"go to school, you'll get a great job and be able to pay back all your debt and live the american dream" I know there is no magic answer but here goes...(skip to last two paragraphs for question)
I planned to use my degree to do IT and hopefully make 50k a year. I was setup to pay $1200 a month for 15 years. I barely landed 30k doing IT. My brother died after I graduated, had to cough up 10k for a wake and burial. Then both of my parents lost their jobs in 2008 so I moved in with them and have been paying the bills since. I tried to work with sallie mae and have paid one of the accounts of $200 on time since I graduated but I still defaulted because I could not pay all accounts for the minimum $900 which are now garnishing 25 percent of my income. I called the collections company and the deal is "pay hundreds in fines on top of the garnishment for 12 months and then we can lift the garnishment but then when you still can't afford the minimum $900 you'll be back at square one".
So do I work two dead end jobs the rest of my life like a robot just to pay bills, and have no family or social life? What if I do land 2 jobs but still drown anyway because of the current austerity- how will I pay rent, student loans and try to raise a family? What is the economy offering my generation? 10 an hour at walmart and starbucks I still won't make it- they're going to seize my bank account and I'll be homeless and starving to death. I'm not far from that now.
Am I better off dead than to live a lifestyle like this- seriously ? I know I made vital mistakes and deserve everything I get but I wonder if killing myself would even the score because corporations can then write my name off and get bailed out. Then my spot in life can go to a more deserving form of life that can be a lot more productive. What would you do if you were me? Thanks in advance for taking your time to respond.