an education I'll never use
Date: Sat, 11/15/2008 - 09:28
My debt began as I started school to become a web developer. Most of my free time up to the point I'd decided to be a web developer was spent tinkering around with computers - building, taking down, rebuilding, breaking them just to have a reason to upgrade, etc... I love to put them together and make them work. It further piqued my interest when I started getting into programming. I have a lot of fun programming because of the endless possibilities.
So, I started on the course of web development at a large school known for its technology reputation. Web development because it involves programming and design, and because it's basically the future of computing. I'd been doing web development already as a hobby, working on the technical aspects of a couple of websites and changing the programming to make new features for the members' enjoyment. So, I had already learned quite a bit without the support of a major university.
I began my enrollment with an application for every bit of aid I could get. The financial aid in the form of grants in the first couple of semesters was enough to cover tuition and some of my books, which is lucky because those first few semesters are always just the general crap they stick you with and none of the interesting stuff that you might actually use. Living expenses were light, as I was still living with my dad for almost 2 years into my education. Little loans here and there began piling up after grants stopped covering everything, and soon I needed to start using credit cards I had been offered in order to buy my books and equipment for the semester.
I started trying to work out how to cover the credit card debt with more loans, but the federally subsidized loans only give you so much, so I had to start going for private loans. That started involving my dad as a co-signer. $5,000 here, $10,000 there, etc...somewhere along the line, I have to move into my own apartment (and I choose a place that's expensive, but walking distance to class so that I can save on gas and time). Soon, I find myself swimming in over $45,000 of educational loans, still with the credit card debt piling up. Well, up to that point, I'd found a job doing what I love, programming, and was using not a single drop of what I had learned from college. Everything was stuff I taught myself and played with in my own spare time.
Still to this day, none of those debts are going down, I'm still at that same job, now settled into a new cheaper place to live after leaving school and the old apartment behind. I unfortunately have a number of bad marks on my credit report that I will not escape, including a last-week-of-the-lease eviction from the old apartment because I could not manage to come up with the expensive rent in the allotted 5 first days of October. (had just barely under what I needed, and the next paycheck was 7 days away)
I still have not used my education for anything practical. The only fruits I got out of it were the easy access to tons and tons of Microsoft software. Windows XP Pro 32 & 64 for $10 for the win! Only cost me $45,000! lol
and so there's my first post. Anyone got a winning lottery ticket they wouldn't mind sharing? :D
Most people do not use what they learn in there degree progr
Most people do not use what they learn in there degree programs. Think of it...a lot of majors have absolutely no practical application. Universities and colleges for the most part do not teach a trade, they teach you to facts and how to learn. So you are in the same boat as a lot of students. Political science degree...what the hell you going to do with that? Philosphy? History? English for that matter....unless you are going to teach or work at a book store, really what use is an english degree.
Have you consolidated your federal loans? Have you thought of working a second job to pound out the debts quicker???
I haven't even gotten far enough to consider what I can do to pa
I haven't even gotten far enough to consider what I can do to pay off or reduce. Doesn't consolidation require a new credit qualification? Because my report is honestly very ugly. I have no chance of getting my dad to cosign on anything else since he just got a new mortgage and is already having to help me by paying the portion of the loans that he cosigned for. I am not sure if I can possibly consolidate those into a loan of my own. I have only just now started getting a balance sheet together that has me with a black number in the bank at the end of the month. Then I have to pay off eviction and loans I took out from friends and family members immediately
I am considering a second job but the fact that it may put me in another tax bracket may cost me more than the extra I might make. I have some supplemental income from forums I manage.
Anybody in your area that might need your services? Any hobbies/
Anybody in your area that might need your services? Any hobbies/interests that you could capitalize on, using your web design education? That's how I got started, although I didn't wind up going back to school until after I had a viable business doing IT.
One example:
I ride motorcycles, and have for more than 40 years. That put me in contact with a local chopper builder. Talking with him over a beer one day, I asked if he had a website, etc. Imagine my surprise when he allowed that he didn't.....
A few years later, he's still trying to get the time and ideas together so I can start on the website. Meanwhile, he's identified other things that he never knew he needed. Domain, email, hardware and networking services, graphic design, signage, desktop publishing services, software development. The list rolls on.
At his request, I developed a custom service-management solution from scratch. Nothing on the market did what he wanted to do, so I started fresh. I gave him that, in exchange for some mechanical work. Then he got to talking to his circle of friends, and the word got out. Today, I have over three hundred licensed installations, at $199 each plus residuals. That software is currently under re-development as a hosted application, which should bring in even more $$, as it won't matter any longer what OS or system specs the shop has.
Takeaway: There's always a way, if you look for it. Sometimes, you just have to look at it from a different angle, is all.
FWIW, my original business specialty was web design, back in the '90s, and my initial degree was in network administration. Neither of which is particularly related to the business I did with this client.
Federal student loan consolidation is not credit based. http:
Federal student loan consolidation is not credit based.
http://www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov/borrower/borrower.shtml
is the link for the US Dept of Ed consolidation loan program.