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Millions of Americans who went to college are now crippled by their student loans. “Debt is the first thing I factor in all of my decisions,” says Jessie Suren, who graduated with a criminal justice degree and is struggling to pay off her debt.
Currently, there is a focus because of external factors to public school (access to funding) to prepare a student for college and career readiness. Unfortunately, some of the advice is misguided because although efforts are directed at increasing attendance in college using federal student loans there is no preventive counseling to students on how to repay the debt.
I personally made the decision to use student loans because it was a way to increase my income. As a public school teacher, my pay is a direct correlation or table cross matrix between the years of service and my education accomplishments. Therefore the amount of increase in annual pay because of my degrees is not uncommon but still painful each month.
I choose not to squander and complain about the debt but instead focus on using the knowledge to build the additional income to pay off the student loan debt so I can retire in comfort. My education has developed my writing and research skills to a level that I firmly believe is capable of accomplishing anything that I focus on through the end.
