With friends like these, who needs conservatives?
Freer than me
My father lives in a trailer park in suburban Philadelphia. He depends on his modest social security check each month. He is not in a place to help me buy a home, as I watch my friends’ parents support them in so doing. Sometimes I send him small sums when times are particularly hard. Sometimes he shares a little extra with me. He is seventy-three years old and is looking into finding another job but is having a hard time given his age and lack of a four-year college degree. My mother, who has a long rap sheet with numerous criminal convictions for drug use, is perennially jobless. She sends me money orders and checks for $25 and $50 whenever she can. Sometimes they bounce.
I did what I was told and got the best education I could manage. Now, I owe over $200,000 in student loans. I have both private and government-backed loans. The three entities (Discover, Citibank and the US Dept of Education) that hold my loan debts do not talk to each other to devise a coherent repayment plan for me as a young borrower. At one point, nearly 30% of my monthly income was going towards loan debt repayment. I very seriously and regularly consider leaving the country in order to avoid this crushing burden. (Does my country not owe me a quality education through post-secondary? Free K-12 is a given, but K-16 or K-20 is…
