College grad: “I wished I’d gone to prison instead”
Will we allow an entire generation to fall into debt-slavery?
From College grad: “I wished I’d gone to prison instead.”
Hernan Castillo is treading water, trying to survive under the weight of $5,200 in credit card debt and $30,000 in student loans. He’s making payments on time, but the Orange County, Calif., resident sees little hope for getting out of the warehouse job he holds and landing a job as an accountant, the field in which he earned his degree. And forget about saving money for a home or retirement. He now firmly believes the money he spent earning a college degree was a waste.
“Every day I wish I had never gone to college,” Castillo said. “It has been the biggest mistake of my life. Sometimes I wish I had gone to prison instead of college. At least I would have learned a trade or two and started being independent once I got out.”
Talk to me about personal responsibility. Tell me about consequences. But, in the end, we will have raised a generation of debt-slaves, unable to buy cars, homes, personal items. As a result, the economy will stall once again, perhaps catastrophically.
That we spend billions educating our youth to let them fall into debt-slavery is astonishing. As a society we have a stake in the credit industry. It is necessary enterprise. But to let the industry go unregulated is simply imprudent.
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