Posted on 06/09/2013 1:47:23 PM PDT by thecodont
By the time Ken Ilgunas was wrapping up his last year of undergraduate studies at the University of Buffalo in 2005, he had no idea what kind of debt hole he'd dug himself into.
He had majored in the least marketable fields of study possible –– English and History –– and had zero job prospects after getting turned down for no fewer than 25 paid internships.
"That was a wake-up call," he told Business Insider. "I had this huge $32,000 student debt and at the time I was pushing carts at Home Depot, making $8 an hour. I was just getting kind of frantic."
Back then, student loans had yet to become the front page news they are today. Ilgunas could have simply deferred his loans or declared forbearance. He also could have asked his parents (who were more than willing to help) for a leg up. He could have thrown up his hands and gone to grad school until the job market bounced back.
Instead, he moved to Alaska and spent two years paying back every dime. And when he enrolled at Duke University for graduate school later, he lived out of his van to be sure he wouldn't have to take out loans again.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/Duke-Grad-Student-Secretly-Lived-In-A-Van-To-4587684.php#ixzz2VkomCLBJ
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Excellent skits - among the best.
yes some colleges do charge more than they are worth.
so do some groceries
ps:
‘i don’t choose to partronize those ‘Whole Paycheck” groceries
When the University learned of the situation, they clarified that such was not to be allowed. By maintaining a low profile, he escaped the consequences of doing something that he was sure would not be approved or tolerated.
I type slow :(
Yeah, $32,000 in student loans is relatively small, compared to the debt that some students are carrying. I remember reading about a young woman who earned a BA in Sociology at Boston University, and financed her education with student loans. After four years at that school, her student loan debt was $200,000.
The good news is that emerging market forces will begin to lower tuition costs—for students willing to look for affordable programs. One case-in-point is the $7,000 M.S. in Computer Science that Georgia Tech will begin offering later this year, in conjunction with AT&T and other partners. Texas also has several bachelor’s programs (offered through state schools) that leverage community college credits. Students in those programs can earn their bachelor’s for $10,000.
I didn’t see that in the article, where is it?
I like how Duke banned future possible van-living endeavors. How very tolerant and understanding of them.
I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss liberal arts. We need them to learn about our culture. In English you learn to communicate and construct logical arguments. History is important - if you don't learn it, you'll repeat it. In both of these majors, you learn there's nothing new under the sun, from Greek history to Greek plays, that human hubris and foibles have been with us from the beginning of time. Why do you think Common Core wants to do away with literature and replace it with technical reading? Dumb them down until they don't remember what freedom was and destroy all vestiges of Western culture. Unfortunately the revisionist history being taught now is helping to destroy the culture as well.
You apparently did not read the article...he paid it off, every last stinkin’ dime. And he was not employed in any kind of a high paying job, like you probably are.
Why can’t he teach high school History or English? Teaching pays well, I hear. Someone who loves History or English enough to major in it would seem waaaay more qualified than an ‘education’ grad, I would think.
And studying English and History should give one a deep and widely useful understanding of Man.
Propaganda, though, gives one less than nothing.
SUCH AMAZING BRILLIANCE
***
Not to mention lack of moral compass.
English and history are great, but what kind of job did he THINK he would get with a BA?
And finally I must have missed the ending. What has he been doing for the past 8 years? Besides writing a book?
well, if they didn’t learn any morals from the parents (and many didn’t)
and they didn’t learn any morals from their churches (and many churches are now preaching just the opposite of morals)
they sure won’t learn any morals from (maybe 90% ) of their professors on today’s anti-American,anti-Christian, anti-Semitic campuses (campii?)
Yes, you must have missed the ending, because the article clearly explains the chronology. Go to the Business Insider link and they have pictures.
I did the same thing when I was in graduate school. Had a second battery just to run the electrical gadgets, comfortable bed, stereo, heater, and it was well insulated.
Parked the van next to the sports fieldhouse where I would shower, use the spa and sauna, and swim every morning.
I often joked that I have slept in the parking lots of some of the most expensive hotels in the country!
How many are living in Vans because they have no money?
I would point out that a degree in applied mathematics is usually a Liberal Arts degree. Most people with that degree can land a whole range of jobs.
Not that I advocate taking out loans for college. I have never done so and generally have parlayed my contract into have my employer pay for my college credits.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.