With all the fuss and bother going on about forgiving student loans, I feel the need to share my own student loan story. I went "back to school" in my late twenties, majoring in Human/Social Services Technology. It's a two year degree, meaning I could be working a decent job by the time I was 30.
When I left high school, it was a time when the minimum wage was reasonably close to a sustainable lifestyle. I had no shame in being a janitor, or a dishwasher, or a cashier. It's all honest work and I believed I'd be able to make ends meet.
I was trying to find the job where my work ethic would actually get me promotions and raises, instead of one where the dude who partied with the boss got promoted over me. Meanwhile, in the larger world, the gap between a livable wage and the minimum wage kept growing. My morale was high every time I started a new job, but favoritism and customer abuse killed it quickly. (I'm not saying I'm totally blameless here - my Dysthymia had manifested itself and fed on job stress. I made a lot of mistakes.)
When I finally got medication and therapy that let me cope, I decided that college would get me the sort of job I wanted. Social Work seemed a good fit, and there was a two-year program at the nearby campus. So I signed up, agreed to the loans needed (totally intending to pay them when the time came), and earned that degree.
My first job after college was washing dishes in a steakhouse. While working, I applied for every social services job I could. Some of those interviews took me into seedy neighborhoods (once a man tried to get into my car and I ran a red light to get away from him) and none of them hired me. I was back to the minimum wage grind, but now I had a debt to pay. I tried.
I tried. When I was making enough money to have anything left over after rent, I sent them something. Something was never enough. At one point, after having my hours cut, I had to have the bank block payments because they ignored my messages. They knew my situation - I told them the truth, filled out all the forms for a payment plan, everything, but no. "You make 500 a month? Send us 400 or it's going into default." Still, I had every intention of paying them somehow someday. Most of my job-hopping was a constant quest to make enough money to pay the loan!
Eventually, I was declared totally and permanently disabled. I would receive monthly payments to live off of. The first debtor I contacted was the Student Loan people, intending to set up a payment plan I could finally afford. They canceled the loan. Think about that: The only way I could get out from under the loans for a two year degree was to become legally disabled. A two year degree. Only two years.
At the time of my cancellation, most of what I owed was compounded interest. Had they worked with me because I was un- or under-employed, I would have owed a small percentage of that total. They could have allowed me to pay what I could, they could have suspended interest, something, but no. What they did was call me at least once a day for over a decade. What they did was accuse me of malingering. So, yes, I support the forgiveness of student loans. Had they treated me with anything resembling dignity and respect, I might think differently.
