[Name], 23, graduated from Northeastern University in 2009 with a bachelor's in sociology — and a whopping $200,000 in student loan debt. Space, who lives with her parents and works full-time, put up a Web site ... soliciting donations to help meet her debt obligation, which is $891 a month. That number jumps to $1,600 next November.
In creating the site, [Name], of course is hoping to ease her financial burden, but it's "mainly to inform others on the dangers of how quickly student loans add up," she said. So far she's raised $6,671.56, according to her site.
I can't believe people are donating. But what the heck, it's a free country. When I was 17 and a college freshman, even I had the sense to turn down the vast majority of the student loans I was offered. I think I got out of the University of Michigan with no more than 4K in loans--low interest, I might add. I doubled my loan total for grad school but I at least had the military on board to make my student loan payments while I was in the Guard.
At what point in her college career did borrowing 200K for a BA in sociology seem like a good idea? That was sheer, rock-pounding stupidity in action. That assessment applies to her parents as well, who I assume had an inkling of what was going on.
Still, she now realizes that it was a dumb move. Perhaps she extrapolated the cost of every beer and latte she had on student loans. So she learned something in college.
