The Snowball Effect

Story of scalcagno's road to student loan debt...

I was a successful career professional, (an internationally distributed trade magazine art director/teacher/former ad agency owner with a professional office and employees) on the fast track toward career success. My husband and I had just adopted two young special needs sibling children of abuse from Houston Child Protective Services. Months later, I discovered by his own admission that my husband was a repeat phillanderer over the course of our 14 year marriage. I divorced my husband and successfully filed bankruptcy for the debt he disposed upon me. As a single mom of these children, I was unable to hold a job for any length of time and my career began to take a dive. Three years later, I found myself happily remarried to an ex-marine, and I decided to leave the small suburban low-pay job I held and persue a career in nursing. I began by taking courses at a local community college.

This was where my student loan debt began, and at community college level, the debts were fairly assessed.

According to the national average statistics on student loans by degree, I should be in debt around $40,000-$50,000 for the loans required for my degree, but by the time I graduate this summer, I will have accumulated over $100,000 in student loan debt (with no other debt to my name). How did this happen?

The answer is that each institution I was compelled to attend, did not accept all of my credits. By greatly limiting the credits they allowed me to transfer in to each academic institution I attended, I was forced to take even more credits each time I transferred...and I only transferred when it was absolutely necessary.

Initially, I transferred due to poor teaching when I left the community college for a local African American University who one year later ceased their nursing program, causing me to transfer to Texas Womens University in Houston as a commuting student from the suburbs (1.5 hour drive each way to attend). The next transfer was due to being dropped from the BSM nursing school ($15k wasted there) due to personal health or so they say (my GPA was/is a 3.8 with honors). This school Texas Women's University has a long standing history of cutting the first two thirds of their accepted nursing students in order to help fund the graduating third of the student body. Graduating "only top candidates" improves their ratings, funding and employability of the 'surviving' graduates (always under the age of 33 and non-commuting with the exception of a 'token' student' whom they torture, to cover them legally).

After my attempt at a nursing BSM, I became disillusioned and decided to change my careers programs entirely at the school's recommendation (I ws also one of only two Jewish students let go during that term by a suspiciouly republican/christian staff). I'm still not convinced that having minor rheumatiod arthritis should rule someone out. I entered Kaplan University as an online student working toward my bachlors in Business Management with a major in E-business, where I lost a year worth of health credits during the transfer (including Anatomy and Physiology I & II with honors, chemistry, nutrition, microbiology, kinesiology, etc.

Call it bad luck if you will, I and my husband were saving to buy a home, living in an apartment with three shared custody teens when Hurricane Katrina hit the Houston, TX area, knocking down all power and internet for two weeks. We fortunately fared better than most during this storm, however, when the power and connections resumed, I returned to Kaplan online. I became immediately disgusted when I discovered that Kaplan had dropped my major during my abscence. I had made an earlier complaint that the school's E-business major was failing to teach prospective business owners how to adequately program code to control and develop their own websites. With no recourse available (students have no real power), I researched alternate schools and transferred to the University of Phoenix the following term. Again, I lost many credits. I have over 190 credits to date, and still have not earned my bachelor's degree at this time.

I graduate at the end of this summer thank goodness and I'm grateful that my husband has been lovingly supporting our children and I. I'm optimistic, energetic and eager to rejoin the workforce at that time and my kids are (thankfully) becoming independent. I'm now age 49, still fit and fair looking and I've been persuing this degree for nearly 8 years, primarily due to all of the relocations and special needs kiddo setbacks. My husband and I, now married eight years, live in a new home in a North Houston suburb that accomodates our three teens and my retired mother-in-law.

I'm eager to persue my master's degree in any suitable field, but more than half of my projected income when I rejoin the workforce, must go to pay off my degree within ten years. Without an employer who will provide tuition assistance, there is slim chance I can persue a graduate degree and there is concern that the high potential I have may be wasted. I am a very intelligent hard worker and phenomenal team leader with much to offer a future employer who will remain optomistic during my upcoming job search.

Thank you for reading my story!