University (2) Masterlist

Yeah, but instead of signing away your voice for a dude, you’re signing away your your future paychecks for a piece of paper that theoretically qualifies you for said paycheck.

Of course, when you’re drowning in student loan debt, you have absolutely no right to speak up because you took out those loans dammit, and it’s not like credentialism and economic inequality, coupled with rising higher ed costs had anything to do with your choice because reasons and bootstraps. And a crippling recession that has you competing with a whole different class of older, experienced, more educated workers for entry level jobs, well, them’s the breaks, kid. Also, the depressed wages of the bottom 80% of Americans definitely didn’t influence your inability to pay on this debt with a higher interest rate than what the big banks pay for their bailouts. Nope. Not at all.

In a sick way, I suppose you’re signing away your voice in order to place a bet on a rigged roulette wheel overseen by plutocrats drunk on crony capitalism, who, while on an epic bender with the political class, managed to socialize the house’s risk and privatize its profits. Sorry, plebes.

At least the eternity part is 100% correct. Sallie Mae will follow you to the grave. Shit, they’d probably put a lien on your headstone and the plot in which you are buried.

Matchmaking : Creating the perfect college list

One of the most important parts of the college application process is actually choosing the college you want to go to. This can be especially nerve-wracking if you have absolutely no idea where you want to go (or where you’ll get in!). Your college list may take ages to perfect and lock down, but here are some few tips that will help you get started. College lists are all about matchmaking, and this is how you get it done! 

Get realistic  Growing up, we all have dream colleges that we want to attend. Now, it’s time to get realistic about your chances at that dream college. Compare your scores, GPA, and ECs with the Freshman profile of the college you want to attend. If your stats are similar, you might have a good shot! 

Reach, Match, and Safety  Regardless of how many colleges you have in your college list, segregating them will make your job easier. Reach colleges are the colleges that will be, essentially, a “reach” for you. Match colleges are the colleges that you have a VERY good chance of getting in with your grades and stats. Finally, safety colleges are the ones that will be fairly easy for you to get into. 

Percentiles  When researching colleges, make sure to look at the college’s 25th and 75th percentile on test scores. If your test scores fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles, you have a great shot! Make sure that all your “match colleges’” percentiles are in tune with your scores. Consider eliminating / adding colleges to your list depending on your grades, stats, and scores!

Excel sheets  Excel sheets are life savers! Make an excel sheet with columns that read : Name of college, 25th to 75th percentiles, Tuition fees, Acceptance rates, Rankings for programs, Reach/Match/Safety, etc. Making this excel sheet will have all your data in one place making it easier for you to add or eliminate colleges to make your perfect college list. 

Ask important questions Finally, ask yourself some really important questions. For example, ask questions about your GPA and what the college you’re applying to is looking for. Like I said, college lists are all about matchmaking. And matchmaking is a two-way process! If you’re convinced that the college you’re applying to isn’t what you’re looking for, consider eliminating that college. 

Challenge yourself. College is scary and intimidating, but it can also be the best time of your life. It’s merely depends on your choices. You can chose to stand on the sidelines and stay the same person you were in high school, or you can open yourself up to new experiences and dive into everything college has to offer. College is the time to learn more about yourself and have fun while doing that. And it does not happen within the confines of your comfort zone. Do something you never thought you would. Sign up for trips. Dare to be different. Explore yourself. Challenge others. Challenge yourself.

Sponsored Zag MacKenzie Allan (’17)

12 Pieces of Advice From Graduating Seniors That Every Freshman Should Follow

University graduations are officially over! As graduates make plans for their future and take on more responsibilities, many college seniors are looking to bestow you with their wisdom. While others prompt you to seek internships, others wish that you take care of your mental health before anything else.

Take a look at these helpful wise and comforting words from people, who have experience in the struggles of being a student.

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GOOD NEWS FOR #PublicSchools IN WISCONSIN - http://goo.gl/VqdsFt

The authors of the report contacted superintendents throughout #Wisconsin, to determine how the new flexibility provided by #GovScottWalker’s 2011 legislation has allowed them to alter their #Education programs for the BENEFIT OF STUDENTS, without the self-interested intrusion of organized labor #UNIONS.

“Superintendents of public schools no longer have to seek approval from public unions in order to make changes to the administration of their schools,” the report said. “They are free to adopt the best practices of teacher pay and classroom management.

“They can hire and fire teachers according to criteria other than the rigid policies from a union (#CollectiveBargaining agreement). The words ‘#Seniority’ and ‘teacher #Tenure’ can be terms of the past for many districts.”

There is now merit pay for teachers, in various forms across the state. In the old days of collective bargaining, teachers were stuck on rigid pay scales based strictly on the number of years they taught and the number of graduate credit hours they earned.

What's it like to pay $250/week to student loan?

While in theory this is awesome, in actuality it’s not all that easy.

We used to pay the monthly minimum of $420 because that’s what we could afford then. Life situation improved, so we increased the monthly payments to $500. Further life improvements and sacrifices later, it was up to $600.

Then I thought “Why not pay $150/week?”. We made the leap and have been paying weekly since summer of 2013. Two years running now.

Where are we now?

Still in debt! We started getting aggressive and jumped from $150/week to $250/week in September 2014. Some weeks we had more to pay, sometimes as much as $300/week.

As for parting with money, monthly or weekly doesn’t make much of a difference. Paying debt is paying debt. We’re bound to pay the student loan no matter what anyway. We stake no claim in the money owed to the lender though it’s packaged as paycheck–money that should’ve been ours.

But if I stop and ponder on this, it’s overwhelming. No matter the frequency, the amount overwhelms me. All of that hard-earned cash slips from our hands. I’m angry. I’m resentful. It’s not because I could use the money to buy something because I don’t think like that. It’s because a significant number of my youth years is spent on working to pay debt.

What can $250/week do for my family? A lot. It could be used to invest more in retirement, invest more in my kid’s 529 Plan, toward our goal to be landlords, on traveling, on improving our home…I could go on and on. However, the primary reason I’m angry and resentful is because it’s lengthening my work years and shortening my investing life.

I can’t stand catching up. Much as I like the challenge, everyone gets burnt out from constant challenges thrown their way. I’ve been at this for nearly 8 years. It’s time to retire this challenge. I’m exhausted–of working, of being angry and of being resentful.

Don’t get me wrong. I like being productive and I like my job a lot, but I’d want to be in a state of simply enjoying it and the benefits/paychecks that come with it.

I sound like like an ingrate sometimes. Imagine how many people struggle to even make ends meet, much less pay their debts? And what about the students who just graduated with 5- or 6-digit student loans? They’re just about to enter into the world of bondage, and yet we’re nearing the end. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting bigger and brighter. I should be at least happy that we are able to make a minimum of $250/week. Not per month but per week!

So what’s it truly like to part with $250 each week?

It has become a way of life for us, like mortgage, grocery and utilities, but more than that it’s:

like having a bear for a pet that we need to feed a lot.

like owning and driving 2 gas guzzling cars everyday.

like living in the posh side of town paying twice our mortgage and property tax.

like eating out everyday for dinner.

like having 2 infants in daycare for 8 years.

None of the above applies to us. We only have 1 small dog who eats once a day some days. We have a 15-year old car that only costs us $80/mo on gas at most. We have a small house in a not-posh neighborhood. We don’t eat out for dinners weekly even. We only have 1 child who’s in grade school now.

Having and paying debt is living a frugal (or poor, if that’s more applicable) lifestyle for the price of a posh one. It hurts and it sucks.

Our debt is now in the $12k mark. What a long way from the $40-thousands. I’m setting aside investing for the rest of this year to focus entirely on this. I’m giving my final effort to decimate it, so that I can finally focus on investing to shorten my working years and to finally live a frugal lifestyle–not only because we’re forced to but because we want to.

I'm fine.

What she says: I'm fine.

What she means: Why do we never speak about the fact that we don't know what happened to Benvolio after Act III. His last fucking line is "This is the truth, or let Benvolio die." and fucking Shakespeare decided that it would be a great idea to let him out of the play and never speak of him again. He DIED in the Q1 and we never are told how, Lord Montague simply says "and young Benvolio is deceased too." Even though in Q2 at the final scene it says "Enter Lord Montague and others" it is never openly said if he entered along with his uncle or not. His two best friends died, one in his arms and the other was his cousin; he was left alone and Shakespeare didn't even bother tell us his fate. Why couldn't he give him the happy ending he deserved? Why didn't anyone listen to him? Why? There would have been way less death that way.

12.4.16 // this afternoon when I got home from a very long day of studying at the library.. 😓

I’m working on a post “how to study for/survive your law school exams” which will probably be up on my Tumblr within the next couple of days. I will be sharing some tips on how to memorize a lot of information and how to revise/study for law exams.

BUT if you’re not a law student don’t worry, you can still use the tips for any other field of study as they are pretty general as well.

Happy studying 🌸

Instagram/Snapchat: charlenevenice

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Student-loan delinquency skyrocketing, hitting “Danger Zone” January 31, 2013

Most of us are have seen headlines about the burgeoning student-loan crisis. As of August, for instance, student loans had topped $914 billion – an increase of $10 billion in less than half a year, even as most debt was falling around the country. Still, we do not appear to have hit rock-bottom. A new report shows that student-loan delinquency rates have gone through the roof in recent years and that, even more troubling, we may be entering a “danger zone” in which the entire U.S. economy is at risk.

The report from FICO Labs shows that student-loan delinquencies saw a 22-percent increase in the past several years; the overall delinquency rate is now more than 15 percent.

The LA Times has more:

The worsening deliquency rate comes as loan balances surge. The average student-loan debt jumped to $27,253 last year, up 58% from $17,233 in 2005. By contrast, average credit-card and auto-loan balances declined during that period.

“As more people default on their student loans, their credit ratings will drop, making it harder for them to access new credit and help grow the economy,” [FICO Labs head Andrew] Jennings said. “Even people who stay current on their student loans are dealing with very large debts, which reduces the money they have available to spend elsewhere.”

Source

Strike Debt has created a Debt Resistor’s Manual that you can read here.

It’s side project, Rolling Jubilee, has raised $552,682 to abolish $11,058,465 in debt.