over three years. I graduated in 1998 at the age of 52. I waited the amount of time they allowed to begin repaying my loan, and a couple of times I took a forbearance when times were tough financially. I also consolidated my loans quickly thinking that making only one payment would be easiest. As it turns out, those were both very unwise decisions. Consolidating when I did meant that I could never take advantage of lower interest rates tied to consolidation. I continue to pay at my original rate of 8.5%. I began with nearly $45,000 in student debt, and today still owe almost that exact amount, even after 15 years of payments. Today I am nearly 67 years old and know that I must continue to work as long as possible in hopes of qualifying for a student loan forgiveness program at age seventy one. Even this will happen only if I am able to have the Direct Loan people count the five years when I was paying under a payment plan which charged me at a higher rate but did not qualify under the forgiveness program. My mistake, I guess, but they knew as I was transferring my loan to them that I wanted to qualify for the forgiveness program. I feel hopelessly stuck in this mess. I wonder when I'll ever be able to retire knowing there is no way, short of the forgiveness program, to not be paying off this loan until I die. At least death cancels it out. Thank God!

I am a married with 2 children. My wife and I have been in each others lives since I was 16 and she was 14. Between the both of us our loans total over 200k. She has several degrees, BA in English, Law degree and a teaching degree, which is what she is now (NYC school teacher: Most of her teaching loans were covered). I have a Industrial Design degree from Pratt and I work as a Output systems Manager for Columbia University (not related to Industrial Design) Our salaries combined is about 125k, We both have good jobs yet we still rent an apartment and drive a hand-me-down car. This is due to school loans. We can help the economy by purchasing a new home or buying a new car cause mostly all of our money goes to school loans. I have been out of school for 14 years and I haven't even put a dent in my loan, it is actually more. Yes, I have deferred a few times, not because I didn't want to pay, but I couldn't afford to with the hourly jobs I had in the past (UPS, Temp work and Kinko's) There are other opportunities for my family in other states (NYC is too expensive, I want quality of life for my family ie: Home, good school, aftercare), but Columbia offers FREE tuition for my girls once they are ready to go to college or 50% off other accredited schools, so I am will to stay in a fixed position (meaning: there is no growth in this position) because we don't have a college fund for them and I don't want them making the same mistake me and my wife did. It is confusing to see some of my childhood friend that DIDN'T go to college, some don't even have a high school diploma, but they have homes (that they own) they drive new cars. They can do this things because they don't have school loans. I understand that I took the loan and it must be paid back, I am just saying stop the interest??? I mean, I feel like they have gotten enough already. Why is interest still recurring??? It is NO reason why two married people that did what our culture says is the "right thing to do" and we have nothing to show for it but school loans. This needs to stop!

I can barely make ends meet without student loans so I have to apply for deferments every year. One year my entire tax returns were taken because I was in default at the time and I rely greatly on my tax returns for car repairs and other necessities that I wait on just because I can't afford them.

I paid for my loans for many years, once my children went to college I was unable to assists them, however they always used my income and the assistance given to them was very small. my son just finish his Bachelor's and have been unable to find a job. he has not been able to pay his loan and the creditors "are having a field day." My daughter was unable to complete her degree, had a nervous breakdown and had to default on the loans. she can't even afford to finish a College education.

After I became clean and sober. I needed to address the wreckage of my past. When I first contacted the company who had my defaulted loan. They were anything but helpful. Down right rude. It was either there way or see ya in court. I was also struggling to maintain a steady job and the debt was overwhelming me. Jeopardizing my sobriety. In 2004 I was declared disabled. Guess who now takes money out of my fixed income, and it does not even get applied to any part of the loan. Every month I have to choose which prescription am I going to go without this month. How many times am I able to get to a food pantry or soup kitchen to eat (did I mention I am in a wheelchair?) I can not afford to meet the monthly minimum to get my loan out of default. I do hope some day to return to work. With out the ability to purchase all of my prescribed meds my health is always compromised. Therefore my dreams of returning to work are diminishing rapidly. Any help available I am noy qualified for because the go by gross amount of money not the net. Its just a horrible situation I see no way out of.

I graduated in 1995, attending college while raising 3 kids and ended by graduating Summa cum laude. I had no worries about finding employment after excelling in school. I could not find a job for two years after graduating. A few months later I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Now employed part time at two jobs, I took weeks off to get treatment and recover, but I continued to work throughout my treatment. I first had unemployment deferments, then, after cancer diagnosis, medical deferment. My interest on loans, which totaled under $11,000.00 at graduation, continued to accrue during deferments. I continued to work two part time jobs, and less than two years after first treatment, was diagnosed with a second breast cancer. Between these two diagnoses I had a lung collapse and it took many months to recover, after being hospitalized for 11 days. I currently work part time as archivist for our county historical assoc. (10 1/2 years now). My wages have been garnished for 4 years, but it does not impact the actual loans because I earn so little, it only goes toward interest. I currently owe over 30 thousand dollars and the debt continues to increase. My husband and I declared bankruptcy 5 years ago (due to medical debt) but the student loans could not be included in the bankruptcy. We live paycheck to paycheck. I have no benefits at my job. I contacted the NY State Attorney General's office, but they were no help. I work in a service job for a small, private non-profit organization.

My student loans from undergrad are actually pretty reasonable – the initial balance was around $12,500 and I currently owe about $10,500. However, my graduate degree was very costly. I got my MFA from a private institution that was around $34,000/year for tuition plus living expenses and the cost of materials and tools for my art making as a scenic and projection designer for live performance. My degree was a 3 year degree. I received around a $12,500 scholarship yearly and $2000 work study and covered the rest of my expenses with subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans and grad plus loans. At the end of the day, I graduated with around $130,000 in student loan debt. The real tragedy however is the interest rates. The Stafford loans had a 6.8% interest and the grad plus had an 8.4% interest. I accrue over $800 in interest every month – that's more than my rent. I left school in the middle of the recession and could not find work. Three years later, I'm able to support myself as a freelance designer working in NYC, but I am making around $30,000/year. I consolidated my loans, which set my interest for all my loans at 7.6% and signed up for Obama's income-based repayment plan, which keeps my monthly payments affordable. But since I'm paying much less than my large interest monthly, my debt is growing fast. Three years after graduating, I've watched an average of $10,000/year be added to my balance putting my overall debt at $160,000 this summer. In the meantime, I'm building my career and living my life and know that after 20 years of payments, if I don't screw up, my debt will be forgiven under Obama's plan. I will be 49 when that happens.

I just finished a paper on student debt for my Education and Society class. What I uncovered through my research is most disturbing. The U.S. Congress, Department of Education and the Student Debt Financial Services Industry (Sallie Mae the queen mother of all) are responsible for the wreckage of many students and their families' financial health. This is organized crime against the American higher education student. Many of the same people responsible for this criminal activity did not have to take out student loans when they were attending school, since many of them had funding through family. If they did need to borrow, low interest rate loans were available with reasonable terms, including bankruptcy protection. The loans were relative to the economy / job market the then young grads were entering. Today's student loan market has created a new form of indentured slavery for many students, harming the individual and the society as well.

I graduated in 2004 with a 20,000 debt for my Bachelor's degree. This was somewhat manageable and the interest was decent, however in 2005 I went to school for a Master's and in 2007 graduated with 35,000 in debt. I worked for two years in which I wasn't able to make a dent in the student debt at a locked in 6.3% interest rate, I could only afford to pay the interest every month, even though I had a Master's degree and had gone to school for 6 years. In 2009 I went to volunteer abroad and put my loans on deferment, I started working again in 2010 and my loans had increased to 40,000 due to the interest rate. Since 2010, I have been paying my monthly minimum and the loan hasn't decreased. I am now 31 years old, starting a family and don't have enough money to put a down payment on a house. I fear my student debt will be with me forever. I plan on paying double payments and trying to pay it off in the next 7 years, but in the end I will have paid almost 3 times the original loan amount. I am a social worker and I will never make 6 figures or be able to reason the 55,000 debt I have which is more than my annual salary. I have worked in the public sector now for 9 years, but none of that matters when it comes to student debt.

I graduated in 2008 from the state school Lyndon State College in Vermont with a B.S. in Meteorology. Upon graduation I was holding about $113,000 in student loan debt where several thousand of that was due to interest that accrued over the years I was in school. After making payments for the past 4 years I currently still owe about $94,000. For just under 3 years I have been paying about $1,330 a month toward my student loan debt. Where in 2011 I paid over $12,000 in interest and in 2012 I paid $11,006.06 in interest. This has amounted to me paying over $23,000 in just interest in two years! If we include my fiancés student loan bill we collectively pay over $1700/month toward student loans. I understand this is my responsibility and I have to pay it off but I feel robbed. Since the financial crisis in 2008 student loan consolidation has tightened up and is nearly nonexistent. There are banks like Wells Fargo who provide this type of consolidation but their requirements are too steep for people that need it. Both of us have good jobs, make more than what we are requesting to consolidate and consolidating just my Sallie Mae loans could save 200-400$/month depending on the interest rate. Yet we are unable to get approved. My current average rate with Sallie Mae is 8.41%. I am unable to find a third co-signer which means I am out of options. I understand there are government options like the Income Based Repayment program but none of them help people with private student loan debt. Sallie Mae does have an interest rate reduction program. I applied for it but was rejected because I am able to maintain my payments. So the way the current financial system is setup, I do not make enough money to consolidate at a different bank but make too much to qualify for an interest rate reduction with Sallie Mae. I am projected to pay over 100% of my original loan with Sallie Mae if I continue along this path. The system is broken and ignores people who actually succeed and pay their bill every month. There is no reason for someone who bettered themselves and the world around them by going to college should pay over $23,000 in two years towards student loan interest. This figure is outrageous and I will have to continue paying it for the next 10 years (I will be 37 years old). This has prevented me and will continue preventing me from buying a car, a home, having a wedding and having children. I went to school to better myself, my family, and my country, not to become an indebted servant to corporations like Sallie Mae.

I've had to leave college after doing 1 year. I already had 2 jobs, but I've been laid off from both jobs. After getting laid off from those jobs I was very optimistic on how to "kill" my student loan debt. I've started paying on my federal loans in March. My private loan is my biggest concern, because its more than my federal loans combined. I joined campaigns "I AM NOT A LOAN" and "Student Debt Crisis" to have my voice heard on making colleges to lower their prices so people will not pull out loans they can't pay back. I'm hoping things will turn for the best for everyone and myself who are struggling with this problem. Its very important that college Presidents to hear people like me that a college education should be a privilege and not being crushed by life long debt.

I'm one of the lucky ones. I grew up in a very poor neighborhood to a working class (at the best of times) family. I was the first in my family to go to college and I did it without any financial support from my family. I qualified for grants but it was not enough to cover all of my tuition and living costs (since I had to work while going to school). So I took out a student loan. 20 years after my first attempt at a degree I'm still paying my student loan. Not only am I still paying the original amount but also the interest that has more than double the initial loan amount. Now in my late 30s with my hard-earned bachelor's degree, I still can't afford to buy anything, not even health insurance. All I do is work to pay my rent, utilities, taxes, and ever-present student loan. Maybe I should start playing the lotto. It may be my only hope to get ahead of my student loan.

My story is about debt incurred to help my children achieve the degree of their choice. Our three children all incurred debt they are struggling to repay. We have about $20K of debt in addition to their debt. It's hard to make a $303.57 payment monthly and my kids are upset that they are causing us this burden. My husband is self-employed and his income is erratic. It makes one heartsick to calculate the interest required for the loan – yes we agreed to it, I know; but the shuffling of owners of the loan and the changes in the rules are impossible to comprehend and to keep up with. The struggles of the kids are a whole other story!

I am the oldest of a family of five being raised by my mother alone. Needless to say, after the housing crisis and my parent's divorce proceedings there were no funds for our higher education let alone my mother's retirement. I had always wanted to pursue my dream of being an Architect, and was able to be accepted into one of the top ten universities in the country. Understanding pre-2008 how potentially competitive the job market around New York City area would be I chose to attend this private university for any competitive advantage I could leverage from it. After the required five years of schooling, with government grants and scholarships, I graduated on time and with a decent portfolio. However, I also was in about $200k worth of student loan debt to be paid back over 20 years. I worked unpaid internships while in my loan grace period, but was able to secure a full time job 6 months after graduation related to my field of study. It paid a good starting salary for the industry of $42k, which was comparably higher than all of my peers. However with student loan payments of $1890/month and cheap NYC rent split with my girlfriend in Brooklyn, I barely have $20 for groceries for the month. I felt I have played by the rules and gave it my all, but even after a professional degree and a full time job I'm still asking family and friends to spot me a few dollars. I forgo thoughts of saving any amount of cash, buying a car, buying a house, taking vacations, and going out on weekends. I can't qualify for food stamps since SNAP's eligibility requirements don't take into account people who borrowed money to educate themselves. Granted I consider myself lucky to live in the condition I do and in the country I do, and there certainly people worse off than I. However, I don't understand how this education system has made me better off or anyone else subject to the same decisions I had to make.

I've been dealing with my student loan debt since 1997. I was not told of the other options I had when I went to college. Wham Bam thank you ma'am you now have student loans, I was told that the highest the interest rate would go was 8%, What I wasn't told, was that as soon as I graduated, the rate would jump to 8% and never go down. I borrowed around $39,000 for college, to date, I owe over $81,000 for an education at ITT Tech, a for profit school, that I feel lied and misled most people who attended their campus. We were told that our credits would be transferable to any University and they were accredited only to find out, that yes, they were accredited...by a company that ITT owned. Either way, I drove the same vehicle for 14 yrs while I was trying to pay off these loans, and I could not afford to pay the yearly interest much less the principle!!! Being that I am a Decorated Combat Veteran, I feel that there should be some sort of program that assists and or removes the school loan debts from those that have served in combat!!! At least let us claim them on a bankruptcy. I don't own a home, I have little to no savings, And I don't see any end to the debt that I have incurred trying to better myself. College doesn't seem to have been worth the heartache!!!

I remember growing up all I wanted to do was become a Veterinarian and save animals. Those dreams quickly shattered when my mother explained how expensive Vet school was and the pay wasn't exactly lucrative in the beginning stages. I then figured I'd start my college career at a private university and major in a health science major. I remember sitting with a financial aid person and they never really explained what the student loans were and that I now owed the rest of my life to the government. It was a sign here, here, here, and here kinda thing. It was just go to college. I'm not sure my parents really were aware either. They just thought financial aid and we do not have to pay. I ended up completing a B.A. in Psychology at a public university, which saved me lots of money. However, I wanted to be a teacher and I needed to obtain my Masters in Education. Well I didn't have many options in my area. The schools I had to choose from were great but VERY expensive. I choose the cheaper of the two options, but it was still almost $1000 a credit. I am now $100,000 in debt and I am basically just paying the interest. The best part is as a teacher they want another 30 credits to continue my professional development and graduate another step in the pay scale. I have no issue with that and I would love to pursue a PhD, but I already know I cannot afford more loans. Even online colleges have high tuition. I'm eager to learn and expand my career but it's just way too much money to do that.

I am 66 years old and living on social security. I worked a full time job for thirty years and during that time I returned to school to advance my degree and polish my existing skills. I had hoped to continue working until age seventy but my health abandoned me. I could not find other work and thus my only income is social security. The Department of Education has taken hundreds of dollars from my monthly payment in their attempt to force me to pay back this money. I had every intention of paying back the loan when I was working and making five times the money I receive for social security. When they invade my social security I have to make a choice to eat or pay my mortgage. The months when they take the most I have to eat beans and rice for the entire month. I won't have this debt paid off for at least 15 years and if they are allowed to increase the interest I will be dead before this debt is satisfied.

After my husband died, I realized my job in real estate had been a good second income, but a job without a regular paycheck made life difficult. My two children finished high school and college. With the downturn in the economy, my job in real estate was also down. I decided to go back to college to finish my interior design degree. Meredith College gave me a scholarship for a large part of the tuition but I am faced with $45,000 in school loans. I graduated in December and am 59 years old. Interior design jobs are coming back but I am unemployed after almost 6 months. Entry level jobs are typically based on commission in furniture sales or in retail. Most design firms want 5 years of experience. I also see my much younger classmates getting jobs for which I have also applied. The loan payments are about to start and the loans cannot be consolidated without an income, so impending interest rates will impact my debt even more. I am discouraged and anxiety about this large debt. I will be going back to real estate to a tough market with lack of inventory just as It was in 1993 when I started in real estate. Thanks for listening.

Second career, went back to school at 41 yrs. old, acquired a MA in Education, `99, with honors, and an emphasis in behavior, worked my tail off for the past 13 yrs. in several private and public school settings, 4th grade – 12th grade, specifically identified students with Autism $20,000 + in debt with school loans. I'm barely able to make the monthly payment, rescheduled payments, forbearance 5x`s in 10 years.

I started my Doctorate at Columbia University in New York at age 49 in 1994. At that time I had two sons in College, one in undergrad, the other in grad school. I knew it would be difficult financially, and it was. I graduated in 1998 with a Doctorate degree. Hence, began my Student Loan payment of $43,000 dollars. It is now 2013 and I still owe $40,000 dollars. My interest rate is 8.25%. I am now 70 years old paying a Student Loan that I could not possibly pay off. As a senior, I find this unbearable. I need help or forgiveness. It is terrible to pay $380.00 a month out of a senior’s income. Something must be done!

I attended JFK University in the Bay Area to get a B.A. and M.A.T. and Teaching Credential. I made a huge career change after being laid off from a job just past the age of 40. I desperately wanted to become a teacher! I chose this college because it was one of only two private schools in the area that offered evening and weekend classes for working adults. Even working full time however, I still needed student loans to complete my studies, especially when I had to quit my job to 'student teach' full time. After graduation (1996) I struggled to find a job. It took about 5-6 months but I landed a job 63 miles away (one way) and was all too happy to get it. I was finally doing what I longed to do...teach! This wasn't just a job, but a mission. My student loan debt was just under $50,000 at that time and I was set up for automatic deductions electronically. Things went well for a few years, as I made regular payments, consolidated my loans with an interest rate of nearly 8%. I ran into some financial trouble a few times early on but a forbearance for a few months helped to tide me over. Then, in 2005 my long term relationship came to a sudden end. With only one income, I struggled to make ends meet, especially in the pricey SF-Bay area on a teacher's salary. I finally moved East where the cost of living was lower and the need for teachers was higher in the summer of 2007. My timing couldn't have been worse...the economy started to tank that Fall, and things have just gone south since then: There were two layoffs a year apart as state money dried up and competition for teaching jobs increased. I had to cash in my retirement fund from California for living and traveling funds while searching for a new job. I spent part of that time completely without an income. Finally, I landed a job in one of the more expensive areas of N.C. where the cost of living is very high but at this point, it was a job offer I couldn't refuse. Two lengthy hospitalizations in two years for pneumonia added extensive medical bills. I've had a frozen salary for the past 5 years with no COLA and no salary schedule increases. Needless to say, the cost of living has increased steadily. My bills put me deeper and deeper in debt; especially while living off credit cards. Recently, I've had bankruptcy filing and discharge (and I'm STILL under water). My medical insurance rates went up 700% on co-pays and deductibles and dental insurance was dropped. I owe more on my vehicle than it is worth. And all the while this was happening, my student loans were going in and out of forbearance. As of right now, I owe NEARLY $80,000 ($30,000 just in interest alone.) At 62 yrs. of age, I can't see any light at the end of the tunnel. I've heard horror stories about seniors having their social security garnished to pay off their student loans. It's terrifying and I live with the constant stress and fear of indigence in my old age. Recent executive orders have offered up some hope for student debt forgiveness but it doesn't apply to those of us who are older and have student loans that are from decades ago. Why would Congress pass a law that bans the discharge of student laws for people like me? I've worked in the public schools for 16 years, buy all my own school supplies, love my students and my job, but struggle with depression on a daily basis due to my financial hardships. Death is the only reasonable escape I see in the immediate future. That's not being melodramatic, just practical. At my age, even with longer life expectancy, I'll never get from under the weight of this burden no matter how hard I work.

I grew up believing in the "American Dream" – I was taught that I had to "study hard", "make good grades", and "go to a good college" and that hard work would pay off. Unfortunately, hard work isn't the only thing required to go to college. You also have to be able to afford it. I received some scholarships but ultimately borrowed in order to finance my education. I graduated with a double major from a great school and was immediately accepted to one of the nation's top public health schools. While I learned a lot about certain subjects, I never learned much about navigating life outside of school – or how to make sound financial decisions. I was told that there was "good debt" and "bad debt" – "good debt" was when you were investing in your future; "bad debt" was to buy "stuff". So, currently, I have very little credit card debt but a lot of debt that was supposed to be an investment in my future. I got a great job right after receiving my graduate degree and worked in a field I loved. I bought a townhouse the year after I graduated. I consolidated my Stafford loans and made monthly payments of $500 for 5 years. In 2010, my organization went through 2 rounds of mass lay-offs. I was on unemployment for 2 years while working temp and part-time jobs before I found another full-time position. Unfortunately, I am now making less money that I made right out of graduate school. Graduate students make more money than I make. My current income is roughly 20k less than when I was laid off. Do I want to be here? Hell no. There were no other options. I have the highest education on my team and am paid the least because I have no other options. They can get away with it right now because jobs are short and demand is high. I was able to defer my student loans for a while – I had paid off half of a state loan when I went into deferment. After 2 years, the total amount I owed was almost back to the original amount – the 5 years of payments were eclipsed by the accruing interest. I have been fighting foreclosure and paying back student debt has taken a back seat. I received a letter last year that they would soon start to garnish my wages. What wages? I thought I did everything right. I worked hard and obtained more education than most people. I had considered entering a PhD program – and I can't imagine how much worse my situation could be if I had done that. My "investments" in my future have turned out to be nothing more than shackles. I framed my degrees when I received them and used to display them proudly on my wall. They are now hidden away in my closet because they simply remind me of my dangerous naivete and blind optimism. I am no longer proud but ashamed. Two decades of hard work and education was not supposed to lead me here... I can only hope that the constant stress of these last years has shortened my life because it's hardly worth living.

I landed some part-time teaching jobs here, but have never made enough to pay my bills and make the full loan payment

My wife and I put each other through college. We both earned various scholarship monies but we still had to borrow. We were parents of a daughter and we both worked full-time. My wife graduated in 1989 and I graduated 1992. In 2004 I received my Master's and our daughter started college. Our daughter earned her Bachelor's in 2010, so we are still paying student loans and will for years to come!

I graduated in 1989 with a total student loan debt of $8,000 – eight thousand dollars. I paid on this loan until 2007. In 2007 the outstanding balance was $15,000.00, despite my payments. I declared bankruptcy in 2007, and submitted the student loan to bankruptcy. During the bankruptcy we lost our home, our vehicle, everything. The student loan was not discharged in the bankruptcy, and at the end, the balance is now over $36,000.00 – thirty-six thousand dollars! Federal Student Loan is threatening to take any money I make, any tax returns. I am now 63 years old, I've paid on this $8,000 student loan for 24 years, and the balance continues to increase. I am employed as a part-time, seasonal worker for 8 to 20 hours/week, and I make $8.67/hour. I live on my social security. I have no place to turn to find a solution to the student loan.

I graduated in 1989 with my Masters Degree. My total student loan was $8,000 – EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS. Federal Student Loan insisted I refinance, I did, and have paid ever since. In 2007 our business failed, and the total economic collapse took our home and we lost everything. We declared bankruptcy in 2008; the student loan was then $15,000 – despite paying on the loan for 19 years. The student loan survived the bankruptcy and is now $35,000. It has been sent to a collection agency now. I am disputing the loan. I am employed part-time – 6 to 20 hours per week, $9.11/hour; I am 63 years old. I have just completed a Massage/Bodywork program in an effort to get a better-paying job. The student loan payments are $900+ per month. They have vowed to pursue me forever and make me pay; they will work with me in no way whatsoever.

So Dad left us when I was graduating high school in 1980. I worked to help support Mom and my younger brothers, and of course because no money was given to me for education, I continued retail & restaurant jobs that I'd begun at age 16 to supplement the school loans. I graduated college eventually paid off all loans. Worked for a few years, 2 years of volunteer work then went to graduate school. Worked F-T through the program, took out a couple of smaller loans, mostly paid off when I decided that I needed a *clinical* grad program to be able to meet my career goals (to actually DO psychotherapy w/clients). The only clinical program I was accepted into was *expensive.* I was only able to do P-T work during that time, so ended up taking out around $75K in student loans. As I began to realize how impossible the situation was becoming, I then dropped out of this PhD program with only a clinical Master's degree after only 2yrs., deciding that I could still see clients without a PhD. And it wasn't those letters that I cared about, really. If you know anything about the mental health field, and reimbursement rates from insurance companies (and how they are charging members more & more, and reimbursing providers less & less), you can see where this is going. I deferred for several years, paid some, then was talked into consolidating, and told that my payment would be tailored to reflect my income and what I was able to pay. Did you know that making $2-$3K per month I'm supposed to be able to make loan payments in excess of $4K? 10 years ago, I owed more than my house was worth. I'm now 51 and the loans have spiraled hopelessly to over $300K. My oldest child will be going to college in 5 years...

I went back to school in 2010 to pursue my graduate degree after being out of school for 13 years. I had been reluctant to going back because of fear of becoming in debt. I went back knowing that I would have to face the horrors of student loans. I completed my degree in July of 2012. I have had a hard time finding employment. I have not been able to pay my student loans and they are currently being deferred. I currently work a job that is not stable with inadequate pay. I currently have no health insurance, and struggle to make it from pay day to pay day.

When I was laid off in 2008, after 20 years as a machine operator/laborer, I made the decision to go back to school and fulfill a lifelong dream to be a full time artist/graphic designer. School allowed me to accomplish this, but I had no money at all. Loans and grants were my only hope. I was able to complete one year of college before finances dried up. I was not able to borrow enough to finish. Meanwhile, I am in business for myself but not making enough to live on...and not nearly enough to pay back the loan. I am working 12-15 hour days but making far less than the poverty level. While I do not regret my decision, I can't help but wonder how much better I would be doing within a more effective system. I am tired of the daily collection calls. I would love to be in a position to be able to pay toward what I consider to be an enormous debt. The school promised me job placement assistance, but this was misleading. And I really didn't realize how much everything would cost. I thought that my new income would certainly be enough to cover any debt... but this was incorrect. The financial reality is a harsh one. I feel trapped by debt… unable to plan/save for my future, as any "extra" money will go toward debt reduction... if I ever have "extra" money again. While it is true that I can go further because of what I have learned in college, it is also true that I am not better off financially as a result of the enormous expense.

Most of the people who retire, plan out very carefully their budget before they retire. That's what I did. ECMC is taking 15% of my social security (almost $250) per month. I had to choose between keeping my house, or keeping my health insurance. Why should I have to choose? I have paid them well over the $4000. But now I have to pay interest, and whatever else they are charging. I just don't understand how they can be like a "Hitler" regime, and do what they want. I broke my hand months ago, but in trying to keep my house, and not having insurance, I could not afford to get it fixed. If I could attach a picture, I would show you that my arm is deformed now. But hey, at least ECMC is getting their money.

This debt was actually a Parent Plus loan taken out, supposedly, in 1992 for my son. At first they said the loan was for $1250. Then over the years it has turned in to over $4000. They say the original amount was for. They have taken tax refunds, garnished my wages, and filed a claim against my bankruptcy I filed in 2000. It was listed as an unsecured loan. I have shown them proof that I did not file against any student loan, and shown them ECMC filed against my bankruptcy in 2002. As I said, it was listed on my bankruptcy as an unsecured loan. Student loans are listed as continuing. I have fought ECMC, Federal Student Loan, and the Ombudsman. I have written a congressman, and the President. Nothing has worked. Now they are garnishing my social security benefits. I have a loan paper from 1997 from my retirement account that I KNOW was used to pay this off. However, my retirement representative said they would have sent this to me, and not the school. All of these organizations can obviously do what they want, kind of like the IRS.

I have more than $62,000 in student loan debt. With interest, it adds up to more than $100,000. I am in my 60's, had worked as a barmaid for most of my life until I decided to go to school. Had no idea how the system worked so I took out loans in order to attend school. I had a GED. I got my BA then my MLS. I deferred payments while I was raising my sons. I have my dream career but now I am at risk of losing everything I worked for. I was able to consolidate my loans from Sallie Mae and was making payments but I am a couple months behind and they said I am close to defaulting. They won't accept a lower monthly payment so I have no idea what I am going to do, if they garnishee my wages I won't have enough to keep my house, my car and pay my medical bills, and I feel totally hopeless. I just wish they would work with what I have and understand that I will repay, I just can't afford the monthly payment they want.

I have been trying to deal with almost $70,000 in student loans for six years since graduating college. $50,000 of which are private loans, $20,000 are federal. When I was 18 years old and looking at colleges, no one made a huge deal about the dangers of student debt and how it affects your life afterwards. My parents' education only went as far as high school and they just couldn't know about the pitfalls. All they knew was that their son needed to go to college. Upon touring the college I ended up attending, a professor in the field I was planning on studying stated that one of their recent graduates just got a job paying $70,000, right out of college. While it may have been accurate, I had no idea of knowing this was very, very atypical. But this made it sound like I would have my debt paid in no time. I was sold. Fast forward ten years and I am still paying for the decision my 18 year old self made, in every possible way. Financially, I have struggled to pay rent and bills in an attempt to make my student loan payments. My parents' home is over two hours away, and with little to no job opportunities there, moving back in with them was just not an option. Any deferment or forbearance I ended up needing to use simply caused the interest to spike the loan balance up so that it negated payments I had made previously. I still cannot buy a house because I will either drown in debt, or be forced to pay the minimum on the student loan which means it will never go away. I delayed getting married because I didn't want to drag anyone else into my situation. In the past year, , I finally got married (because if I kept delaying I could have never had a life), and now have a baby on the way. Every decision we make is based around what to do with this mountain of debt. Emotionally, I was diagnosed by a psychologist and a psychiatrist with a minor form of depression, whereas I had no signs of depression previously in life. The major symptoms were constant, daily feelings of hopelessness and negativity. Having loans has made me feel like I started life with the deck stacked against me. The government is set up in such a way that loan companies (such as Sallie Mae) benefit greatly, while anyone with a student loan can never escape that debt if they are unable to pay, even through bankruptcy. So the generation that is supposed to be the future of the United States are being enslaved to debt. This tells me that the nation really only sees us as a commodity. We are the prey that colleges and businesses thrive on. No one is concerned about the future good of the country. The irony of all of this is that I am currently employed in my field of study, and have been since graduating. To add further irony, I am not foolish with money. I have virtually no credit card debt. I have no car loans. My wife and I took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace course and budget every month. Without student loans I would be doing quite well. That's the hardest part of all. I would be travelling and doing the many things I dreamed of doing in life. Instead it's on hold. Maybe in my mid to late thirties ... life can begin. Until then any salary I make is cut by 30 – 50% to try and get this monkey off my back. I am not sure if anyone will actually read this, but if so thanks for your time.

I am a spokesperson for my daughter who has a grand total of $78K in student loans. To compound the problem, she has does not have a job in "America" and I am not able to pay the full monthly payment. Consequently, the payment of $500 plus is in arrears. The first loan is more than the cost of our first home, which was $47K. The interest has escalated to 6.125%. The estimated repayment is $103,515.36. With the way congress has handled "the jobs bill" our president proposed during his first term, where is the end to this crises. As I indicated, it's my daughter's loan, but I am supporting her. She had a job and the business closed forever. With one year of unemployment, that wasn't enough to pay the student loan even when she moved back home. I've done things such as cancelled comprehensive collision on my auto, slashed the cost of grocery, eliminated all fringes such as cable in the home, limit the number of visits for medical care as there is a co-pay on each visit, make minimal contributions to my church, eliminate any vacation out of my state and monitor how I use/consume utilities such as water and lights only when it's absolutely necessary. We share one car that is a 2004 model. I do wonder where the end is to this crisis as I can't ask my daughter to leave our home. She has made some payments but the loan is now in arrears again. Thank you for letting me share this story.

My oldest son is 27 years old. He has a degree in music education, which he took 6 years to achieve. Of course, he hasn't been able to find that music ed. job. He has been living at home since his 6th year of college. He is substitute teaching during the day; waiting tables at night and will work on the school maintenance team this summer. Even with all three jobs, we help him with his student loans. He owes over $900 a month! Although we would do anything to help our children, it has put us in a financial bind. My husband is handicapped and even though he is still employed, he hasn't been eligible for promotions due to his illness. We are driving 3 older cars that are on their last legs. My son owes over $130,000 in student debt and since he was lured into private loans, he hasn't been able to consolidate the loans. He used an uncle to co-sign on one loan and the uncle no longer speaks to us due to a time of unemployment when my son couldn't make full payments. This has caused a lot of family stress. Loan forgiveness sounds like a fairy tale but at least eliminating the interest would be blessing. We appreciate your efforts to help us out!

When I closed my business and retired, I was bored. I was told that if you are over 50 you could enroll at Southern State University in Ohio and your tuition was free. I checked it out. They were offering several law classes, and as I had been working with attorneys for years, I had become fascinated with the law so I enrolled in law classes. After completing the two years at Southern State I transferred to Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. I graduated from there in 2006 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminology and a minor in Sociology with honors. My plans were to continue to Capital Law and become an attorney. As an attorney and being retired with an income from Social Security, I could represent the senior citizens without charge asking them to pay only their filing fees and gasoline for my car when I had to travel on their behalf. Before I could follow through with this plan, I broke my back and was unable to sit at a desk in the classrooms. Again becoming bored, I enrolled at American Intercontinental University. I graduated from there in 2012 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice, again with honors. I now help my neighbors (senior citizens and their families) with the preparation of Powers of Attorneys (both regular and those for Health Care), as a Notary Public I also notarize documents for them, investigate any legal problems they are having and prepare documents for them to file, and any other way I can help them. I do not charge them for any of these services. That is my story. I live in subsidized rental housing for seniors and recently we have been required to pay our own electric bills, which has increased our debt structure. With the cost of food increasing as well as the gasoline to fuel our cars plus they continue to raise our rent; it is becoming harder for senior citizens to even exist. That is why I have had to go on a deferment for my college loans.

I think one of the most painful aspects of student loan debt is the feeling of "buyer's remorse" I have about my college experience. I was the first person in my family to go to college. It should be something to be proud about, but ultimately the associated indebtedness just makes me sick to my stomach. I went to college despite my family's financial limitations, and as a result I took on several federal and private student loans. I admit I was naive about saddling myself with debt. I was so excited about going to college that I overlooked the way debt would affect my life. I would probably do things differently if I had the chance to do it all over again. I definitely wouldn't have consolidated my private loans (thanks Sallie Mae!), which was a total catastrophe, and made things a million times worse. Am I thankful for my college education? Absolutely. Do I feel it was worth the crippling debt I assumed to obtain it? I ask myself that question every day, and I still don't have an answer. I'm 4.5 years removed from college. I have a decent job, where I make $40,000 a year. I have over $50,000 in student loan debt. I have an underwater mortgage. I was only able to buy a used car with money from an injury settlement (from a not-at-fault car accident). I live paycheck to paycheck with no opportunity to save for the future. My emergency fund is non-existent. I have worked two jobs on multiple occasions for prolonged periods of time, and I only stopped doing so because of health concerns. I honestly feel like I'll never get out of debt. I've just learned to live with it, which is pretty sad. I think higher education is a tremendously beneficial experience. I think it really helped me develop as a person and citizen. However, I'm not sure it's worth the price tag.

I was able to go back to school 13 years after high school graduation because President Clinton made college possible to people like me. Because I never took college courses in high school I had to take math courses I never had before so therefore I had more courses to take to meet requirements for graduation. By the end of college my student loan debt was a little over $19,000. When time to start paying back my student loan I could not afford the repayment so therefore I started in the forbearance process and has grown to over $35,000 now. I have been in repayment because of the income based repayment plan for 3 years now but still am living paycheck to paycheck due to my salary at a non-profit mental health agency being low. I cannot afford a brand new car, one step from low income housing and would like to go back to get my Master's degree but will not because of the amount I owe now. My original debt went from $19,000 to over $35,000 because of various fees that add to an already high total of money owed. I am also 54 years old now and am worried if I will have a student loan debt when and if I will be able to retire in this economy. I also have to keep getting into my retirement money to borrow to live now. I don't know if I will have enough money for my retirement if and when it comes. Thank you for the opportunity for telling my story.

I was in and out of college for ten years. I received an Associates Degree first and then later received two under graduate degrees, a Bachelor's in Sociology and a Certificate in Women's Studies. These degrees all came from The University of Cincinnati. I was a single mother at the time I finished my degrees and the sad thing is that I could not get government assistance for my child because they counted my student loans as income. I did borrow the maximum amount because I needed to live, support my child and pay for school. All the while thinking that this has to pay off. I had no help from my ex-husband for anything. I completed college only to work in the non-profit sector and then became an Americorps Vista and yes took the education grant to help pay off my loans. Vista only lasted one year, I could have signed up for a second year but got a job that actually paid more than a stipend with a small education grant. It would be nice if the government utilized Americorps Vista more so that folks could actually work off their student loan debt and make a little living money. And another thing that bothered me was when I became an Americorps Vista than all of a sudden the government was more than willing to help me with assistance. I had food stamps, medical and everything. I have never really been able to pay my student loans back because I have never made enough money to do so. I am now re-married and a small business owner. I am currently paying my student loans only because they went into default. I figure my small (barely alive) business should pay the loans since the whole point of the loans was to be able to support myself and my family! This is VERY hard on my barely surviving small business. I now have a family of four. My husband and I are both self employed, we have no insurance and my student loan debt is more than $100,000.00. I wish I would have known how awful this would have been because I would have NEVER done it! I am not even using my degrees at all! I am a cafe and retail store owner. I tell EVERYONE I KNOW, DO NOT BORROW MONEY FOR COLLEGE because you will NEVER be able to pay it back and it is NOT worth it! There is a hilarious comic strip: It shows three old people at a grave site in a graveyard and the caption reads:" Poor old Harry, he did almost out live his student loans" I love that because it is true. So currently I am paying on my loans until I am in good standing again and then I will defer them after the nine months of paying them to get into good standing. $100,000.00 debt and I don't have ANYTHING to show for it. It makes my stomach hurt! Thanks sorry if my story was all over the place.

My student loan story should be the story others have, as well, but they weren't given a fair shake, as I was. Back in 1982 through 1984 I had a student loan. It helped me with educational and personal expenses offering me an opportunity for an education that I might otherwise not have achieved. After working in the health information management field for several years, I was hired by a University (my dream job!). Lives was good, and then over time I watched as the tables in the student lounge were occupied by every major credit card company, offering gifts and gimmicks to entice students to join. Shortly following this bombardment of get your "free" credit card the University started allowing students to use a credit card to pay for tuition and other expenses. Originally at this University, all transactions were in cash. Now, fast forward from the late 80s/early 90's to present day. Remember when I said I found my dream job? Well, that job helped me pay off my student loan: 1. Because a university education was affordable, and 2. I had minimal credit card debt because I did not pay for my education with a credit card. The landscape changed. Credit cards became widely acceptable at Universities and banks did their best to hawk them on every campus to anyone willing to apply. Sure people should have known better, but often times people don't know the full story until after they bought into the credit card debt so they could go to college and learn why they shouldn't have done that. Then it's too late. What's worse is that there are fewer jobs, because of the economy, which was wrecked by the banks (the same banks that got a bail out from the government). It's time to provide a bail out for the common man and woman and forgive student loan debt. The US spends a tremendous amount of money on foreign aid. It's time to have national aid. Forgiveness of student debt in the US would continue the economic growth, pumping money into the economy instead of into the banks!!!

When I went back to college, I was getting tuition reimbursement from my employer. When the economy turned and my husband lost his job, the reimbursement helped to keep my family from becoming homeless – the money was used so we could live and eat instead of paying off my student loans. As time went on, I started repaying my student loans. I returned to school for my Masters degree. I stopped going to school because we moved out of state. I consolidated my loans at a manageable repayment amount and schedule. In 2010, I became critically ill and deferred my loans for a time and asked the lender if I could apply for a lower repayment amount. I had over $35,000 in medical bills. My lender said I did not qualify for any of the options they had available. I literally begged and pleaded with them to work with me so I could pay back my loans. For several months I even continued to send the amount that I could afford to send. I was told that they would take the money, but it would all go to interest and I would still continue to fall further behind. I heard about a company called Preferred Student Loan that said for a fee they could help and would work with the lender so my loan wouldn't go into default or my wages get garnished or my credit score get lowered. I had to make payments to pay them the fee. Halfway through the payments, they informed me that they couldn't help me until my loan went into default. I told them I was trying to prevent that and asked why they said they could help me before it went into default. They said they didn't know why the initial person I talked to didn't tell me that. In the meantime my loan has now defaulted, my credit score has dropped over 40 points and I'm loan is now owned by Sallie Mae who put me on a repayment plan that is 3 times as much as my original payment. I'm back in this mindless circle of asking for are payment plan that I can afford. My biggest fear and concern is that I'm 60 years old trying to pay back my student loans and retirement is non-existent for me. The current system doesn't seem to want to work with me in difficult times to repay my loans, but in the meantime the interest keeps compounding and adding up to a debt that is already insurmountable at my age. Thank you for addressing this long overlooked and extremely crippling issue.

I have $120,000 in student loan debt, nearly $15,000 of that is interest!! After my divorce 3 years ago I was unable to pay my own bills and was left with $20,000 in debt. My car payment had to be made by my mother so I could afford to rent. I'm now 42, do not own a house, still have my mother making my car payments and I work 4 jobs to be able to pay the debt that I have. My student loans continue to grow due to the interest and the fact that my income puts my IBR rate at $450 a month! I attempted to make payment arrangements to pay $200 a month, which is all I can afford and was told that it was not permitted. So I've been in 'forbearance' for economic hardship for 6 years. Even though I work 4 jobs I have SO many other bills that $200 a month is all I can afford, yet, I'm not allowed to pay it. I want to pay back my loan as I'm grateful that I was able to get my Master's degree in social work, however, I'm not able to do it at a reduced $200 a month so instead my loan continues to grow. I stress that with $120,000 in student loans I will NEVER be able to buy a house. Nor will I be able to buy a new car when mine is paid off (by my mother!). While I am so glad I was able to get a degree, I feel that the student loan debt is a HUGE burden on my shoulders.

I had been in the healthcare field for over ten years and at the age of 37 and after the birth of my second son, I decided to go to school for Medical Assisting. I was led to believe that it paid well. Having 2 small boys and after graduating the economy was not good in 2009. I found contracting work as a health screener, but it was only a supplemental income. I could not afford to pay on my student loans and deferred them as much as I was allowed with interest building. In Dec. 2012 I had to start making payments at the lowest they would allow and interest still being added. I am $26,000 and some in debt and work is not easy to find. If I took a full time job making $10.00 an hour, it would all go to the babysitter especially after school is out. Any government assistance a parent receives does not allow student loan payments to be calculated in the income going out for bills. This is my story and with the help of God I will triumph over the adversary!

My student loan debt story has taken me all the way to seek the assistance of Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, who ended up telling part of my story during his opening statements at a private student loan hearing during July 2012. According to former Representative Hanson Clarke, my situation is illustrative every type of student loan issue out there: I have private loans, federal loans, and my parents have loans for me. My frustration began early when I was nominated to the Peace Corps, but Citibank refused to defer my loan payment for service. I went on a rampage of a fight against Citibank, who eventually allowed the deferment after Senator Brown and his staff so wonderfully helped me deal with them for months. My mother has a Parent Plus loan through Sallie Mae, and although she filed for bankruptcy and faces a multitude of issues after losing her job and going through a divorce, Sallie Mae sent her a 3 sentence letter stating that although she was bankrupt, she was still required to pay back the loan, which had increased by nearly 50% in only a few years because of penalties induced when neither of us were able to afford payments! (Phwew. That’s a run-on). My total debt, including the federal/private/parent loans is equal to about $85,000 BEFORE interest. And to top it off, I'm attending graduate school this fall for public health and have to nearly double that balance to be able to attend. I realize this is my personal choice, but how else can I make a career for myself and make a difference in the world of public health without an advanced degree? For my federal loans, I'm relying on the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, for which I can pay a set amount each month based on my income for 10 years, then have the balance forgiven. This great program unfortunately does not apply to my private loans or my mother's parent plus loan. What am I to do? What is my mother to do? They may garnish her very small paychecks for the grand monthly rate of $400. I feel I was taken advantage of by the private industry and even by universities charging an unfathomable amount for tuition...and even by our government who doesn't support higher education the way so many other developed countries do, like in the European Union. This system must change not only for me (so that I can one day save for retirement, buy a home, maybe even buy a car if possible) but also for my entire generation and the generations ahead of us. How can we expect to maintain our power status in the world if our people are either bounded by debt with advanced degrees, or bypass debt and don't have the higher education needed to be productive citizens? I hope we can all make a difference by sharing our stories forcefully and honestly. Thank you for listening.

My situation is this: In 1996, while working a full time job, I took out a graduate student loan for approximately $43,000 with the understanding that, with an 8% interest rate, I would pay off my loan in approximately sixteen years. I was informed of this by the lending officer at Oklahoma City University. As it turns out, my interest rate continues to accrue based on the current balance, not on simply the original principle such as a house or car loan. I have been paying $390 per month since 1996 and still owe a balance of $35,000. After having repaid over $70,000, it is obvious that I will never be able to pay off my student loan. This means that I will not be able to retire in a few of years as I had planned. I am blessed with fairly good health, and enjoy the basic necessities with little extra income for any luxuries my wife and I might enjoy, which is fine. I am able to provide my wife, who is 64, with a marginally comfortable retirement, and should the good Lord call me home before her, would leave her with a modest sum from my life insurance plan. Our savings are very meager as one might expect, and barring any catastrophe, we will survive humbly and ever grateful. I have never asked for assistance, and believe in the American dream, as do so many others. I have lived my life as independently as possible and find writing this letter difficult. The truth is that I am tired. My diabetes and chronic sleep apnea make each day more difficult, and I struggle with the anticipation that I will not be able to retire until I am with the Lord. I guess I am writing this in hopes there might be some answer or some resources that could help at least alleviate the financial burden of my student loan situation.

I graduated with a MS in genetics in 2000. I had $95,000 in student loans to deal with. There were no jobs in my degree field. I was unemployed for a year, shotgunning out resumes to all points of the country. I, of course, had to take deferments. I took a job first with the Oklahoma Water board at a wage of $9.75 per hour. I had to take additional deferments, as my minimum payments were more than my take home pay. This was a term employment situation and soon I was unemployed again. More deferments. I was unemployed for about 9 months when I was hired by the Oklahoma Aquarium as a freshwater biologist. About 10 months later I suffered a spinal injury and ended up being fired for being unable to do my job. After several years, and many attempts, I was able to get my loans forgiven for disability reasons. Now after a few years later, I may be able to return to the job front as an instructor at the junior college level. But there are no jobs. I am still in the period where if I do get a job, I will be responsible for my loans again, but I would be making enough money to pay them. I don't know if this is a story that will help or not but it is the only one I have.

I am 65 and just completed a Ph.D. (May 3rd). I have $145,000 in school loans and the first installment is due July 26th. Whatever happened to that "six month grace period?" I am still living on a graduate student's stipend, which runs through the summer, even though I have already graduated. I must either find a university job so I can get my loan forgiven in ten years (except for about $35,000 I will owe the IRS) or leave the field I am trained in to take a job that pays enough to cover the loan. And I have four months to do it before I'm unemployed. Thanks a lot, Washington. Doug

I co-signed and can't afford to pay and now my daughter and my credit is in shambles because of this debt. As education goes, we both are learning the cost of higher education. We both receive late payment notices weekly. Trapped in a downward spiral. Education shouldn't be based on how much you can afford to pay. America educated terrorist to fly planes into our buildings because they could pay for it. Congress needs to fix this because it is not right!

I'm a 60 year old parent of 4. I always encouraged higher education as my children completed high school. As we searched for scholarships and grants, it became obvious student loans was an option that would be needed to complete my children's financial needs to gain their degree. I as a proud parent, I co-signed for student loans for my second child. She now has her bachelor degree and I am very proud of her for this accomplishment. Her student loan debt is around twenty thousand. She has not been able to

I have been paying on my student loan since 1990. They took 15% of my salary twice a month and none of it applied to the loan only the interest, which the government would not let me deduct from my taxes ($2100.00). I tried to consolidate but the payment plan was more than I made in two weeks. Raising 4 children by myself I could not afford it. I have taken side jobs to supplement the lost of income from my main job. The sad part is I cannot even use the degrees I earned. I cannot buy a home and the car I purchased I had to pay 21% interest rate. I am 65, and cannot afford to retire, because, they will take over $500 a month from a fixed income that Social Security will pay me. And, if I get a job I can only make so much or Social Security penalizes me. I have to pay for Part B of my health insurance which is $100 plus and whatever the Part D cost for any drugs I might need, also pay for life insurance policy to bury me, and of course, food, utilities, rent, etc. As, it looks now I will have to work till I can no longer work or until I die, still owing on student loans. Never own a home of my own or take a vacation for a week. I do not mind paying back what I borrow but now I am paying over $35,000 of interest of what I borrowed and nothing I pay goes to the principle. It is very depressing and I have no way out.

I had to borrow money for school because I was 32 years old with 2 young children when my husband-their father-walked out on us and I needed to be able to support my children. After earning 2 degrees in 5.5 years I was $30,000 in debt. I don't mind paying the money back so that others can go to school, too, but the problem is life happens. My salary has NEVER been good enough to live off of AND pay my student loan payment. I had to file for bankruptcy 4 years after graduating. I've lost 2 cars to repossession and my home is now being foreclosed on. Because my husband was unemployed for 5 years it remained too hard to pay my student loan and survive, so I put it in forbearance. Then my daughter became ill and, subsequently, disabled. We incurred over $30,000 in medical bill CO-PAYS in 2009 alone and we are still paying them off, but I've used all my forbearance time, so that's too bad for me. I've tried to get some type of help-forgiveness, refinancing-but, because my husband and I make too much money on paper I do not qualify for any type of program. Because I have worked in low SES public schools ever since I've graduated I was able to have $5000 of my Perkins loans forgiven. I'm grateful for that, but because my first loan was disbursed prior to 1998 and wasn't paid off before my next one was disbursed I do not qualify for another $17,000 in teacher forgiveness. Why does it matter what the dates were? I've incurred probably more debt than a teacher because I am a speech-language pathologist and had to get a master's degree. However, I've chosen to work in the same setting as a teacher, with the same poor kids, in schools that receive Title I funds, BUT my loans were disbursed before some random date, do I don't qualify for any other forgiveness. Crazy. Another thing: I consolidated my loans soon after graduation because I couldn't afford all the individual payments. In 2000, 8% was the best I could get (8.25% if I didn't set up automatic withdrawals from my bank account). I have tried to refinance for a lower rate, but can't do that. I've already consolidated my loans and you only get 1 chance to do something. My disabled daughter and her daughter live with us because it's too hard for her to do all she needs to do. Many, many months we don't do anything extra or buy anything extra because I have a $305 student loan payment. I did finally buy a used car because I had to – my old Camry had 130,000 miles on it and I was moving out of state to join my husband at his new job. It had a big oil leak that was going to cost quite a lot of money to fix, so after carefully weighing options we decided we had to buy a newer car. I've never been sorry I got my education. Our lives are definitely better for it. I don't even mind repaying my loan; I just wish the monthly amount was commensurate with my LIQUID income-the amount I actually have to live on and not what our annual salaries are on paper. We are in the 30% tax bracket-AFTER paying for insurance. Please help us! Get real!

I am drowning in student loan debt. It was 32k in 1992 with a 9% interest rate! Now it is over 110k. I am 62 years old on a fix income and am afraid that I will die with this debt. It was never in my wildest dreams that this student loan would ever get this high. I started paying my debt in 1993. Sallie Mae sold me on the idea to consolidate me 5 loans and fixed the interest rate at 9%. They put me on a graduated payment plan. I was unable to get a full time job for 2 years and worked 3 part-time jobs during that time, making payments and then went into deferment. Once I got my fulltime job making only 32k the payment had jumped to $485 a month. I paid what I could until 2000 when both my parents became ill and I had to move them from Florida to Oklahoma. I took care of them until their deaths in 2007. I sold my house in 2007 to reduce my debt. I was forced out of my career job after 17 years in July of 2010. I went into default in 2003-2004 on the advice of Sallie Mae. They told me that if I go into default then I could go into a recovery program and that way they would reduce the payment and once I completed the program that my payment would be lower. In the recovery program I paid $585 a month until I passed the program, then went back to Sallie Mae in which they then wanted $975 at 9% interest! (Oh, and they didn't tell me that the payments I was making went to the agency that oversaw the recovery program and that not one dime went for my student loan debt!!) So in essence the 9k I paid in recovery was not applied and the interest rate on my loan continued to accrue. I couldn't pay that and they refused to reduce the interest rate or take off all the interest that I had accrued and just go back to the original debt and pay what was left of the principal. They refused and told me to default again and go into the recovery program. I did this again with over $500 a month this time for only about 3 months. Then they gave my loan to Sun Bank. I am now in forbearance! I dread what is next for me and my Social Security! I am next going to see if I can qualify for the 20-year plan with a fixed amount. I would then be 82 years old (if alive)!! I hate and despise Sallie Mae and the profits that they have made off the backs of people like me that just wanted to better themselves! I'm bitter and I'm afraid of what they can do to me. My father and mother did not raise me to have such a debt. If I would have not consolidated the loans they would have already been paid off and I convinced of that. P.S. in 1997-98 I filled for bankruptcy and in 2004!

I have pursued higher education over the years while raising my young children at the same time. I was hoping that both a Bachelor's and a Master's will surely pay off for me, but now I am uncertain that it actually will since I am facing a mountain of debt, to the tune of 130,000. Yes I know I have to pay it back, but I have been depressed when thinking of high the payments will be once I have finished up my Master's degree. Right now I am unemployed and my husband is the only breadwinner, but he too has student loans he is paying on as well. Indeed, it is hard to feel optimistic about the future when I feel crushed by this heavy debt load. I have even been suffering some anxiety issues due to the pressure that I feel over having to face this debt soon. Right now, I only hope that I can put them in forbearance while I can look for work after completing my degree, because I know there is no way I can afford to pay them right away, not with having four young kids to take care of that is. I plan to tell my children to not go to college at all unless they can get a free ride because I do not want them to every be in this situation and there is no way that I can save for them when I have to pay this huge debt for years to come. My family and I still rent because buying a home seems impossible when having to pay on student loans and buying a new car seems only possible if we could win the lottery. I just hope that I can put food on the table for my kids while dealing with all of this. Not only are the student loans difficult to deal with but the high cost of after school daycare is another problem that keeps me awake at night as well. With the high cost of living mixed with student loan debts, it seems harder than ever to make it in this country. Are the lawmakers even aware of high health insurance is, food costs are, gas prices are, tuition is, and how difficult student loan repayment is, even with income based repayment plans? Indeed, I pray every night that something will give soon; I pray that our lawmakers will see that there really needs to be a better solution to the student loan debt that troubles so many of us everyday.

With over 20,000 in debt I was at a point that payments far exceeded my ability to even make a monthly payment for the past 3+ years. Now I have had to have an income forbearance in which the interest adds up. I’m still unable to make payments even after retirement. I just cannot even with the economy the way it is I'm just upside down...Affects my credit big time.