Drowning in Debt
“‘I’m Drowning’: Those Hit Hardest by Student Loan Debt” is an article written about the unfortunate stories of students who had such bad debt they chose to drop out of college. The main character in this article is Chavonne. She lives in Washington D.C. and is in between a few different short term jobs. The article mentions how every once in a while a debt collector will contact Chavonne and remind her of the burden on her chest. The debt she had built up from a failed education. On top of calling her and reminding her of the debt she has, the Government actually went to such lengths to seize her tax refund. The article then transitions into the past. When Chavonne was in highschool everyone around her was convincing her that the college route is worth the debt. Without a doubt, she took out a $20,000 loan and attended the University of Mississippi. Many students feel conflicted when making the decision of debt or no debt. Such a pressure is forced onto students to succeed and be wealthy, nowadays it seems only obtainable through a college degree. Unfortunately for Chavonne, college was not the glorious educational experience she was expecting. She was struggling more than she had anticipated and decided after 3 semesters she was done. At the time of this article being written, Chavonne is 5 years out of college and her debt is still weighing her down. Life after college for Chavonne consists of many bills and naturally her debt is not the first thing on her to do list. One big struggle when it comes to college dropouts is that going back to college and earning a degree will set you up with a higher paying job. But is attending college and building up more debt even worth the risk? It is an awful cycle that millions of students, just like Chavonne are stuck in. They are in debt and no longer have access to federal student aid, and can not afford to go back and finish their college education. This is a very unethical cycle that millions of unfortunate students get caught in and struggle trying to escape. Between 2014-2016 3.9 million students dropped out of college due to overwhelming debt. This is the type of statistic that only exists because of the pressure put on students by society and the government. Prices of quality education have spiked in the past decade and it is becoming impossible to keep up with.
Nadworny, Elissa, and Clare Lombardo. “'I'm Drowning': Those Hit Hardest By Student Loan Debt Never Finished College.” NPR, NPR, 18 July 2019, www.npr.org/2019/07/18/739451168/i-m-drowning-those-hit-hardest-by-student-loan-debt-never-finished-college.
