Sabrina Head
Williams
English 1A
20 December 2013
Debt is a
Killer
Do you think the money you owe in college debt is worth a
college degree? As soon as you graduate your mission is to start reducing your
debt. This woman from Missouri named Dr. Bacon is terribly heartbroken because
by now she still hasn’t paid off her debt. While making payments each month or
probably weekly, you start to wonder how your life would be if you took the route
of not going to college and just worked full time. A person who dropped out of
college and works full time is stacking up as much money as a person who got
their degree and is now owing huge stacks of money back. “According to the
documentary College Conspiracy Dr. Pamela Bacon states that’s education ruined
her life and that instead she would be better off working at McDonald’s”. If
you doubt your schooling that much it was a huge mistake. College degrees are supposed
to make you feel accomplished and lead you on a successful path. Debt is like a
nightmare you can never wake up from. Student loans are dangerous but how eles
will you get through college if you have no money. They set college students up
to fail because debt is something nobody wants.
Student loans create such a huge debt that college
graduates can’t handle which puts a hold on their financial start in life. You
just graduated college what’s the one thing you immediately do? Get your own
house or apartment because by now you feel old and responsible enough to be on
your own. Now how can you get a house or apartment if you already owe thousands
of dollars? Since you have a huge debt, your plan now is to get a full time job
ASAP and save money to get out of your parents’ house and pay back some of your
debt. You’re stuck to living the same life before you went to college because debt
put a hold on the things you most want. “Your life is consumed with massive
debt, color-coded bills, and constant calls from malicious debt collectors” (pg.33).
Your life becomes hectic because you have much to worry about at a very young
age. You become stressed and live in debt. When you shy off debt collectors and
it becomes out of control they start to take it out of your bank accounts.
College graduates can’t focus on the start of their
career because they’re too busy trying to pay off their debt so they settle for
less and disregard their future career. You want to start paying off the debt
quickly, so you don’t have time to look for the job you want as your future
career. In the meantime people settle for less to get their things straight
then overtime they start training and interviewing for their dream job. According
to the article 7 College Graduates whose Lives Were Wrecked by Student Loan
Debt, “Student debt has become the defining feature of their lives- the
milestone around their necks that hold them back from a full financial future”
(Mandi Woodruff). A milestone because it’s literally going to take forever trying
to pay it back and there’s no way of escaping. Student loans keep us down
because we could never achieve higher with debt on our backs. Debt is something
I’m scared of, a way I avoid it is to not get a credit card. A way to have
money all the time is to save it.
As students take out these loans they can prevent a huge
pile of debt by saving their money from a part time job to pay it back by the
time they graduate. Even though college can be stressful itself you still have
to time to manage a part time job on campus or even outside of campus. As you
walk to your part time job you save money by not paying for gas. Your dorm and tuition
is taken care of so you pretty much don’t really need to spend money. Saving
money in general is very helpful when you run into big expenses unexpectedly. The
debt collectors need to figure out a plan so that the people who owe a lot of
debt can stay on track at a reasonable speed. Samuel and his wife were both
college educated but Samuel started his own business. Suddenly his business
went dry and he was left with no incoming income. “Although he and his wife
made decent money, Samuel explained, they still lived “Paycheck to Paycheck”
and had quickly depleted their savings” (pg.31). Now the times you really need
your savings you wish you saved more. You always need a backup when things
fail. Start saving now and you will be very fortunate in the long run. Samuel
took the risk of having his own business because sooner or later you won’t have
customers. Putting a little money away will overtime have a huge impact on you
in the future.
In conclusion, college student loans can put you in
serious danger in the future. Everybody knows how loans work so they know what
they are getting into. If you didn’t know about it, now you do so start saving
money now. Most people look back and ask their selves if college education was
worth it. It’s worth it but you need to learn how to make it work. Don’t let
debt keep you from jumping right into your dream job after college graduation
and be able to move out of your parent’s house. Don’t be broke as a joke.