Who’s the swell kid in the middle, you ask?
That would be me, Joamette Gil, at the tender age of 18 years old, the same year I made the “definitely-super-well-informed” decision to take out a $15,000+ private loan (cosigned by a middle-class auntie) to attend a private art school that I totally graduated from (just kidding, I transferred to a liberal arts college in Washington State - whoops).
Going on 11 years, many occupations, and one comics publishing business later, I am now in a much better financial position than I ever was growing up - meaning I now make almost $20K a year before taxes. No, I didn’t forget any zeroes.
All told, my schooling came out to a grand total of $61,452.45… most of which isn’t that much of a burden right now! The government actually has great options for us broke folks who need some leniency while repaying federal student debt. Through the Income-Based Repayment plan option, I can pay as little as $0 a month for the next 20 years and have the whole debt forgiven.
No such luck with a private lender.
Long story short: I’m asking you to help me pay off my remaining private loan debt. Mounting interest plus late fees due to total inability to pay on certain months mean that, of that $15,000+ original loan, I still owe $13,410.08 over a decade later.
For a low-income person with a debilitating mental illness, that monthly loan payment can be the difference between running out of food halfway through the month or not, paying my electric bill or not, pursuing opportunities to advance my career that month or not based on how much it’ll cost.
And honestly? It’s the most demoralizing and psychologically debilitating thing, making every other goal I’m striving toward that much harder.
Asking this of strangers is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done. I’m not asking for an immediate health expense or upcoming tuition or funeral costs or any of the many important, immediate, valid asks that folks have met with generosity in the past.
I’m asking to be set free from a system that takes advantage of youth, poverty, and the inexperience of parents who urge their children to pursue higher education at all costs, out of love.
I’m not special compared to the millions of Americans in the same or similar situation as me. But I’m going to end by paraphrasing some amazing advice I got recently:
“We all have problems, and some of us are ultimately destroyed by them. We don’t always know if those who were destroyed ever asked for help. But YOU did ask, just now. That could be what saves you in the end.”
