Kelli Space, $200,000 In Debt, Starts Site To Solicit Donations

Currently, Northeastern alum Kelli Space, 23, is $200,000 in debt because of her student loans. She must pay federal student loan agency Sallie Mae $891 per month -- and by next November, that figure will nearly double. And although she has a full-time job, she doesn't make nearly enough to pay off her massive debt. So she's is turning to the public for help.

Space started a website called Two Hundred Thou, which is devoted to telling her story and asking readers to chip in. On the site's FAQ page, Space explains her situation in earnest:

I was 18 and the first person in my family (including extended family!) to attend college. Therefore, not only was excitement consuming me, but my parents didn't exactly know how college would or wouldn't affect my salary in the future. We applied for scholarships during the summer but they heard -- as much as I did -- that cost of tuition should never keep you from attending a great school. So... we made the mistake of following such romantic advice. Cue regret.

The site will track Space's progress as she collects money from her readers -- so far, she's raised $.35, leaving $199,999.65 to go.

What do you think of Space's plan? Will you contribute? Let us know in the comments section.

Comments

[jnthinks]

03:00 AM on 01/03/2011

Sorry to say I don't feel bad for this girl. I myself am the same age and recently graduated. I have almost 10k in student debt and I am paying off my debt by myself not begging and asking people to feel sorry for me. And studying abroad? I'm sure she knew this would cost money, shoulda thought about it before she took it out.

plus there are plenty more charitable causes in this world to contribute to
www.bethechange.org
instead of financing her irresponsibleness go be the change and provide a village with clean water or help a sick child.

[dne321]

02:18 PM on 12/29/2010

How do you spend $200K on a sociology degree? how useless is that! Kelli, if you are planning further your education later, please do not get such a useless degree again. Also, don't go abroad studying for one year if you do not have the money to. Thanks!

[anonymousyouth91]

02:30 AM on 12/10/2010

http://donate1dollar.tumblr.com/

[Karazorel]

03:53 PM on 12/06/2010

While I do hope that this cause brings light to the horrendous cycle of debt caused by U.S. higher education I have to ask, did she work during her undergrad? How did she spend her summers? Did she not exit high school with basic math skills to realize the cost when she entered Northeastern? I am a recent graduate who left college with a bit over $100,000 of debt and I kept it down to even that amount by working full time during school and working several jobs during the summers. Now that I’ve graduated I have a full and part time job. I have developed a budget that will allow me to not only pay my loans of early (currently over a grand a month) but will allow me to get my masters soon. It sounds to me like Ms. Space needs to learn from this experience and that it will give her a good lesson in personal finances for when she wants to make other significant choices in life. Is she going to put up a new website when she wants to purchase a house or pay off credit card debt? I say suck it up and learn from your mistakes. You may have been young an naive when you got yourself into this mess but that is just part of life. Get a part time job! Work weekends!

[carmen rodriguez1]

03:07 PM on 12/06/2010

I'm a financial aid officer for a college and there is a program for students who want to go back to school but have defaulted on there students loans.It's called MINDSTREAMS.com, they set you up for a webinar it takes about 20 minutes no longer than 30 minutes if you have question. After the webinar, someone will contact you about you options, this program is ONLY if you want to go back to school.They consildate your loans which,looks like you paid in full on your credit, once defaulted loans have been consildated, they then tell you about the different schools that will take you, most are online schools.And this is all through the government,so its legal.I hope this helps someone.And its all FREE!!

[LeifEiriksson]

05:00 AM on 12/06/2010

Here is an interview with Kelli Space. One of the most insightful interviews I have ever witnessed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llrmq8q3E24

[amyji]

09:49 AM on 12/29/2010

What an excellent interview. I wouldn't have known about this if you hadn't recommended it - THANKS

[dne321]

02:29 PM on 12/29/2010

lol the guy sounds like he's making fun of her half the time.

[dawlishgal]

09:06 AM on 12/04/2010

My two kids, both pushing 40, finally paid off their bottom of their student loans with an inheritance. When I went to college (first in my family too, unless one counts the cousin on a football scholarship who was still a sophomore when he played out his 4 years of eligibility and was promptly drafted), I was able to work part-time, live at home, and graduate from a top-ranked state university with honors and no loans at all. I worked hard and studied a lot, but it was easily possible and not a burden. I had some envy of the frat-boy-gangster's-nephew who wore a white cashmere overcoat and bragged that he could "just get by on a thousand dollars a month, but it was no big hardship deal for me.

My late husband had minimal loans because he went to an expensive private university. We got married in grad school, and ---each working part-time---we managed to pay for our tuition and books, buy a little house, a new car, and have two babies.

What happened in between our relatively cheap and easy educations and the expensive educations of our kids (both at state universities) that put them in hock for almost 20 years? Does it have any connection with the way that Reagan dumped all of the responsibility for paying for the government onto the middle class, and public support of education got kicked to the side.

[Trudy Trejo]

08:57 PM on 12/03/2010

This is what government backed student loans give you. Ridiculous misallocations of resources. The reason this student could get $200,000 in student loans is because of the government backing of these student loans. That means she had the American taxpayer as a co-signer to those loans so the financial institutions had nothing to lose.

There is no way a private financial institution would loan this much money to a sociology student without that government backing.

Blame the government on this one folks. It's called unintended consequences.

[runfellow]

11:10 PM on 12/02/2010

$6,671 for begging so far... pretty good tax-free haul.

[mjc2213]

01:16 AM on 11/30/2010

Sounds like a scam. I checked out her website and even her name Kelli Space sounds suspicious. Furthermore she claims to be in debt at exactly $200k. That doesn't sound right at all. She hasn't even mentioned her major nor what her current job is. If she truely needed to go into such a debt, she would have qualified for financial aid. I'm just not buying this...

[bllnsinchnge]

09:40 AM on 12/01/2010

sociology, she was on the radio last night with Peter Schiff

[dawlishgal]

09:12 AM on 12/04/2010

Me either....how much of her debt is for credit cards that used to be (maybe still are) so easy for students to get and max out and get another one. If she can cook up a scheme like this one, perhaps there is a high paying job for her on Wall Street.

[Trickery]

11:24 PM on 11/29/2010

200 grand for undergrad is seriously effed up :/

[WaterCloset]

11:34 PM on 11/28/2010

Some state schools aren't that great, and I could see why people choose to go to private schools. I had to deal with many professors who could not teach or simply didn't care and most of the time I was taught by a TA. $10,000 just to get taught by a grad student..... Granted, some TA's were good teachers, but most did not know diddly squat. Trying to get in touch with the professor was sometimes impossible because he was too busy doing his research thing. Also, the large class size didn't help, as well. Most of the time I had to self taught the material I was learning for class.

Funny thing was I received more of an education when I started in a community college, than in my state university. The class size was smaller and was taught by a professor who actually cares about teaching.

[dawlishgal]

09:15 AM on 12/04/2010

I was lucky enough to go to a state university that had at least some great teachers. Now, the problem is tenure and the demand for publications where teaching skills don't matter a whit.

[Snapple3cat]

08:59 AM on 11/28/2010

The first problem is the constant push to attend college - will you really make more money after paying off the debt than if you started work at age 18 as a roofer? Not sure the cost of college, even at a state school, is worthwhile for many students - and while a college degree shows commitment and maturity(in years anyway) I'm not at all sure it says much about job skills. The degree race has been perpetrated by college professor types justifying their jobs.

[Michele Benjamin]

08:06 AM on 11/28/2010

I just heard this story on Fox Family and Friends and thought why didn't I think of this....... My son Philip has $200,000.00 student loan debt probably more now with interest adding up. But instead of asking for donations my Son joined the military and has been stationed in Afghansian fighting for American's safety. Why........ so he could get $20,000 bonus payment to help with he student loan debt which will barely put a dent in it. I would think protecting our freedoms is worth askiing for something is it? Fox Family and Friends asked everyone to give $1.00 and no time the debt would be paid off. Well my Son comes home hopefully December 3rd how about giving him $1.00 for his year of service in Afghansian. That has to be worth something right?

[PiaNielsen]

03:52 AM on 11/28/2010

It's a great idea. I thought about it a while back. On a bigger scale, think about how many problems could be solved if people were willing to help through micropayments. It takes selflessness but the world would be a better place. The ideas is that the small amount would make a huge difference in someones life and it wouldn't make or break your day. Even $1 would be a small amount.