'Cyber-Begging' Emerges As A Way To Chip At College Debt

When the going gets tough, the tough turn to the internet.

At least that's what's happening on Sponsormydegree.com, a Denver-based microlending site for debt-ridden students.

The site's mission -- to connect "students who need money for college with caring individuals and companies who would like to sponsor their educations" -- depends on the good of humanity to help those who cannot repay their loans. It calls its form of microlending "micro-sponsorship."

The Daily Camera has more:

Students are able to upload photos of themselves and give donors a snapshot of who they are: a police officer and family man who wants to go back for a second degree; an opera singer whose teacher said he sounds like a young Pavarotti; and a business student who wants a second shot after flunking out and disappointing his grandma.

Mohr said the site needs the support of corporate sponsors, which has been tough amid the recession.

The service is free; users do not have to be current college students to use it. But its efficacy remains to be seen. University of Colorado graduate Heather Coleman had accrued $18,000 in debt when she signed up for the site, so far, she has made back $8, the Camera reports.

What do you think of this service? Leave a comment with your opinion.

Comments

[InYourWorld]

12:26 AM on 06/24/2010

Colleges riddle students with high costs, and require so many classes that are useless. If I pass an aptitude test why do I still have to take freshman math? I passed the test but had to take a class that I knew by heart for 'requirements' aka 5 credit hours aka $$$$$

[davewill]

03:17 PM on 06/22/2010

Sound like a way to get scammed, the donors by "students" who aren't what they seem, and students who get preyed on by con artists who find them through this portal.

[StephenHill]

02:24 PM on 06/22/2010

A mind is a terrible thing to waste in college

[SteveDenver]

12:27 PM on 06/22/2010

I think cash-strapped college students should stick with p/o/r/n and p/r/o/s/t/i/t/u/t/i/o/n. You're only young, beautiful and stupid ONCE.

[dl63]

07:35 AM on 06/22/2010

College is sold like perfume. The higher the cost, the better it is so the thinking goes. Many do not consider the financial implications when attending the schools. Many should choose their state universities over expensive private schools, and others should consider junior college before a 4 year school. Of course it all depends on the talent of the student and the financial ability of the student to pay.

[SteveDenver]

12:28 PM on 06/22/2010

...and as many students have found out, completing core studies at a junior college is vastly less expensive.

[hajihaji]

04:22 AM on 06/22/2010

I hear that in some countries the government pays for college. I think in Italy you can even go to medical school and come out debt free. Is that true?

[breakingpoint]

03:31 AM on 06/22/2010

education should be free

[Specialed]

05:29 AM on 06/22/2010

Do you mean tax payer funded because I've never met anyone who works for free ?

[dl63]

07:32 AM on 06/22/2010

Plenty of people work for free. I know many volunteers who donate countless ours of labor to their love. However, i don't expect that to be the case for higher education.

[Priscilla Susan]

08:14 AM on 06/22/2010

who do you think paid for your grade school?

[shthar]

02:05 AM on 06/22/2010

Well it's thier life, but I could never beg for money. From someone who wasn't a relative.

[chavo]

12:36 AM on 06/22/2010

I cannot blame them. To pay off a $50,000 loan in 10 years the bank expects you to make approx $500 a month payment, with about 7% interest. When it is all said and done your $50,000 education becomes $80,000.

Honestly the bankers are no different than loan sharks. Well dressed organized criminals.

[ColoradoBrad]

01:01 AM on 06/22/2010

Why are they paying 7%, my gov't student loan was only 3.5% and that was paid off in 2 years.

[chavo]

11:19 AM on 06/22/2010

Because yours was a government student loan. Kids get their student loans from banks now. If state government is willing to offer an loan money it is low at best and usually comes with the mandate you pay the interest off while still in school.

[ChazAtlas]

12:06 AM on 06/22/2010

bound to turn into a college sex hook up site before you know it. there are a quite a few porn sites out there with the same theme. they actually might get a much quicker return on CraigsList.

[am10]

11:37 PM on 06/21/2010

I think there's a huge problem with the cost of college and I feel for these students. However, asking others to cover their debts is silly. It reminds me of the tip jars I always see at Dunkin Donuts or the ice cream shop. Did any of us who worked in a deli or at grocery store growing up ever consider putting out a tip jar?

[neoconcriminals]

07:09 AM on 06/22/2010

Not sure what's more laughable—

the jars or the fact that those kids working in the deli and ice cream store
are making ALMOST what we made 20 years ago while their education costs
have skyrocketed tenfold.

[denbeath]

03:48 PM on 07/26/2010

That's exactly right. in 1981 as a phlebotomist I made $7.50 per hour. In 1981 the average yearly cost of a 4 year Institution cost $3,499 per year.

In 2010 a phlebotomist can earn around $12.00 per hour (give or take). The average yearly cost of a 4 year Institution cost $26,273 per year.

[SiberianRat]

11:35 PM on 06/21/2010

It took me a LONG time to pay off my loans, but it managed. I think that college is obscenely expensive, but I also think that people dig holes and expect to have a magic wand out of them--I probably did too, somehow. Sadly, it takes nearly drowning in debt for many of us and then finally chipping away little by little. Those dastardly socialists in Europe who subsidize higher education don't have this problem. Of course, they eat small children and puppies because we know that's the socialist thing to do...

[spottery2k]

11:30 PM on 06/21/2010

It seems to me that the question boils down to the true nominal value of an education; therefore, each institution must statistically demonstrate by an independent agency every year that they are not just selling you a lot of homework and a crisp diploma neatly wrapped in a ribbon. Furthermore, a double-blind method of determining the true effectiveness of education needs to be employed by making it illegal and inappropriate to ask job seekers about their education. This may seem strange, but if jobs requires a B.S., then the emphasis is on the certification, not the education it implies, and that presents the opportunity for private businesses and schools to collude, forming an inbred mentality of self-justification.

[seagrl30]

09:45 PM on 06/21/2010

A college education is important but it's a luxury and not a necessity. If you decide to take on the responsibility of a college education, then you should be responsible enough to pay off your student loans. If not, then don't go. Degrees do cost a lot, but a college education has never been inexpensive. People currently believe they deserve to go to college and need to go to college. It's a generation filled with people who feel entitled and don’t understand how to live within their means.

[CountMikeG]

11:06 PM on 06/21/2010

There are alot of reactionaries, but who cares about them.
"College Education is a luxury and not a necessity." This statement might have been true a generation ago, but, as with all things post-Reagan, the truth has changed, and the previous generation is oblivious to the changes. The quality of American High-School education has seriously declined, in part due to the budgetary strategy held over from the 1980s, and in part because of the increasing numbers of young people in High School. As a result, children are less educated coming out of 12th grade, and a college education has become a necessary good priced as a luxury good.
"People currently believe they deserve to go to college ... it's a generation filled with people who feel entitled and don't understand how to live within their means." This statement belies your age. The REAL entitlement generation was the one that came of age in the late 1970s and hit their peak political power with the election of GWB. They allowed the massive increase in the cost of a University education, allowed the expansion of the "debt market," and encouraged a culture of credit and consumerism unseen in the entire history of this country. "Living within our means" was never something proffered by the Reagan Generation, and as parents, they have presided over the largest elite failure in 100 years. Saddle up for some revisionist history...it is coming, fast.

[huffponewbie]

11:32 PM on 06/21/2010

"The REAL entitlement generation was the one that came of age in the late 1970s and hit their peak political power with the election of GWB. [...] 'Living within our means' was never something proffered by the Reagan Generation, and as parents, they have presided over the largest elite failure in 100 years." -- Hear, Effin' Hear!
Fanned and Faved and if there was something else that I could do to show my support I'd do that as well!

[Legal Schmegal]

11:45 PM on 06/21/2010

Your proof that everyone can have a right to opinion, but it doesn't make everyone right.

College education has never been inexpensive? On average the cost of tuition has gone up 400% since the 70's, and the past 2 years have seen the biggest increases yet. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/20/college-tuition-costs-ris_n_327398.html

People don't just believe they "deserve" to go to college, they realize the "have" to go, or be stuck in receiving a meager wage for most of their careers.

You're despicable insinuating that it is because some false sense of entitlement a "generation" feels as the impetus behind the drive for higher education. Meanwhile, ever company in America is screaming out how they need more highly-skilled workers.

Grow up. You're just another person who is full of bitterness, who doesn't want to pay higher taxes for public schools and universities, and thinks every problem starts with the "entitled" and the "lazy" who won't pull up their own "boot-straps".

[hswanson2]

08:41 PM on 06/21/2010

I would like to intergect some economics into this. College costs started ski-rocketing when student loans started to become more available. More wanted to go to college costs went up. I agree with some of the previous posters college is an investment - and in some cases a bad investment. There is somehow a notion that college debt is "good debt" this is not true if when you come out you are not more marketable with a higher earning potential then when you went in. But students and families keep paying and tuition will keep going up. But ask yourself with a few notable exceptions is it ever a good idea to put yourself $200,0000 in debt to go to school.

[thereisonlyoneparty]

09:18 PM on 06/21/2010

Too many people go to college now because there is this stupid false assumption that college indicates intelligence or some sort of social superiority (specifically for some schools and generally for almost all other schools).

The "trades" that were once seen as being great careers are now being avoided because they do not require any type of schooling that shows how intelligent someone really is. It is kind of sad. Just as the trades are not for everyone, college is not for everyone.

But no one is going to push that view. Look at high school guidance counselors and the industry surrounding college admissions. College means you will do better in life (earning $1 million more than non-college graduates life time!) and you will be happier and have a document that shows you are more worthy than someone else. It is crazy. And because more students mean more revenue colleges are accepting more and more. Some people need college, but not everyone.

[hswanson2]

09:54 PM on 06/21/2010

Agreed at Easter diner with my adopted family - me (BS, MS, PhD) my best friend (BS, MS), her sis (HS- cosmetology school), and bro (HS). Guess who makes the most bro - a union plumber, then sis the hairdresser. If I was fully employed instead of consulting I would make more than the hairdresser but not the union plumber.