While I would like to be responsible enough to pay back my student loans, I wasn't fortunate enough to find a job that paid enough to let me do so right out of college as well as to sustain a life above the poverty line. It took me 15 years to get to a point in my life where repayment is finally looking realistic. During that time, I spent a lot more time in school and my loans were deferred during that time, I have to say the interest alone is killing me.
A few of my suggestions, which may have already been posted are to make student loan repayment schedules last longer without interest after graduation and to actually even drop the interest rate to near zero. There has to be a way to make people accountable for paying them back, so I do believe there should be some kind of interest, but especially in a bad economy, where jobs are scarce, those of us who desperately wanted to go to school shouldn't have to feel the overwhelming feeling of drowning in student loan debt.
Also, while it's a great idea to have some kind of program to give back to the community and earn money for school in this regard, I think most of us feel that we can't possibly just abandon a job to pick up something similar to the domestic Peace Corps. It would be nice to expand the groups of careers that will pay a percentage of student loans back such as teachers in low poverty areas, certain medical fields, etc.
- by
Jennifer Fleishman
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