Ohio Campaign for Debt-Free Higher Education

Formed in 2012, the Ohio Student Association (OSA) is a statewide organization led by young people. OSA engages in values-based issue and electoral organizing, nonviolent direct action, advocacy for progressive public policy, and leadership development....

[ohiodebtwarriors]

College kids tell Ohio legislators: We’re drowning in student debt

Rachael Collyer graduated summa cum laude from Ohio State University this month, but the celebration has been subdued as she contemplates how to repay $28,000 in student loans. On Wednesday, she wore swimming goggles and arm floaties before a subcommittee of the Ohio Senate to emphasize that she’s drowning in debt and fretting about her future.

Awesome coverage of our action at the Ohio Senate Finance Subcommittee on Higher Education budget hearing!

[a-life-less-stressed]

I found a handy dandy little website that tells the average numbers for the state 4 year schools and Private schools. 

Here’s the stats for the school I went to, except I only went for two years, not four, and I wound up with $33,486.03 of debt at varying interest rates (3.4%-8%).

One thing I found interesting across the board was the difference in the number of students who enroll and the number of students who graduate.

[ohiodebtwarriors]

When I first entered college, I was wearing the rose-colored glasses of the American Dream. Having grown up in varied degrees of poverty, supported by a single mother that carried the economic stigma of bankruptcy and ongoing student loans herself, I started working towards my med school ambition very early. I held a job consistently from the moment I turned 16, graduated Valedictorian, collected a handful of scholarships, and gained acceptance at a top university. Although I started at Miami, my mother got a job at Ohio State and so I transferred to get reduced tuition, an opportunity I could not afford to miss since my parent's offered no assistance otherwise. I flourished at Ohio State, making the Dean's List every semester in honors juggling a biochemistry and sexuality studies degree, 20+ hours a week at my job, multiple internships, research and volunteering, among a longer list of activities. I would go several months in a row without having a Friday or Saturday off. I pinched pennies in every way I could manage. Many of my top-performing peers lacked debt, did not have to keep a job, and de-stressed with leisure spending every weekend. But I was convinced that hard work ethic was all they asked in the promise of the American Dream and I was determined to earn it.

The first major set of  hits came my junior year. My mother quit her job without notice, especially trialling after giving up my scholarship at Miami to transfer. In the transition from quarters to semesters, my advisor had failed to get me into the correct courses and I was told I would have to take a 5th year even though I had loaded myself with credits and had only 8-10 classes left. Entering this final year without any scholarships left or the reduced tuition, I was still doing really well. But late in summer, the joys of campus housing and slumlords resulted in the destruction of my home and belongings, costing me most of my savings and leaving me homeless for 2 full months. I was unable to afford my retake on the MCAT before the application cycle. The student loans I had been receiving were capped and several thousand dollars were denied last minute. Then, the company where I'd maintained a job for 3 years shut down with only a few weeks notice, and, despite my immediate re-employment, the company where I got a second job shut down with 2 days notice just a month later. When my laptop broke, i was almost offended by this series of bad luck. I used the last of my savings on medical school apps but came up short, unable to afford the majority of them. I used 100% of my Christmas money, the last of my loans, and money from odd jobs and turned them in just 2 days short of the due date. For those of you who know what rolling admissions are, this delay will prove a vital disadvantage as I wait for my acceptance letters. I finally have a job again but, in the coming months, I will need expensive business clothes, plane tickets and gas money for interviews across the United States, and thousands to place down a deposit.

I worked hard, chose a major with highly eligible job opportunities, and proved myself capable for 4 years of college and yet in the final year, the extreme stress of this loan cut and unpredictably bad financial conditions, has left my application status compromised and my comfort nonexistent. As I file my exit interviews, the weight of my accumulated debt weighs on me and leaves me fearful of a future I worked way too hard for to fear. I’m very upset by the proposed state budget. While you give billions in tax cuts to the rich, you deny people like me the right to become hardworking contributing citizens. By failing to give funds to higher education and financial aid, you commit to the lie of the American dream. You use your position as my representative to line the pockets of rich at the price of your honest, hardworking constituents that put you there.

Please make a different choice. Redirect the tax breaks for the rich, and invest in higher education. Invest in me, and others like me who want better for themselves and for their communities.

-Alli

[ohiodebtwarriors]

I'm a second-year law student who is very interested in education for its own sake, as well as to further career goals, but the looming specter of student debts has definitely constrained my choices. I chose to attend Ohio State University for my undergraduate career even though I got into my dream school, the University of Chicago, solely for financial reasons. Ohio State offered me full tuition, and my parents offered to pay my room and board, so I was able to escape undergrad without any student debt. If I'd gone to the college I'd set my heart on, it would have left me over $100K in debt, and I simply couldn't countenance that, not when I didn't know what kind of a career (read: salary) I'd find upon graduation.

Fortunately, I got a fantastic education at Ohio State, but the prospect of the debt I'm obtaining in law school is still shaping my choices. I attended a study abroad program in Oxford this summer, but making the decision was like pulling teeth, as I had to take out nearly as much in loans for that one summer as I normally do for a full year's law school tuition. Oxford was one of the high points of my education, both personal and professional, but I nearly passed it over because of the price tag. Otherwise, I am taking only about half of the loans to which I am entitled each year, relying on extra familial assistance again with room and board. The interest rates on some of the loans I'm eligible for are terrifying; while I appreciate the availability of the money, I shudder at the thought of having to rely upon it. It would be rice and beans or ramen every night if I weren't lucky enough to have help from my family.

The debt I will have from law school is also affecting my career path. I very much want to become a legal librarian after graduating, but getting an MLIS will mean at least another year or two of schooling. I can't just let my loans sit and accumulate more interest, so I plan to practice right out of school until I can pay down a substantial portion of my debt. If loans are generally repaid on a ten year basis, it'll be around a decade before it will be feasible for me to go back to school and start on my real career goal...and start accumulating even more debt. Maybe I'm melodramatic, but I'm having a very difficult time figuring out where things like buying a house or perhaps having kids one day will fit in this picture The kind of law I hope to practice in the interim is not the kind of law that pays very well, either, but I'm resigning myself to seek out a high-paying corporate job just to start hacking away at this albatross hanging from my neck. I don't even have it that bad, loan-wise, but I feel guilty buying a cup of coffee or a new pair of socks when I know I could be using that money to chip away at the interest that's going to dominate my life for the next several decades.

-Anonymous

[ohiodebtwarriors]

I attended college 13 years ago. During that time I worked three jobs and took 12 to 18 units per semester. I over extended myself because I was so fearful of going into debt. I did not qualify for assistance because of my patents income, however they were in no position to help me financially. I completed two years and received two Associate degrees, and no debt.

Fast forward 13 years and three kids later, I would love to go back to school. However financially, going into debt would be the only way I could afford to pay for school. After paying bills and living expenses, funds are low. With what is left at the end of every month my husband and I put into an account for our children's education. We do not want them to go into debt or over extend themselves while furthering their education. Education is very important in our house,  but being financially responsible is also just as important. Unfortunately today unless you are part of the 1%, or you are eligible for financial assistance  (which our children will not be grouped into either) you will most likely acquire student debt. We are trying to save so our children can seek the education they desire. I don't want my children to place education on a far-away shelf for fear of financial  debt/worry like their father and I have. It is saddening so many do not seek further education because of the cost, we do not want this for our children, nor anyone for that matter. So we scrimp and save with hopes that when our children go to school we will have their education costs covered.

-Anonymous

[ohiodebtwarriors]

When I was in first grade I wrote an autobiography as a class assignment. In that autobiography I said I wanted to be a lawyer when I grew up.  Here I am at 30 years old and I am finally getting close to fulfilling that dream.  In first grade I didn't realize that having that kind of dream might not be attainable. I grew up in a family that always encouraged me to do well in school, go to college, and pursue my dreams. As I grew up it became clear to me that I wanted to be the kind of lawyer that would represent people that have traditionally been underrepresented. I wanted to work in civil rights, represent children, and to be a part of the change I believe our society needs.  

Although my family was a constant source of encouragement it quickly became clear that they wouldn't be able to help with the costs. My family made enough money to get by and make sure we had everything we needed, but when it was time for me to go to college there were still two kids at home. Those two kids, my little brother and sister, both had disabilities that had to be a priority over higher education. I made the decision to go to community college first. I made that choice not because it was the best education I could get, but because it was affordable. When my time at community college was coming to an end I knew I needed to figure something out to pay university tuition and fees. The thought of borrowing scared me, so I decided to join the US Army to earn the GI Bill and spent four years in the US Army as a paralegal.  Upon leaving the US Army I went back to school and got my BA and MA, but my GI Bill benefits were almost up and I still hadn't made it to law school. I decided that I would have to bite the bullet and utilize available student loans. Although I got a scholarship to cover part of my tuition, I will leave law school with over $120,000 in student loans.  

I have one year of law school left and it is time for me to start thinking about my career. As I said earlier, the reason I came to law school was to help traditionally underrepresented people.  The problem is that the kinds of jobs that help traditionally underrepresented people don't have the ability to pay the kinds of salaries that big firms can pay.  I am now at this weird place in life where I have to decide if it is even possible for me to take a job that will pay a fraction of what I would make at a firm.  Those loans have to be paid back.  While I am grateful that I am able to be in law school working toward my dreams, the amount of debt I will leave with may seriously impede my ability to achieve those dreams.

-Anonymous

[ohiodebtwarriors]

I could generally say that my student loan debt will affect every financial decision I make for at least the next ten years, because it will.  What my student loan debt really means to me, though, is so intimate: it will probably be the determining factor in whether or not I have more than two kids.  I dream about having another baby.  Day and night.  But I am in no way confident that I could swing the daycare cost of another child or the payment on a larger vehicle once my student loans go into repayment.  I have always thought that there are no “right” times to choose to have a baby, but there are definitely “wrong” times.  And being at the starting line of repaying six figures in student loans is a wrong time.

-Anonymous

[ohiodebtwarriors]

Go to college they said. It will pay off they said. Maybe that still holds true. Or maybe I am relegated to being a forever-debt-slave? This looming uncertainty is frightening, to say the least!

I started off going to a private, for-profit technical school for computer networking when I was 19. The recruiters promised big things from an associates degree. Two years later, I graduated with 30k of debt chopped into different loans (some Federal, some Sallie Mae). The interest rates varied from 5% to 13%.

After I graduated with my associates, I went straight into a state university for my bachelors degree in psychology. My associates degree came in handy as I worked on campus doing IT part-time making $11.00 an hour. I realized I would need an advanced degree to have any shot of making it as a professional. I had heard stories of people with their B.A. psych degrees working in fast food. I decided I would earn a masters in research psychology.

After I finished my graduate coursework and began looking for a job, I realized that gaining employment in my field was more difficult than I had anticipated. What? You mean you need work experience in your field before you can get an entry level position? Rejection letters came flooding in and I have to admit, I felt a bit disheartened. By then I had accumulated 128k of student loan debt and had no job prospects. Still, I didn't give up.

It took me a year and a half to land my current position as a research assistant. I am making $19.50 an hour in the California Bay Area. Nineteen-fifty might not sound so bad until you consider that studio apartments around here go for $1800 a month. Luckily, my mom lets me live with her at her place. "What?! I thought I raised my kids!", she says. Am I a 28 year old embarrassment or a modern-day graduate? After taxes, my $1300 student loan payments, and food, I am barely getting by - and that's without paying rent (sorry mom!).

I am one of the lucky ones though. I've only been at my current job for 3 months but I just put in my two weeks notice. Turns out that my dream job as a research scientist with the state finally came through. Now, I'll be making 60k in Sacramento (much cheaper place to live than the bay). Is 6 years of education and 128k of student loan debt worth 60k a year? I hope it is. I'll have to delay starting a family until I make decent dent in my debt but at least I have options now. Do you think my mom will miss me?

-Jason