Trapped by a student loan

Imagine that you are a hungry rabbit in the forest looking for food.  You haven't eaten in days and you are feeling desperate.  You have to eat or you'll perish.  Just when things look bleak you see an oasis.  Actually you see food, a big carrot!  It looks so good.   You notice a ring around the carrot but you are not concerned.  You also see a string on the carrot but it's no big deal as you know you can chew right through it.  All that matters is that you are going to eat and eat well!  You make your way to the carrot; sniff it a couple of times and then take a big bite. Then snatch!  the ring that was around the carrot is around your throat.  It's a rope and it's too big to chew through.  You try to wiggle out of it  and pull hard to break it but it just gets tighter, choking you.    You realize that you are trapped and there is nothing you can do about it. You are in big trouble.

Have you ever felt that way?  Have you ever felt like you were trapped and there was no way out of it?  I did for a long time; actually for 22 years.  No I wasn't in prison or locked in a dungeon but that was how long I had a student loan.  For over half my life, I had to live with the yoke of having that student debt.  It was incredibly hard and frustrating and I honestly thought that I would never pay it off.   But just over a year ago, I finally did pay my loan off and boy my first year without student loans feels really good.  I feel like that rabbit who somehow got free of that trap after things looked so desperate.   Yeah, I feel good.

And that's why I started this blog. I know there are many people - in fact potentially millions -  that are in the situation I was in.  You know, middle aged ( I am 41 now), your student loan in default and you don't know how to get out of it.  I know there are others who are comtemplating taking a student loan for schooling but they don't know all the pitfulls and traps.  I want to share my experiences with having student loans so that others can be more informed and have a better outcome.  So that's what I am going to do; I am going to share different aspects of my student loan experience and my family's(yes some of them got trapped too! In fact, some of them are still deeply in debt).  All with the goal of either helping you avoid the trap altogether or if you are caught in it, to break free of it. I will talk to you soon!