I owe $120,000 to the American government, which I accrued chasing the American dream. Yes, I am yet another person who was taken in by the predatory lending practices of student loans.
The story of my education is classically American: problematic student is deemed talented, teacher with heart goes out of his way to invest in the student, turns out the student’s family is struggling financially. Teacher pays for testing fees, student excels on state test revealing they weren’t stupid after all – they were just broke, they were just working, they were just prioritizing their family. College accepts and welcomes student despite their checkered past, student reveals themself to be something of a savant, graduates summa cum laude, goes on to study at an Ivy League school, all ends happily ever after.
Well, except for the debt. The debt I will carry with me for ever, like a shadow that informs all my decisions and is only escapable at night, when I sleep.
If I sound bitter, it’s because, to some extent, I am. Not for my sake –I had to be all but coerced into going to college – but for the sake of my parents and grandparents, who put so much desperate effort into attempting to build a better life for us.