As a teenager, one of the goals I set for myself was to one day become an attorney. A lofty goal, to say the least, since I never placed too much importance on study and good grades while in high school. After a stint in the military, I continued my education at a college in St. Louis. I hunkered down and prepared myself academically, however, I never gave much thought as to how I would afford a trip to law school, especially, since my undergraduate degree was a free ride with all the grants, scholarships and the G.I. Bill benefits I received along the way.
In 1990 I was accepted to the School of Law -St. Louis University- as a part-time student at the age of 42. Unlike my fellow students, some half my age, I had a wife, child ( I also learned another was on the way), a mortgage and other financial obligations that seem to crop up on us married folks. While I had a good-paying job at the time, I would need student loans to help pay the tuition.
I soon found that obtaining a student loan was simple. Fill out the application, sign on the dotted line and a check would arrive prior to the beginning of the semester. I learned of the existence of other types of aid designed to help with living expenses for full-time law students. I switched over to the full-time program, quit my day job and received these student loans. By the time I graduated and received my J.D. in 1993, I had amassed approximately $60,000 in debt from the various student loans.
I made scheduled payments for the first five years, while I was doing well within the profession. Then came good months and bad months and I slipped on a few banana peels that lay in my path. I grew disenchanted, not with the law, but with the system and politics that are part of the game. I quit and entered a new line of work. I fell behind in payments and eventually defaulted, which adds penalties to the principal. Collection fees were added to compound the problem.
I entered a student loan rehabilitation program designed to cure the default status of the student loans. My payments are set for two years, then raised slightly every two years. I’ll work and draw Social Security well into my 80’s before I am close to having the student loans paid off.
Would I do it again to achieve my goal? No, it simply was not worth it to take on such debt when there is no certainty in this day and age of economic instability that financial success will prevail.