Maria wanted to teach at a university full-time. She regrets pursuing that goal today.
Maria's undergraduate education was funded through scholarships and grants, but she knew that a more advanced degree would give her a leg up in university teaching, especially as a woman in the industry. She took seven years to complete her PhD, which was a master's degree.
She believed the commitment would be worth it at the time. Maria requested her last name be kept out of the public eye for privacy reasons, and she researched the program and its statistics for employment after graduation. She was unable to find a full-time university job after graduating and had to pay her student-loan payments.
Maria's student-loan balance is $430,000, all from her advanced degrees, according to documents reviewed by Insider.
She told Insider that she would probably be paying it off for the rest of her life. I don't like to say that, but I'll probably die owing student loans.
Maria has had a hard road since she got her degrees. Maria lost her first job in human resources at the end of 2015, and was unable to make her student debt payments. Her daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia in the fall of 2018, and a large portion of her income went to the treatment, which caused her to defer her loans.
Maria is a full-time human resources representative and part-time professor in Michigan, and she makes a five-figure salary while supporting her 15-year-old daughter on her own. She doesn't see a future without student debt.
Maria said it was like she was in a hole. I feel like I'm never going to get out of this hole.
My daughter's medical bills are more important to me.
Maria would never have gotten her PhD if she had a do-over.
She lived on unemployment benefits while accruing more than $70,000 in student-loan interest.
Maria said that paying her daughter's medical bills is more important to her than her student loan company giving her more assistance to control her debt load.
Maria was under extreme financial hardship, but she was not able to discharge her loans despite filing for bankruptcy.
Maria does not work enough hours to qualify for the PSLF program, which forgives student debt for public servants, like teachers, after ten years of payments. She has worked in HR for a nonprofit that qualifies for the program for nearly a decade, but her $0 payments in 2015 while she was unemployed did not count towards her progress even though Federal Student Aid wrote on its website that they should qualify.
Maria was told by a student aid representative that she just have to update her payment progress to include the time she was making $0 payments, but they have yet to do so and she is not sure she can afford to get full loan forgiveness.
I'm hoping they completely change the student-loan program.
The Education Department recently announced reforms to the program, which included going back over denied applications. Maria may be able to get a quicker route to loan forgiveness. She wants President Joe Biden to do more to help borrowers with debt burdens because she doesn't think she can complete the program.
Maria hopes that the student-loan program is completely changed.
Insider has previously reported that the overhaul may have begun. Biden has acted on his campaign promise of fixing broken loan forgiveness programs by cancelling student debt for people who were defrauded by for-profit schools and people with disabilities.
Pressure continues to build on the president to cancel student debt. Maria would be grateful for her own benefit, but also to ensure that other young people don't fall into the same debt trap that she did.
Maria said that most people who get student loans are still young and don't understand the impact. I feel like there's a lot of overselling in the upfront that puts people in debt.
Do you have a story about student debt? You can reach out to her at asheffey@insider.com.
