Granted times are tough in our current economic recovery. We’ve penny-pinched, skipped out on eating at a fancy restaurant, or opted for buying a more practical car.
We all made choices in the interest of protecting our financial well-being.
It’s been a learning experience trying to balance my personal checkbook in order to meet our mortgage, car note, cell phone, grocery, gas and other bills as a 25-year old. I am so incredibly thankful I had parents who not only supported me through college but also taught me how to properly make ends meet (and now an amazing husband to help me learn even more).
There was a particular article that caught my attention today on Gawker.
This story is about a fellow 20-something with more than $200,000 in student debt. That’s 200,000 Wendy’s Frostys, thousands of purses, or 10,000 pairs of 7 Jeans in debt! That’s 20,000 martinis, weeks’ worth of eating out, or a full year of residence at the Four Seasons!
It doesn’t take a financial genius to realize $200,000 is a lot of money. Unfortunately this poor girl didn’t realize what her total bill would sum up to when she signed up for her student loans.
Her name is Kelli Space. She’s 23, was the first person from her family to go to college and chose the prestigious Northwestern University. However, now she’s a graphic designer with more than $890 to pay each month towards her debt. Kelli is living at home with her parents because she can’t make ends meet, and in November 2011 her monthly debt payment will almost double to $1,600 a month!
Kelli has started a website in the interest of her own financial well being.
To date she’s already raised $793 toward paying off her debt. I donated $10 to poor Kelli because if I lived where she did the least I would do is buy the poor girl a drink! Now she can take the $10 to either pay off her debt or buy a welfare martini.
The amount of debt Kelli accrued is unconscionable. No young person in America who chose to get a college degree (albeit from one of America’s top institutions) should be punished for not choosing a career that would make her enough money to get her out of debt. It’s the ridiculous interest that has put her in this unfortunate position.
Kelli chose a profession that would make her happy instead of being miserable in an office for 14-hour days, and now she’s literally paying for it.
If you can spare the cash in these tight times, throw a dollar at Kelli. Help give her the chance to get her young life back.
Micah is going through the exact same thing right now with vet school... it really is sad that this is what students have to resort to these days in order to be what they want to be!
ReplyDelete~Karla Chambless