Debt
How I Learned to Stop Obsessing About My Student Loans
Taylor was obsessed with paying off her student loans—and then decided the obsession wasn’t a good thing.
More Students Talking About Money and Class
In the Chronicle, Richard Kahlenberg, an author of several books on race, class and education, discusses the rise of student groups in colleges across the U.S. that are looking to foster discussions about class and socioeconomic diversity—much in the same way that issues of race and gender are discussed in other student groups.
In The Interest of Lowering Future Student Debt, My Loan Situation
I fell a little behind on my student loans, detailed below.
Working Your Way Through College
This weekend, the Times took a look those rare students who decided not to borrow money from their parents, and tried not to take out student loans to pay for their college education.
2 Emmys (But Also $57K In Debt) But Also 2 Emmys
Sara Schaefer—of MTV’s new late-night show Nikki and Sara Live—talks about her $57,000 in debt (credit cards, some school loans, personal loans) in this episode of the PBS web series “Modern Comedian.” It is good. She is good. (“Every choice I’ve made has been with the idea that I would make it.”) (thx peter)
Is There Anyone on Earth With As Much Debt As Me?
Thanks to my grandparents, I finished undergrad with zero debt. But then I went to grad school and got two degrees. One is a law degree (quite useful), the other is basically a conversation piece. (My boss: “Did you actually earn that degree, or did you buy the diploma on eBay?”) For these, I have just over $239,000 in student loan debt, down from the approximately $253,000 I started with.
I have a lot of feelings about my debt. Mostly I am ashamed that I complain about it. Because as huge as it is, my personal privilege is correspondingly huge. I didn’t waste my money. I bought myself a present and now I am paying for it by leveraging the present—I have a job! And my job is REALLY GOOD. My job makes even my ludicrous debt totally manageable with money to spare to live comfortably. So I am ashamed that I feel the burden at all when compared to what so most people face, I live in the penthouse at Number One Easy Street. And yet I still bitch and moan.
The Way We Think About Debt
Mike: One of the things we examined this week was what debt means to us as individuals. What should we think about when paying it off? There is no one right answer, of course, because debt means something different to each of us. So let’s talk about this. Logan, your debt is all consumer, right? You don’t have any student loans.
