College was never not on my radar. It wasn't even an option to not go to college in my family. My parents want to give me and my siblings the world, so money was never an issue when it came to which school we wanted to go. We always said, "No big deal, we will apply for scholarships and take out loans." It seems so simple and almost too easy at the time, doesn't it? Then you decide to go to your dream school that costs close to $40k a year, and there is no way your parents can afford it, but they don't want to tell you "no" either. Then comes the loans.
I don't blame my parents for my debt. They wanted me to get the best education and college experience I could get, and I definitely did. In their defense, they didn't really know too much about the college education/loan world either. I wouldn't change anything about my four years at college, except for the way I went about getting scholarships. I always fell back on the "I can just take out a loan" excuse, and of course, barely understood what paying back that loan would entail.
Now here I am, two years after I've graduated and I am struggling more than ever. I still live at home because there's no way I can afford the rent for an apartment and paying my loan every month. Every month I stress if I'm going to have enough money to pay the loan that is equal to a small mortgage. It's not fun... it's not fun at all.
Some could argue that I brought this upon myself. Some could argue and say that it's my parents' fault for not guiding me correctly. Those are both completely false. Yeah, I'm going to be paying these back till the day I die, but I also have an amazing education to show for it. As for my parents? They just did what they thought was best for me. It's not like they saw my acceptance letter and said: "Hey, let's have her take out a ton of loans and ruin her life by putting her in debt forever." No, that isn't what happened.
The advice I can give anyone who is in the same position as me is simple: think about your future. Be smart and weigh your options. Above all, apply for every scholarship you possibly can and save your money. If you're going to take out loans, know everything there is to know about them and how much your payments will be a month.
Take it from me, the girl in debt for the rest of her life because she wanted to go to her dream school. The paying back sucks, but the memories and schooling are two things I would never change for the world.
