I Paid Off My Student Loan

I paid off my student loan last month. I don’t have any profound advice about repaying debt. It’s all very simple. Pay it back. Be aware of your circumstances, make a plan and stick with it.

I finished my masters degree in May 2012. In December 2012 I received a letter from my lender about the repayment terms. I believe I owed around $35,000. They wanted around $500 a month. At the time I was making my living by working three low wage part time jobs, two were in retail and one was as a waitress. I found the $500 payments to be overwhelming.

I called the lender and told them I would pay them every month but I couldn’t pay what they were asking. They changed the terms of my loan. My payments were decreased to around $200 per month. I made those payments for a few years and when I checked my balance it hadn’t changed much from the balance of the loan shortly after graduation.

I called the loan company again and they explained the situation better. I learned that I was paying $7 a day in interest on the loan. The $200 per month I was paying wasn’t even covering the interest and my payments weren’t touching the principle. The lowered monthly payment merely kept my accounts in good standing.

Once I became aware of my circumstances I devised a plan to get out of debt. I decided to increase my payments. The interest was aggressive so I needed to become more aggressive. My employment situation improved over time. It still isn’t great but keep in mind I was working three part time, low wage jobs at the beginning of this story. I eventually got a somewhat respectable 9-5 which I’ve had for the last five years.

I worked about fifty five hours per week for five years. I worked three days a week for twelve hours between the two jobs, every Saturday for eight hours and I took most Sundays off. That was my schedule for five years until I quit my part time job for COVID 19 related reasons. By that time I had already paid my car off so I had money free to maintain my student loan payments.

I had increased my payments to over $500 per month which was what they were asking for at the beginning. Most months I made payments between $500-$700. As my individual loan amounts got lower I would pay them off in full. My last few payments were over $1000.

I’ve read many articles and seen You Tube videos about repaying debt. They like to pretend that they have some mystic advice. There is none. There is no oracle speaking money secrets. All these stories about people repaying large amounts of debt back in a fairly short time had the money to do so.

It’s all math. You have to devote more money to repaying debt through cutting back and reallocating money in your budget or you have to come up with more money. There wasn’t much for me to cut back because I am not a wealthy woman so the answer was to make more money to repay the loan. That’s it. That’s the formula.

Working six days a week for so many years was taxing and a sacrifice but it was worth it. The debt is gone. Now that the debt is paid I have more freedom in my future plans. My new focus is saving for retirement. I may also buy a home in the next few years.

I wrote this to encourage others who have debt repayment. It may take a long time but the goal is attainable. It takes dedication and perseverance but your financial future is worth it. If you owe money part of every dollar you earn belongs to someone else.

Repaying student loan debt is difficult but it is not an insurmountable task. Keep in mind I do not make much money so if you graduate and make a good salary it will be easier for you to repay the debt. If you have dreams of furthering your education clearly assess the situation with logic and a clear head, not fear and emotion.

Sit down with a pencil and paper and write things out. It’s all a matter of math and how the numbers work with your life circumstances and goals. Don’t listen to social media opinions of student loan debt on either side of the loan debate.

Consider your variables and do not mistake the life situation for others as your own. Accurately assess your options and long term outcomes. There are too many people blowing smoke and spreading fear on both sides of the loan debate. I also wouldn’t wait for an act of Congress to cancel debt or change the terms of the loan. It’s quite refreshing to not be a part of the great American student loan debate. Best wishes to you and congratulations to me.

Patriotic Education

Last week Donald Trump signed an executive order to develop a patriotic curriculum to be taught in schools. He says that current curriculum teach a twisted web of lies about racism and that it’s abusive to children. Trump wants to focus on feel good pro American, patriotic history. In other words he wants American education to be pro White.

I would say that I received a patriotic education. I began kindergarten in 1980 in a public school in a suburb of Detroit. While I was an elementary school student we stood for the Pledge of Allegiance and sung a patriotic song with our hands over our hearts every morning. I remained in the same school system until I graduated the local high school in 1993.

I remember being taught in the first grade about the first Thanksgiving and how the Pilgrims and Indians were friends. Half of the class dressed up as Pilgrims the other as Indians. We made our costumes and ate soup that the teacher made for us. I was a Pilgrim.

I am old enough to remember getting a day off from school for Christopher Columbus Day during my elementary school years. We were taught that he discovered America. I don’t remember the indigenous people of America being mentioned at all.

The only Black author I studied in literature classes was Richard Wright. Besides that the other literature we studied came from White authors a few of which had Black characters in their stories such as “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Huck Finn”. There were Black history lessons but I would call them superficial.

After graduating high school I attended a public university and earned a BA in 1997. I earned a BA from a different university in 2003 and I earned an MLA in 2010. None of my schools were HBCUs. I would describe my education as White centered. My textbooks were most likely all written by White scholars with Eurocentric viewpoints. The exception would be the African American history class I took as an undergrad.

But even when you read the history that White people wrote they come across as stubbornly racist, greedy, selfish and savagely violent. In their stories where they think of themselves as the heroes they come across as sociopaths.

You can’t sweeten up American history. There is no way to clean up The Middle Passage. You can’t make The Trail of Tears a feel good story. Manifest Destiny was a White supremacist ideal and that occurred to me in school as I read it at a young age. You can’t explain away the part of the Constitution that stated that Black people were 5/8 of a human being.

You have to act like a lot of American history didn’t happen or you have to fabricate lies in order to make it sound like the US is a racially equitable society. Unfortunately, even current events continue to tell a very unflattering story of America and the way it treats many of its citizens.

I think that Trump’s reasons for pushing a pro American agenda is self serving. I anticipate that Trump and his disciples will not be treated kindly by history. Trump wants to make any discussion of racism more taboo than it already is. The only way they will be seen in a positive light is if criticism of an American president is prohibited. That’s a First Amendment violation.

I don’t resent my patriotic education. It is what it is. White people conquered North America and my ancestors were their prisoners. That’s how things work. The conquerors dictate the history.

Growing up Black in a Eurocentric educational system made me a critical thinker and a bit of a rebel which is what Donnie wants to avoid. It made me question things since I didn’t identify with most of America’s heroes. I believe my White centered education actually affirmed a lot of positive things for me about being Black American. It helped that I didn’t see myself as a part of the cruel American regime.

I think it’s a positive thing to teach children respect and to love their country. I grew up feeling proud to be American even though my race has been subjected to oppression, violence and hatred. There isn’t another country that I can claim.

I believe most Americans grew up with a sense of national pride which is why we are all appalled and heartbroken about the current political climate. I don’t think it’s wrong to raise children with ideals. They can figure out that institutions we look up to are far from perfect. It’s a part of growing up and when you’re grown it’s your turn to try and improve them.

My public education did what a public school education should do. I became literate, learned some basic historical and geographical facts and gained basic math skills. I also learned to research information which is very important. Once a student graduates high school it is up to them to continue seek knowledge and process it critically. If parents instill a child with a sense of self they will learn how it all relates to them and they will develop their own point of view.

Education in America can’t get anymore patriotic and pro White than it has been. The only way to make it more pro White is to omit most of the history and just start lying. Trump’s plan will fail because too much is already documented about this country unless he is planning to burn books and destroy history like in “Fahrenheit 451”. I won’t be surprised if that is the real plan.

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/17/914127266/trump-announces-patriotic-education-commission-a-largely-political-move

The “NYT” Makes Me Cringe

I don’t like the New York Times. I find a lot of the articles to be cringe worthy. The NYT caters to a White, affluent, liberal, East coast audience that lacks self awareness. That’s well and good but I’m not of that demographic so I don’t relate to their stories or understand their tales of woe. A lot of the stories in the NYT come across as whiny and delusional to me. I’ve read their stories and sarcastically mouthed the words boo freaking hoo to myself.

Last weekend I ran across an article by a man named Anthony Abraham Jack. He is a Black man from a poor background that wrote the most cringe worthy article I’ve ever seen in the New York Times.

Mr. Jack is a Harvard Professor now so it’s safe to say he’s made it. He wrote his article to discuss his experiences as a low income student at Amherst College, a private college in Massachusetts. He was a poor man surrounded by affluence and privilege.

I have noticed that the American media loves a Black sob story. They sop it up with buttered biscuits. Even if a story doesn’t have anything to do with having an under privileged background TV producers and writers work it in to the narrative.

Instead of centering himself, his experiences and his accomplishments in this piece Mr. Jack centered his wealthier classmates by comparing himself to them. His classmates were irrelevant to his success in school. He had his own journey and that should have been the story. That’s it.

I also question Anthony’s choices. Why did he choose Amherst? Surely, he could have gone to a state college closer to home in warm sunny Florida. There must have been something that drew him to Amherst that made the distance from family and expense worthwhile. He made his choice to go there and he’s a smart man who became success so why make this appeal? He is complaining about being the underclass of a privileged class. I don’t feel sorry for him. Boo freaking hoo!

I would have appreciated this article more if the intended audience was low income college students. It would be great if someone with Mr. Jack’s accomplishment’s gave helpful advice about navigating their journey to graduation day. Instead he is making an appeal to the elite to help poor students. He is empowering those that are already powerful and making low income students charity cases. He’ encouraging them to walk with their heads lowered and hat in hand.

But that’s how he has been socialized. Here is the passage in I Was a Low Income College Student. The Classes Weren’t the Hard Part that made me blow a gasket.

NYT

Good grief, poor kids that want to go to prestigious universities are encouraged by educators to sell themselves as good candidates to schools based on sympathy and sob stories not academic merits. That’s demeaning and those educators should be completely ashamed of himself. They should be fired.

These students should let admissions boards know that they are competitive scholars that can win. If their background is brought up prospective students should let universities know that they are likely to succeed because of their background, not in spite of it. In fact, they are more likely to achieve than some of their more affluent counterparts because they are resilient and highly motivated by a desire to carve bright futures for themselves. Perhaps that’s too much of a threat?

I grew up in a single parent home in a working or perhaps middle class neighborhood outside of Detroit, Michigan. I have three college degrees one of which is a masters degree. I worked while I was a student all three times I was enrolled in a university. I didn’t have as much time or financial resources to invest in projects and materials as others may have but I never failed and I always finished what I started.

I didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth and my mother struggled financially at times but that gave me a drive and will to succeed. I never felt sorry for myself. I never thought I couldn’t win. There have been many times that I thought I was the one to beat. And it’s because I haven’t been handed anything and I’ve never seen anyone get handed anything. I don’t envy or hold anything against people of privileged backgrounds. I don’t count other people’s money and I make my own way.

I don’t like the New York Times. They take too much pleasure in Black sob stories like most American media outlets. It’s not productive or inspiring for Black people and it just gives White people a chance to feel good about themselves (and superior) by joining in on the pity. Feeling sorry for a man like Anthony Abraham jack is degrading. He sure doesn’t look helpless to me. He shouldn’t be encouraging low income students to feel helpless either. Don’t approach any situation with your head lowered and hat in hand. If an environment requires that it may not be the right place for you.