maxed out generation

In search of students to interview about credit card debt

I am in the process of writing a book about students in debt, focusing on the cultural and economic forces that have brought about the current crisis in which vast numbers of young people are starting out their lives loaded down with unmanageable debt. The dream of upward mobility in this country endures despite tuition costs having risen far beyond the reach of middle-class families while, at the same time, the availability of financial aid has declined. Upon graduation, students often find that entry level jobs in their fields come with low salaries and few benefits, and that the cost of housing in desirable urban areas is prohibitively high.

Inevitably, in this climate, students are drawn to rely on credit cards to get them through tough times. The loosely regulated credit industry has seized upon this vulnerable group to profit through high, volatile interest rates, late fees, and early dependence on credit.

I'm interested in how students are managing to survive in this environment, what strategies have proven successful, whether students believe that our educational system is working for the middle-class, what drastic measures some have taken to escape the tyranny of debt. I know from my participation in discussion forums, particuarly the ones at at www.creditboards.com, that some individuals have had success in dealing with their debt head-on by educating themselves about their rights as debtors, negotiating with creditors and sometimes filing for bankruptcy protection.

If you'd like to share your story, please email me at hk@maxedoutgen.com. Interviews can be conducted by email or telephone, or both. All identities will be kept confidential.

The Village Voice reports that college graduates are joining the uninsured masses

I just do not understand how a culture that prides itself on being the most advanced one on this earth can still deprive its citizens of something as fundamental as basic health care. Years ago, whenever I found out that someone I knew didn't have health insurance, I was aghast, especially when that person was educated and employed. Our deplorable health care system now affects a much wider demographic, among them young college graduates.

This is the subject of "One Sick Fall" (by Solana Pyne), the latest in a series of articles in The Village Voice on Generation Debt - The New Economics of Being Young. As this piece points out, today's graduates face gloomy prospects as they go out into the workplace, where, because of the rise in insurance costs, employers are less likely to provide health benefits. For many students, who already have the weight of huge student loan and credit card debts on their minds as they go into the world, this is just another mind-boggling blow. I don't remember it being this tough when I left school. Back then, tuition at the private university I attended was a fraction of what it is today (not so preposterously out of line with what my family could afford), financial aid in the form of federal grants covered a meaningful portion of my tuition and expenses, and many entry level jobs I was qualified for paid enough to cover rent and other living expenses in addition to providing full health insurance coverage at no cost to me.

I have deep respect for college graduates who have to face such a hostile world(never mind what those who go on to graduate school have to face). When health insurance has become a luxury, I have to wonder how we're better off than people in third world countries.

Seeking maxed out college students and law students to interview

Lately, I've been hearing alot from college and graduate students who are struggling to get their degrees in the face of astronomical tuition hikes and cutbacks in grant programs. The anxiety among students who have to start out their careers with mountains of debt is so overwhelming, I don't know how they manage to focus on their studies. The situation is much worse now than when I went to school. Though I took out student loans, the total of my debts upon graduation from law school were less than my yearly income a short time afterwards. These days, I believe many students are leaving school with debts that far exceed their starting salaries.

I'm interested in hearing from people in this situation, to find out what your expectations were when you started your education and what they are now as you face the prospect of looking for employment. Would you do it again and would you do it in the same way? I know that if I had to do it again, I might have chosen to take a low-paying job at the university in order to get tuition benefits. It would have taken me a year longer to get my law degree, but the delay would have been well worth the benefit of not having to repay student loans for the next twenty years.

Anyone in this predicament who would be open to being interviewed via email, please contact me by clicking the email link above. If you wish to be anonymous or just go by your initials, please indicate that in your email, and your privacy will be respected.

Sobering news in The Village Voice on "Generation Debt"

The Village Voice is publishing a series of articles under the general heading "Generation Debt: The New Economics of Being Young." The first three in the series are:

1. The Ambition Tax - Why America's young are being crushed by debt-and why no one seems to care
2. Student loaned - Kerry borrows youth voters for his campus Snoozefest
3. Wanted: Really Smart Suckers - Grad school provides exciting new road to poverty

These articles paint a very bleak, and unfortunately realistic, view of the prospects for people coming out of institutions of higher learning. As these writers point out, unless you happen to have wealthy parents who are able to pay your tuition and living expenses during college and graduate school, and possibly even subsidize your life during the early years of your career, you very likely face a future of indentured servitude to Sallie Mae and Citibank. Never mind your dreams of marriage, children, home ownership, and building up something towards retirement because just making ends meet on a day-to-day basis will be challenging enough. Your starting salary, especially once you pay the hefty health insurance premium that your employer won't cover, will look like tenant farmer wages. Once you take those wages and pay your debt masters, you might be lucky to eat and have shoes.

Part of the problem, of course, is the astronomical rise in tuition costs at most private universities. Why are these increases so far out of line with the rest of the economy, even the real estate market after its most insane period of appreciation? Yet, competition for entry into these universities remains high. I believe this is because our tenacious hold on the American idea of upward mobility in this society hasn't adjusted to the new realities. As one friend of mine put it recently, until people see that "the emperor has no clothes" and stop buying into the delusion that education will raise you up the socio-economic ladder, no matter the initial cost of that education, these schools have no incentive to stop the madness.

Financial management education in public schools

I was listening to WAMU on the radio as I drove back from driving my daughter to school this morning, and I heard a story about elementary schools that are now teaching financial management classes to their students. The schools are even setting up their own credit unions so students can learn how to manage their bank accounts. I'm curious to know whether credit card management is a part of this education, and specifically, whether they're teaching kids about all the ways in which credit card companies can take advantage of unwary consumers. If I were teaching such a class, I'd issue credit cards to all the students, and then employ the same methods that real credit card companies use to squeeze more dollars out of each consumer. Late payments, cash advance fees, over-limit fees, foreign currency exchange fees, the works. Well, maybe not in elementary school, but certainly by the time they reach high school. By the time they're freshmen in college, it's way too late because the credit card companies are already lining up at the door of the student union building ready to issue the cards and ruin bright futures.