The NYT did an interview with Jr after he was “chosen” as the editor of the Harvard Law Review. In the interview he bragged that with his first two jobs he was able to pay off his student loans and actually have money in the bank. When I read this I started searching and found an interview which was done in August/08 with one of his co-workers when he worked at BIC as the first job he had after graduating from Columbia. The co-worker mentioned how difficult it was to live and work in NYC on an annual salary of $15,000. His next job was with the Nader based NYCPIRG where he earned less than $9,000/yr. Since he was heavily into drugs during his two years at Oxy I can assume his grades were not good enough for him to continue receiving the full scholarship which he had received when he began attending there. That would mean he had to pay for a full year at Oxy and two full years at Columbia on the two salaries which I mentioned above. An article published in the UK in Nov/08 was about letters his mother had written. In the letters she had wondered if she would be eligible for in-state tuition once she continued her own education. She went on to explain she had to work to pay for Jr’s college but was happy he had finally graduated from Columbia so she could now continue with her own education. Aside from these two conflicting stories we also know that Jr had his “grand tour” where he went to Indonesia and then onto Pakistan in 1981 between the time he finished his second year at Oxy and his first year at Columbia so where the money came from who knows?
As far as who paid for Harvard your guess is as good as mine although the rumor has been given that he was paid to attend by the Saudis.
Check this post out:
1,461 posted on Thursday, January 08, 2009 9:34:19 PM by Chief Engineer
In April 2008, appearing at Haverford College, Michelle referred to her husband’s student loans, she added sarcastically: “Now when is the last time you’ve seen a president of the United States who just paid off his loan debt? But, again, maybe I’m out of touch.” On 1 October 2008, Michelle told a crowd at CU Boulder that she empathized with students attempting to afford a college education, “You come out so mired in debt, as Barack and I did. We just paid off our student loans a few years ago, and that was because Barack wrote two best-selling books,” said Mrs. Obama. “Don’t we want a president who understands what its like to carry debt?”