News and Etc

I recently found out that Alan Collinge will be closing down the Student Loan Justice Facebook group. The idea behind it would have been amazing, but sadly, Facebook is not the place to organize such a cause.
He will continue the Student Loan Justice website.

Collinge did post this link through the Facebook page, therefore, I too will pass this on. It's worth a shot.

There is also a worthwhile discussion here.

Correction:

I would like to issue an apology to Cryn Johannsen for a previous post, it is a misunderstanding in the heat of a moment and I did not intend to direct anything towards her. I thank her for her work and continue to thank her for her future work.

And finally, while at a local bookstore, I was able to glance at Debt-Free U: How I Paid for an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, or Mooching off My Parents. It seems like a very vital book for any new college hopeful and a guide to avoid the student loan nightmare. I just wish this book had come out years ago. To paraphrase a quote, it went something along the lines of, "Those who understand compound debt will profit from it, while those who do not will be destined to pay it." How true. Sad. But true.

A trailer park past beats a Sallie Mae ridden future

There was a time in my life where I had been a poor teenager, living in a rundown trailer park. The mobile home I lived in was riddled with holes, the plumbing had backed up like clockwork and rats were making a nest in the walls. I used to be so ashamed, angry and embarrassed. I often thought no girlfriend would want to go there, I couldn't have friends drop by and see me. I used to lay on my couch and want so much to never go back.
Thanks for a combination of a bad economy, poor decision making and worse planning along with Sallie Mae...I wish I could wake up back in that trailer park and realize life could always be much worse than a trashy mobile home.

Sallie Mae Suicide

Student Loan debt can be a frozen lake...in the worst case scenario, you will find yourself on thin ice...and Sallie Mae will be waiting below. What's the worst that comes when everything breaks?
Sallie Mae can and will haunt you with bad credit. When stamped with bad credit, you can say goodbye to applying for a credit card and kiss the dreams of buying a new car or house away. Any further ideas of more eduction can be put to rest as well. Trying to support a wife or children will be an extreme challenge. Sallie Mae has the same authority as Child Support, with the ability to garnish wages and even take tax refunds. And if in default, their offices in Muncie, Indiana and Killens, Texas, will be dedicated to ruining your life.
Any other situation such as credit card loans, one could declare bankruptcy and eventually see light.
With Sallie Mae, there is no light. In the late 1990s, Congress made it so that bankruptcy does not protect people from student loans.

Now, am I saying Sallie Mae is an evil corporation? No. True, some of their tactics are questionable, such as giving finciancial aid offices kickbacks...and in return, those offices herd incoming students towards student loans.
No, on paper, Sallie Mae is a champion of education. You need money for school, they give you a loan, you repay it 6 months after graduation. Sounds great. On paper.
But in the worst case scenario? After the deferments run out...should anything happen, then interest rates will skyrocket and you'll be paying back a lot more money than what you originally borrowed.
And should the worst happen such as now, bad economy, no job, nothing to really hang onto, well Muncie and Killens will still call you and remind you of the Sallie Mae Suicide plan.

But enough of that. I'm not here to bitch and moan about the poor decisions I've made or the phone bashing.

I'm here for the younger generations. A new decade is upon us. It's time to break the cogs.
I don't want nor wish my Sallie Mae Suicide to be the legacy of the Class of 2010...or 2011...or even 2020. As I said, the cog needs to be broken.

This blog is for the high school kids, who are pondering college or just life after high school.
This blog is for the Twenty something who decided to work.
This blog is for the adult, unhappy with the road they've taken.
This blog is for anyone who does not want a Sallie Mae Suicide.

As I said, I wish I could wake up tomorrow back in that mobile home. But it just goes to show you, no matter how bad life is, it can be so much worse.