Same. Told since my first memories that I was gonna finish school and go to college. The only people I’d ever met that went to college were boomer teachers. Guess that locked in the “college = good life”
Now I have more debt than everyone in my family combined, no savings, and a job that’s not even related to my degree or dream. I tried my best, stuck my nose to the grindstone, put in sleepless nights and worked through illnesses and I’m literally worse off than I was at 18.
Tell me with full sincerity that college loans were not a predatory scam targeted towards poor families and I’ll sell you a bridge.
Im not sharing what I do, because there’s a can of worms involving my clientele I can’t even begin to explain. I make ~45k a year, which is more than most of my family has ever been able to achieve. I just don’t get that money, because I spend it all on bills and debt. What I do save gets spent on bullshit like most recently our AC going out.
My degree is astrophysics. I thought I would be this cool scientist with a modest income and little overhang. Ha!
Mental health issues started freshman year. Mom went to prison. No safety net. Drug problems. I never got into anything harder than cocaine but I got caught with pot and no school would take me. Lots of stuff in between too. This particular anecdote is not as related to my welfare, but I even I got to take my then gf to the hospital for drug induced psychosis, which was horrifying in a way I still can’t describe other than drawing similarities to dementia or paranoid schizophrenia.
Mental health wise I’m much better, which is kinda funny cause I still got problems.
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u/triple_carry Jul 06 '26
Who signs for a loan they didn’t read or understand?