$44,000 In Debt And Counting

Produced by HuffPost's Eyes & Ears Citizen Journalism Unit as part of the HuffPost College Student Debt series.

I am one of the luckier students. I chose to go to a state university instead of a more prestigious private college for undergraduate so I could get out of school debt free. Between scholarships and what my parents had saved I was able to get by with just working part time jobs to cover minor expenses.

Unfortunately I will not be as lucky coming out of graduate school. I enrolled in my MBA program to study public and nonprofit management, a field that will pay very little. I came back to school when I did because when the economy tanked, funding for theaters, like most other non-profits, went with it and the opportunities to advance in my chosen field vanished.

Unlike many of my current classmates who came from higher paying fields, I did not have the ability to save much before coming to graduate school. I worked a part time job in addition to my full time job but moving costs and my tuition deposit pretty much cleaned out my personal savings. My school was generous enough to offer me a scholarship which covers roughly half of my tuition for my two years. Despite that, I'm still $44k in debt at the end of my first year.

I am working part time and skimping as best I can but I do worry about my ability to pay when I graduate. My financial situation is compounded by the fact that I am required to take an internship this summer but most of the graduate level arts internships pay little to nothing.

When it is all said and done I will be about $85k in debt. I plan on utilizing public debt repayment as well as the income contingent repayment programs but I worry that I might be halfway through repayment under these programs and have the rug pulled out from under me.

I wouldn't trade the education that I am receiving for anything and it is one of the more affordable MBA programs in the states. I just hope that the programs that I need to repay my debt aren't gone when I go to repay it.

Comments

[smrttrainer]

03:25 PM on 02/24/2010

With a little search online, it looks like you went to Wm and Mary for all of your undergraduate work. Comparing semester cost online collegeboard.com shows you could have gone to a community college for the first two years and saved approximately $28,000. One example of how you made very poor choices. IMHO. I would drop out of school NOW and save the additional $40,000 in debt yet to occur. I wish you the best.

[Liz Olson]

04:38 PM on 02/24/2010

I had a scholarship to go to William and Mary- tuition was free. Plus when I went there tuition was $12k per year, not $14k. I

[smrttrainer]

12:29 AM on 02/25/2010

You seem like a nice person and you must be smart, too. I'd urge you to reconsider you current debt path. You said you would not trade your education for anything, well, on the current path you are trading it for a huge part of your future.

I assume then that the bulk of the 44k (and eventually 85k) is for living expensives. Look for other options, live-in caregiver for example. Explore out-of-the-box avenues. Good luck on your journey.

[smrttrainer]

03:08 PM on 02/24/2010

I don't know what your undergraduate degree was in but it must have been inadequate. One should always weigh the cost to the value and to understand how the cost will impact one's budget. This was irresponsible at best and stupid at worse.

If serving in non-profit was your aim, get a job with your graduate degree in a for-profit business and save money for undergraduate. Certainly we need to make sure college, all educational costs, are in proportion to value delivered, but this situation is less a case of rising college costs and more a case of rising financial irresponsibility by individuals.

My guess is that this person drove a nice vehicle and lived in an apartment when she could have rode a bike and lived in a dorm...investigate and see if I am correct. Just more irresponsibility and now the "victum" is blaming others.

[Liz Olson]

04:41 PM on 02/24/2010

I live in a studio and take public transit (studio was cheaper than the dorms here for grad students). To move up in my chosen field a graduate degree is a requirement. Non-profits need good leaders too.

[smrttrainer]

05:07 PM on 02/25/2010

Certainly, non-profits need great leaders. But leadership and college degree are not synonymous. Non-profits need leaders who know how to make sound financial decisions, too.