Student Loans in America

I was talking to my sister tonight and we were discussing debt and whatnot. I don't know how we got on topic but it got me thinking about student debt. My husband and I are currently drowning in student debt. I don't know how we stay afloat exactly but we are managing so far. I remember reading an article on Yahoo! not too long ago that followed several people who had student debt. It asked them how much their debt was, whether they were working in the industry that they studied in and how much money they currently made in their jobs. I remember reading that while my own husband was in school racking up $20,000 a year in student loan debt. I also remember thinking then about how in the hell we were going to manage to pay off his loans while saving for our own children to go to college. There is no way we will be able to pay off his loans before my children go to college, barring winning the lottery of course. I want to try to pay for my children's education because I don't want them to be trying to start a family with an unfathomable amount of debt the way I am. I want them to get out of college and start thinking about what house they want and where they want to live, even if they want to travel the world for 10 years before they come back and settle in. I want them to be carefree! Isn't that the way it should be? Anyway, back to the Yahoo! article. Those people who got out of college with Masters degrees and Bachelor's degrees were not doing well. Not one single person. They were all trying to pay back between $30,000 and $120,000 in student debt while making very little money as entry level employees with an entry level salary or not even being able to work in their chosen fields. Of course the economic disaster that our country is in hasn't helped one bit, starting salaries are at all time lows, including ours. Why have tuition rates skyrocketed past normal inflation levels? We all know the value of an education, but is it really worth it to be this stressed out and wondering if we will ever be able to provide our children with the same education that we have? I can't answer that question for everyone but I do know that my husband is happy knowing that he has a Bachelor's, no matter what he had to do to get it. He worked his butt off and I worked hard too, making ends meet while he attended 15-20+ credit hour semesters to get his schooling done as quickly as possible. I am not writing this blog to gripe about our situation. I hope it doesn't seem that way. We are not the exception these days though. Something needs to be done about the cost of education. PELL grants have been cut back and companies are not giving scholarships as freely as they once were, tuition reimbursement is a thing of the past. To add to this private loan companies that offer student loans can charge whatever interest rates they want. While the federally guaranteed loans have regulated interest rates. Our own interest rates go from a very good 6% all the way to 15%. We didn't choose the loan with the 15% interest rate. The school chose it for us. This is happening to students all over our country. Some students have no idea what they are getting themselves into. They couldn't understand it because of the mounds of paperwork they have to sign tells them very little about the types of loans the school can apply for without your consent. They get one initial consent and the rest they can do without any further consultation with you. What can be done about it? We are putting young people at a disadvantage before they even leave the ground. If our country is ever going to pull itself out of this economic situation we have to do something about this. People just want to provide for their families. The 1% say, "Get a real job." and yet college cost are so out of control right now that nobody can afford to get a real job. You have to have a Bachelor's degree just to get anywhere and the average cost of getting one is around $60,000 for a 4 year program. It's almost as much as buying a home. Combine that with interest and it could cripple a young couple trying to buy a home and start a family. Something real has to be done about the cost of college and the interest rates on student loans and soon or only the rich will be able to       afford college and wealth inequality will only get worse.

Carissa :)

Barefoot and Pregnant 2

I have been reading more and more about this whole Planned Parenthood issue. Of course, in this political climate and in an election year, we hear about it every day. I can't understand the math that people are using. Having three children myself I understand that my birth control costs are around $10 a month and that the cost of raising just one child costs on average $600 to $700 a month. I feel as if that could be a conservative estimate. There are a lot of factors that would change that number but it's probably pretty close. Now, I want to understand why we don't want to pay for birth control but we do want to pay out for child care, clothing, housing, food, etc. Trust me, if a woman can't afford her birth control, she sure as hell can't afford to take care of that kid. Why do we want to give her a lifetime of welfare but not help her with her birth control? I talked in my last blog post about using birth control for preventing pregnancy but let's talk about some other uses. I know many women who use birth control to help control heavy flow issues, menstrual cramps, fibroid cysts and tumors, among other things. I have used progesterone in the past to shrink fibroid tumors myself. My insurance should pay for that. They should pay for any necessary medications that my doctor prescribes. If I didn't have insurance where would I go to get this medicine? I would go to Planned Parenthood. I would expect that the state of Texas, where I live, and pay taxes to help me with the costs of such medicine. Currently Texas is attempting to cut all funding to any clinics that provide abortion services, which include Planned Parenthood. Where would I go then? I don't qualify for Medicaid and I make a little too much money to qualify for other services but Planned Parenthood would welcome me with open arms to help me with whatever my issues might be. I used PP in the past for my birth control, yearly exams and such when I didn't have insurance and needed those services. Some women only have their PP nurse or doctor to offer advice for any number of issues they may have. PP is their only source of medical care. What will those women do when they have no clinic to go to? Women may not get their yearly exams and then when they have untreated cancers, cysts, endometriosis, etc they would go to an ER and cost the American taxpayers twice as much as if we had just left PP alone to provide their services. What math equation makes closing PP a good decision? Last time I checked abortion was still legal. Why are we making every effort to defund it so that it essentially becomes unobtainable, legal or not? There are only 682 clinics that offer abortion services in American as opposed to 4,000+ pregnancy resource clinics. Defunding PP and closing abortion clinics will not stop abortions from happening. It will cost us a lot more money to treat women in the ER and it will cost us many lives for women receiving back alley abortions. I understand the moral question involved. We look the other way on so many issues involving morals but we hone in on this. I just can't understand it. Attacking women is not the way to go about this. Please, if you agree and you can help, donate money to PP so that the women out there who need our help can get it. They deserve to get the care they need whether we agree with their decisions or not. I'll say it again, women are important no matter what our healthcare needs are and those needs should be met.

Carissa

Radiohead

Radiohead is political, right? I went and saw Radiohead on Monday so I am kinda brain dead today. I cannot think what to blog about! I do have to say this though. I had the best time EVER! It was truly awesome and I even got a t-shirt! This is my favorite band and it was my first time seeing them. Some of their songs have even helped shape my political views. Thom Yorke is somewhat of an activist and I do enjoy his point of view on some things. He writes amazing music too. Ok, well that's enough gushing. I just exposed myself as a true dork.   To be honest, I am kinda burned out right now. I am just saddened when I read articles about some of the things happening to our people and our Earth right now. Lately, I am having a hard time making myself dig through that every day. I am enjoying the quiet joys of life and family. Like a concert that pretty much made my whole year! My beautiful baby who can sit up, kinda, on his own and has the most gorgeous smile in the world. Life goes by too fast. We have to enjoy the small, quiet moments while trying to stay involved mostly in the pursuit to make it better for us and the generations to come. We should probably start by caring for and about each other. Unfortunately, that has not been our way for some time. I can only hope that we can begin to change our way. I have been finding myself on the verge of tears frequently when I read or watch the news. So I am taking a short break. I am going to try to start attending the Occupy movement general assemblies in Dallas and hear what they are doing. I hope to be able to blog about that a little bit. I am also about to start an organic garden. I am only going to plant a few things but I hope for it to be successful. It's good for the earth and it's probably really good for your grocery budget! I know we eat a lot of fruits and veggies here and boy are they expensive! Hope everyone has a great week! Hope to bring you more great blog material soon.

Carissa :)