Posted on 02/10/2012 9:10:15 AM PST by Sub-Driver
I Owe $130,000 in Student Loans
Jennifer Sammartino has a great education and a mountain of student loan debt By Gemma DiCasimirro and Alexis Leonard | Thursday, Feb 9, 2012 | Updated 5:43 PM EST
When Jennifer Sammartino needed help paying for college, she, like many students, took out federal and private loans. Now she’s faced with over $130,000 in student loan debt.
After Sammartino graduated from La Salle University with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology. she had no luck getting a job. She then made the decision to go back to school, hoping that a Master’s degree would bring in more job opportunities.
But graduate school also meant more loans.
Unable to get approved by herself, Sammartino’s parents co-signed for the majority of her loans. Now they could be in serious financial trouble too.
If Sammartino defaults on her loans, her parents could lose their home.
Sammartino, now with her Master’s degree is still unable to find a job in her field. She works as a case manager for special needs children, but her salary isn't enough to pay back all the money she owes for her education.
The debt seems overwhelming to Sammartino. “I would like to be able to pay my student loans, and we know that we have to pay them back,” she says, “But we don’t know where to start.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcphiladelphia.com ...
No education is worth 1/4 of that amount, what a ripoff ... She needed to see a psychiatrist herself before deciding which field to go into ....
Seeing more stories like this...no coincidence. We are about to be told that it will be ‘better for the economy’ if these loans are forgiven.
I expect some form of this to be announced at the DNC convention.
These stories are just supposed to make us feel sorry for these lost clowns...and soften our position.
BUMP!! That's what I did. Took a while, grades suffered, but I earned my degree in Engineering the hard way. I stocked shelves, I mopped floors, I checked people out at the register, I unloaded trucks and I delivered pizza. Wasn't easy, wasn't fun - missed out on a lot of social and party events .... but I did it.
Jennifer and her parents should have looked at this more realistically from the beginning. In the first place, a BS, or BA, in Psychology will not get you a job anywhere — never has.
I managed to put 4 kids through college with no loans and no savings and a single parent income. Pay as you go. 2 of them went on the Grad school. Most of them went to State schools. Only one had a small scholarship for her last 2 years of undergraduate work.
But, I remember asking a neighbor 2 years before my kids started college, and they were all set to take every dollar they could get their hands on for their 5 kids. And they treated them to fancy cars, etc. with their own money. Need I mention that those kids turned out to be money grubbing Democrats? ‘Nuf said.
If you have your heart set on the Ivies and are not independently wealthy, you are setting yourself up for heartbreak.
I’m pleased to announce that my oldest grandson has just started college and there are no plans for him to take student loans either. I hope the other 10 do as well.
Good grief. That’s more than what I paid for my house.
1 year at LaSalle= 2.8 years at Penn State.
Go to Penn State. Live at home. Work part-time. Really, the problem isn't all that difficult unless they stopped teaching basic arithmetic in Pennsylvania schools.
Welll ....
There's your problem, right there.
Expect to see more of these sob stories as people push “student loan forgiveness” (which should happen right about the time I finish paying mine off).
It's impossible for me to feel sorry for them.
She could have made some real money doing that. I worked in a steel mill.
Ugly business, but it paid well.
Anyone spending $130K to get a psychology degree must be crazy.
Dear Jennifer.
Take out another loan, and send the money to the DNC. Afterwards, start up a new ‘green’ energy company, or apply for a ‘czar’ position (WH Minister of Psychology?).
The money will come rolling in.
Got that right. This woman is looking for bucket-loads of compassion right about now.
When I was in college, lo these many years ago, studying music education, one of the most talented graduates visited during my sophomore year. She could not find a job teaching music. She was all excited because our music prof had recommended she go for a graduate degree. I remember thinking at the time that it didn't make sense to go for more schooling in a field that was so narrow. Wasn't much longer, and I dropped out and went to work myself. I've never looked back, and I've always been able to get a job to help support my family, keeping a roof over our heads, and health insurance, as well.
I’ve gone back earn a masters, but it nowhere near $130,000. Wow!!!
When I was in college in the late 70’s early 80’s, Psych was the major people went into when they flunked out of the harder degrees like physical therapy and such.
Even then, we knew that a Psych degree didn’t mean anything unless you went to the PhD level.
Psych grads went into retail management at a low entry level salary. I can’t believe that time would have changed that reality.
To solve your debt problem, you need look no farther than the economic mastermind himself, President Obama, and observe and put into personal practice the miracle that he's created for our country.
First, this is not your fault. Always remember that you are a VICTIM. (Yes, you might have researched the market for psychology grads in advance, and pursued a more academically rigorous major, but that would take out the spontaneity of the decision, and leave far too little time for Jennifer.)
Second, know that to get out of debt, you must go farther into debt, thus stimulating the economy and creating a demand for your service. (On the surface this does not make sense, but since Keynesian economic theory is based on magic, it's not supposed to be based in old fashioned rational logic.)
And third, go back to school and get another degree, but something different. How about something marketable such as Sociology, Aroma therapy, or Women's Studies?
.
My daughter just made the wise decision to discontinue full time student status because she realized the cost of loans would far outweigh her prospective income. Smart kid. She paid the first two years herself, and a couple semesters into loan territory made the decision.
Her debt is manageable and should be paid off in a year or so.
Here is the LaSalle fee schedule. This woman certainly didn’t run up this debt just paying tuition.
The dirty little secret is that the loans are often used for ‘living expenses’.
I’m sorry, but if she needed mommy and daddy to cosign with her, maybe she should have been living at home with them.
http://www.lasalle.edu/financialaid/content/forms/ay1112.pdf
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