Posted on 08/28/2022 12:02:29 PM PDT by grundle
One of Richelle Brooks' dreams is to send her two children to college without taking out any loans. She knows firsthand how taking out a loan to pursue higher education can amount to crippling debt.
"My daughter wants to be an anesthesiologist. My son wants to be a computer engineer. Two little Black kids want this for their future," Brooks, 35, told Insider. "And this country is telling me it's impossible for me to get them there. It's a terrible, hopeless feeling."
Brooks borrowed $203,000 collectively to attend undergrad, graduate, and doctoral studies. And over the years, has accumulated over $30,000 in interest.
"Yeah, $240,000," Brooks said.
In 2020, she decided to politicize her inability to pay back her loans. Apart of the Debt Collective, she joined a group of strikers called the "Biden Jubilee 100," calling on the president to cancel student debt within the early days of being in office.
Brooks' American dream is simple.
"My hope is that if my student loan debt balance is canceled, I can start saving for them and planning for their future," she said. "But I'm also hoping that we can get a free college education so that I don't have to also worry about how to finance their future either."
Living in California as a single mother is financially taxing, she said. She works as a principal in South Los Angeles, a career which she adores, but she often has to have a side hustle to live comfortably.
With the burden of student loan debt, saving money for the future is not a luxury for many Black borrowers.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Matrix for Success Academy raises my antenna.
Yep, first thing on their website is a dude in a hoodie.
The Academic page begins the paragraph with a lower case letter.
Not taxable at the federal level.
Taxable at state level in 13 states.
https://taxfoundation.org/student-loan-debt-cancelation-tax-treatment/
It was very racist to give her the $203,000 loan she asked for.
Comedy is fee drugs to the soul. Lighten up.
and pass the popeyes
ANYONE that has $240,000 in student loans is TO STUPID to have graduated from college!! OMG!! I KNOW many, many peop,e who took out student loans AND did NOT use them for their education, I know 2 girls personally who used student loans to pay for extravagant weddings and vehicle purchases!!
I’m thinking she didn’t study math!
No worries Richelle, because of your racial status, your kids will probably go for free.
Now pay back your debt, freeloader wanna-be!!
I didn't go to the college I wanted to go to because I didn't want to be shackled with debts and have to pay them back. I starved my way through college. Now I have to pay off your debts??? Feels like enslavement to me! And YOU are the enslaver!
Some do, my daughters covers everything including a 30k a year stipend at University if Minnesota. Of course hers is in Biomedical engineering not education.
“With the burden of student loan debt, saving money for the future is not a luxury for many Black borrowers.”
____________________________
So sez the last sentence of the excerpt. Ah the illogic and illiteracy.
Saving money for the future (as opposed to the past) is not a luxury for anybody. It’s an effort. Involving sacrifice. Dedication. Determination. Discipline.
“for many black borrowers”? No, for any. Or for white borrowers, as pointed out elsewhere. Race really has nothing to do with it.
Here’s a plan that many (or maybe just a few smart people) have adopted to pay of mortgages, credit card debt, and, yes, student loans:
1. Make as big a payment as you can to bring down the principal each month.
2. Make these payments a priority. Never fail to make a payment, thus never incur penalties or higher interest rates.
3. In addition, always strive to save regularly, even if only a (ridiculously) small amount.
4. Every time you get a windfall of cash or refunds of taxes, say, double your payment on the principal, add a bit more to savings, and treat yourself in a small way—hey, no harm in celebrating successes.
5. Avoid running up other bills on (here it comes) luxury items like new cars, top-end phones, cigarettes, drugs, weekly nail salons, and such.
6. Pay off high-interest bills first. THEN. And always, apply the amount of the saved payment to another liability.
Do these simple things and you can pay off a 30-year mortgage in 12 or 15, get completely out of credit card debt, and get rid of that student loan obligation.
THEN. Save(and invest) as much as you can. Always pay off credit cards monthly in full. Enjoy a few luxuries. Sweet, huh?
As I say, it’s not a racial thing. Call this plan white privilege if you like. If so, feel free to culturally appropriate. It’s a smart thing.
But Don’t. Ask me to pay for your $hit.
If you have to have the empty credential of an Ed.D. there are probably much cheaper ways of getting one. Cal State, where she went, charges more for education credits than for credits towards some other degrees.
Don’t know the situation in the US, but in Canaduh, to teach in a school, all you require is a Bachelor’s degree in ‘edjumacashun’, a Bachelor’s degree and a two year teaching degree, NOT a Master’s degree and certainly NOT a PhD! (Incidently, an acquaintance of mine calls a PhD, ‘pile higher and deeper’.)
Given that this ‘big momma’ is only 35, it sounds like she did not enter the workforce until completing ALL her advanced ‘edjumacashun’, all $240,000 of it! IF she were that bright, would she have not gotten scholarship(s), especially for her doctorate?
When I went to HS, in the late 70s, I attended the largest HS in Ottawa. The Principal had a M. Ed., but he obtained it, going to university at night, while TEACHING! At that time, only a few Principals even HAD Master’s degrees, let alone PhDs!
MOST people (at least the ‘less than wealthy’) will work after their undergrad degree, gain experience, and then pursue their Master’s, perhaps taking a LoA, or pursuing it at night. The wealthy can afford to do the ‘whole schmear’ all at once, courtesy of the ‘bank of mommy and daddy’. Those without the resources, do not.
There is an old saying, ‘Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.’ This story reinforces that old saying. I have no sympathy for her, only for her children, that have such a mother.
It is not ‘racism’ that is holding her back, it’s her own STUPIDITY!
170k a year and 200k in loans. Cali is pricy but she chooses to live there.
And if she can’t pay down her debt, who’s fault is that?
And today she’s a school principal. 🤡🤡🤡
She’s made a bet on Dem forgiveness.
It remains to be seen if it will pay off in Nov.
The $10 grand deal is the result of polling done by consultants trying to find the best plan for vote buying vs vote losing.
If they’re happy with the results we’ll see more in 2024.
Thanks. I was guessing Benz or Audi.
With her income she’s not going to qualify for the 10k and the 10k likely won’t survive the courts.
This whole thing is a scam
Hey they’re only about a grand a month on lease....
Ken, dude
Escalades aren’t free.
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