If you didn't grow up with generational wealth and you don't have some phenomenal athletic or musical skill, you were told that higher education was the key to class ascension. You worked hard and applied to the best schools which increasingly raised their prices above what middle class people could afford. Students took on loans that were so massive, it compromised their financial freedom...some times for life. They were unable to buy a house or own property, which are the most stable forms of generational wealth. College debt ensured that wealth does not get be passed on to the next generation...there is no house or farm to leave behind, no investments. It all went into paying for a piece of paper you got in your early 20s. College debt became the very trap the students were trying to escape from through credentialed intelligence.
At the same time...
everyone has a choice. I avoided NYU and Columbia b/c I was told that these were overpriced schools that didn't care about their students. I heard this when I was 17. It took minimal research and a pocket calculator to figure out the trap. So it's not we are helpless lemmings who must go to the most expensive school. A Columbia wrestling coach came down to Miami and hinted that I could get a financial help if I continued to wrestle for them. But I found high school wrestling to be mentally and physically exhausting. I only wrestled to stay in shape for football and It was amazing for just that purpose. In the process, I became a two-time district champ so I opened up another avenue I could take for a free college degree. And if I had no other prospects, I would have gladly bludgeoned my body for a degree. But I did have choices and spending four more years in a world of skin diseases, cauliflower ear, rashes, sprains, and smelling like stale sweat...was not my idea of freedom. I compromised on my college choices due to debt: Northwestern was sort of affordable. When I graduated from NU I had debt. It felt large but not suffocating. For my MFA, New School was almost entirely free... I just had to pay for housing the first year and then I became an RA the last 2 yrs so that was covered. Juilliard was free and they gave their playwrights a stipend.
We all have choices. We're all making educated guesses on how to escape capitalism, only to find ourselves right back to square one on the Monopoly Board...rolling the dice again.
SCHOOLS I REJECTED B/C I DIDN'T WANT EXPLOSIVE DEBT
- NYU: for undergrad and grad b/c I didn't learn the 1st time.
- Columbia: "You can just take out some loans"
- Cornell: "You can just take out some loans."
- Boston College: "Yep...that's the price."
- Trinity University: "Figure it out. We don't care."
SCHOOLS THAT GAVE ME ALL THE SCHMONEY THAT I TURNED DOWN (b/c I was a foolish teen who didn't care about debt)
- Washington & Lee (full freaking scholarship)
- Harding U (full scholarship and they made a recruitment tape)
- Lehigh University
MY SCHOOL DEBT
-Northwestern U: mostly scholarship but ended up 50k in debt. Not great but manageable.
- New School/Actors Studio MFA: mostly scholarship and was an RA my 2nd and 3rd year so it was almost free. 10k in debt.
- Juilliard: FREE! AHAHAHAHA!! No debt.
How much debt I still have to pay off after all these years: 30k.
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