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The student debt crisis has become one of the hot platform topics for candidates on the 2020 election circuit, but for the people it affects it is more than a campaign strategy. Tuition and fees at public and private schools rose at roughly three times the rate of inflation between 2007 and 2018, according to a College Board survey. Borrowers currently owe more than $1.5 trillion in student loans, an average of $34,000 per person.

The list below is a collection of tweets from people explaining how the U.S debt crisis evolved to this point or sharing their stories on how student debt has impacted their lives since graduating - and they may shock you or be sadly relatable.

#2

Student-Debt-Crisis-Posts

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jamie1707
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I feel so bad for these young men and women. It's not f*****g fair! Starting your life with that much debt must be soul crushing. I feel so bad because when I finished grad school, I had $213 in my checking account and the only debt I had was to the electric company for $13. I wish there was something I could do for these kids.

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#4

Student-Debt-Crisis-Posts

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SAF saf
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This should be criminal, I don't understand why the politicians can't meet us half way on this. Why can't student loans be zero to super low interest rates. You pay back the $250k and call it settled (which is still alot' of money btw).

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#6

Student-Debt-Crisis-Posts

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Maci Mae
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm fourteen, and I really want to be a special education teacher when I'm an adult, which requires college. I want to have a job that I love, but I can't imagine being that much in debt. Any time I bring it up to an adult, I'm told that I'll "figure it out" or that "I shouldn't be worrying about that yet". But considering the situation my country is in, I probably should have started saving for college two years ago :(

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#8

Student-Debt-Crisis-Posts

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Leo Domitrix
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm Gen X. We hae ALL inherited the debts racked up by Boomers and the gutless politicians catering to them. They didn't pay it forward. They loaned it forward, with compound interest....

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#9

Student-Debt-Crisis-Posts

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Peg Walton
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a retired professor, I strongly agree with this statement. It is terribly broken, from pre-K up to PhD. The American education system is completely broken.

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#10

Student-Debt-Crisis-Posts

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Kaisu
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's really f****d up, a 17-yo isn't mature enough to take such a huge loan and to understand the ramifications a loan like that has on your life. In my county you could never get that much student loan

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#12

Student-Debt-Crisis-Posts

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Student-Debt-Crisis-Posts

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Peg Walton
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Must be nice to be one of the lucky ones. I went to college after raising my children and still ended up with $40,000+ in loans. Now my salary isn't enough to live and pay loans. Their "programs" do not help. Wish I had never gone to college. My Masters is worthless.

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#14

Student-Debt-Crisis-Posts

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Panda Kicki
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a swede with mostly free schools and low cost state loans to cover other expenses it is so horrifying to read all these tragedies :'(

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Kjorn
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

this is what happen when you put more money in your army. just put 10% of the military budget in education and you won't have the problem

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Shane Chang
Community Member
4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm 50 and when I was a (very poor) kid I thought college was only for the rich.. I was right. I went for a few months and dropped out, paid off a very small student loan and started working low wage jobs. Pure luck has given me a decent life but it's fragile. I feel for young people in this country... the system sets them up for a very hard life.

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Jeffrey Curtis
Community Member
4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At 27 I returned to college. 6 years later, I graduated with a BA. I have $110k in loans that I cannot pay because I am making the same wages now that I would likely have made had I just stayed in my warehouse job. I'd be a union fork lift driver now probably but I'd have benefits, 401k, and my bills paid. I thought I could do better with an education. Boy was I wrong.

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Freya the Wanderer
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Our country is slowly strangling itself. People trapped in loans they will never escape unless they sell their souls cannot contribute to the economy when they are living in rat-holes, wearing thrift-shop clothes and subsisting on beans and rice.

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Paul Mitchell
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Military spending is bleeding America dry, as well as everything else. America needs to butt out of other people's problems and focus on its own. It's strangling itself.

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Elizabeth
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had a similar situation. Teachers in high school encouraged all of us to go to college "You'll be able to afford it when you graduate." Couldn't find ANYONE to give me loans my junior year to finish 3.8 GPA on a 4 point scale. Fortunately I've paid what I did borrow back over 20 years, and I'm back in school trying to finish. 1. Class. At. A. Time! So I've been in school for a decade and I'm not done yet, but I'm NOT IN DEBT now either. This whole thing sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Ella Blackwood
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I am so sorry. Your story is heartbreaking, yet so common. I am also in over my head in student loan debt and it will probably take me the rest of my life to pay off a master's degree that I am not using because of the ridiculous rate of compounded interest (borrrowed $48k, ended up owing $135k by the time I was able to start paying it off). And Navient is making a f*****g insane profit. It's just a sick business. I really hope that Dems take over and take these people to task. This is just criminal

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Mary Williams
Community Member
4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’m so sorry to read this. I did the same thing in 2010, only at the Art Institute. Took 3 years but I finished my Associates Degree. Then it took a year to save for the out of pocket fees before I could get my diploma. I wasn’t prepared enough to get a job in Web Design and would have had to take a pay cut to go from experienced prepress tech to entry level web design. I was laid off during that year as was my husband. Took all we had to keep from losing our house. Then two years later, still with unpaid loans on deferment, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and then laid off again after chemo and radiation were over. Job market in printing is shrinking, I have no web design experience, $50,000+ in loans still unpaid and interest compounding, and struggling to hold on to a house we can’t afford to repair...

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Jackie Schneider
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My husband got out of printing years ago and retrained as a nurse. Printing and design have been on its way out for years. I'm so sorry. These do nothing degrees should not be allowed for sale. But they can still make a buck off of the student, selling them a dream that isn't true. I'm so sorry for your troubles.

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Kevin Burgess
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Similar issue with Apollo and 'University' of Phoenix, among others. All big promises, just to get you to sign up, then dry up funds, or provide worthless 'degrees' which will never help you to pay the loans off.

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Louis Green
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This happened to me back in the late 90's. My loans had run out, and it was only because I asked did I find out the classes weren't paid for. Fortunately, I caught it early and I never did pay that debt as I felt DeVry should have informed me of my loan status rather than letting me continue with classes thinking everything was fine. I just waited the 7 years for it to roll off my credit reports. Like the OP, I couldn't use any of my transcripts and had to basically start over.

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Michelle Marotzke
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And even with IBR, the interest is still growing and will be compounded so that will just balloon your balance. That was a fun surprise for me.

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Mike Parr
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Your college counselor sucked at his job, as did the financial institutions that loaned you the money!

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Joe Perez
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you're earning $10 an hour at age 45, a college degree was never going to help you. Shame on places like Devry for existing, granted, but you have to have reasonable expectations.

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Derek Whitten
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i went to this technical college when my wife was pregnant with our son. He will be 20 in a few months, the "degree" wasn't worth the paper it was printed on and im still paying for it in a lot of ways

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Nicole Mcintyre
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This same scenario happened to me. I was going to DePaul University part time while working a full time job. I received some financial aid through our state but it was cut during a school year. So when I went to sign up for classes again in the next semester I was told that I owed $5k from my previous semester because the grant I received was cut. They told me that I couldn’t sign up for classes unless it was paid. So I had to quit. I didn’t have 5k. I’m still paying that plus the 10k of student loans. My initial student loan amount: $9500 I’ve paid: $2,460 Still owe: $10,107

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Megan Lewis
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I got my degree and done it was just an associates still couldn't get a salaried job in my field. But I did get $125,000 in loan debt! Yea me!!!

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Dean Jackson
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Devry is a for-profit school that is perhaps designed to kinda screw you.

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Justgail Jones
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That’s how they keep us in our place and bleeding cash for the rest of our lives. Then when we die they make our children pay. No wonder poor people can hardly break free. The poorer you are the more interest you pay. You are paying for the people who just quit paying or die and their relatives don’t pay. Oh, I forgot if you think you are covered because you don’t have children they will go after your brothers or sisters too.

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Gina Codding
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you are making that low why are you not in an income-based repayment plan?

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mikie stasso
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have an MSW which initially was $65,000 but is well over $100,000 now. Starting wage for new MSW. $9.00 per hour. Im 56. If I were a Walton maybe i could pay if off, but im nobody. I tried. My bad.

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Chrissy Neibarger
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This could have been written by me. Word for word. DeVry did the same thing to me, and I only had two more classes left. There wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. My only saving grace was that 3 years later I became permanently disabled and was able to have them discharged by the government.

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Robin Jackson
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Unfortunately, when you requested or accepted that very first offered subsidized and unsubsidized loan you were required to complete Loan En tdd France Counseling and sign a Master Promissory Note at www.studentloans.gov. Both of those activities told you all about repayment, etc.

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Carol Emory
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had the same thing happen to me this last year...I had to take out personal loans to cover my last year. You cannot defer personal loans.

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Mewton’s Third Paw
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No, even if you got your degree you’d still have an issue paying. But I can relate to what he is saying. This is a nightmare. The only way to get out of it is to go in an entirely different direction.

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#15

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Pamela24
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You should stop spoiling yourself and demanding luxuries. If you don't have the money to eat, just don't. It's as simple as that. *sarcasm - just to make sure*

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#16

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Jeff Christensen
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Australia university was free until 1988, but now it is paid for by Government loans - but repaymemts don't start until your income is over a certain threshold. If you never reach that threshold, you never repay the debt.

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#18

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Pamela24
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I just can't understand why AT LEAST the loans couldn't be without interest. I believe that is how the UK has it (correct me if I'm wrong, please).

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#19

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Ahmad Pujianto
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just wow.. I only pay 25 USD each month during 4 year of college.. Then (because I work while studying) another 50 USD each year for 2 year of extention.. Totally I spend around 20 Million IDR (around 1.500 USD) till graduate.. #asian

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#20

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Candice Lewis
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

With interest it could become that much and the sucky thing is our children will probably be responsible for some of it

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#22

30 Alarming Posts About How The Student Debt System Affects People's Lives And It's Terrible

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Mewton’s Third Paw
Community Member
4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What in the entire f**k. The pettiness. Pettiness of this level can only come from the mega rich.

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#24

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Monica Michelle
Community Member
4 years ago

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There are 2 types of people who are wronged those that say never again to noone else and those who stop progress because it does not help them personally

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#25

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Belinda Matson
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

OMFG I'm surprised boomers aren't being slaughtered en masse in the USA. Pro Tip: Start with the politicians...

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#26

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Ivo H
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's terryfing that someone has reason to write "i did a terrible thing" because he studied for a job he wanted to do. Not everyone likes to be doctor/lawyer/whatever just to pay off his or hers loans.

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#27

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Missy Barton
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I officially paid off my student loans four years ago. Want to know how? My husband died.

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#28

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Cassie
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If your payments are income based, your (compounded) interest will continue to accrue, which means your loan amount will be more when it's forgiven than when it was initiated. The government could have saved money by just paying for the tuition in the first place.

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#29

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guy greej
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

From malawi a third world country. Paid of my university degree debt in 1 month after getting a job.

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#30

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Martha Meyer
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's supposed to be a joke, right? She didn't pay it off, her mother basically did!

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