Debt and buried US students slaves to their loans.mp4

The calm after the storm -- just a handful of "occupiers" gathered in New York's Zuccotti Park, after police moved in to clear the site Thursday. Those remaining hope to draw attention to the plight of groups like college students, crippled with debt.

­Removing the camp had triggered a so-called day of action from the demonstrators, which spiraled into clashes with officers and led to hundreds of arrests. Authorities are hoping the two-month campaign has run out of steam, but defiant protesters say it is far from over.

The movement is attracting young people who are having trouble paying back their student loans, while struggling to make ends meet.

The image of 23-year-old Stef Gray tells of the widespread debt epidemic among college graduates, desperate to find work.

"Right now, I can't even get a job cleaning toilets for minimum wage. I've tried a local motel, there's nothing," she told RT. "I'm just begging for any sort of work. Walking around, applying to Starbucks, McDonald's, like I did when I was 17. And it makes me think: 'Wow, why did I even go to college if this is what it's ending up with?'"

Armed with a Master's degree in geography and US$130,000 in student debt, Gray collects $200 in monthly food stamps and sells text books on eBay to make extra cash.

"I'm approximately two months behind on my rent. I have no idea how to catch up," she continues. "I lie awake at night completely freaking out about this. I'm frightened about being evicted."

But no matter how much she loses, she is obligated to keep paying back her private loan to Sallie Mae, America's largest private lender.

"I took out $40,000 in loans and I'm already owing $65,000, and I've just graduated a couple of months ago," Stef added. "Twenty-five thousand dollars in interest came out of nowhere."

Unlike federal loans, private lenders can adjust interest rates as high as lenders want and do not offer consumer protection.

"Income-based repayment is not an option with any private loans. Neither is deferment for the unemployed," the recent graduate went on to explain. "For example right now, I'm desperately looking for work and Sallie Mae wants payments. They want me to pay about $700 a month."

Gray is one of millions of Americans saddled and haunted by student debt. But very few have any other option. Tuition costs have risen 600 per cent since 1980. The top Ivy League colleges cost $50,000 per year.

Stef Gray is pioneering Occupy Student Debt, a movement calling for US congress to reinstate consumer protection in order to keep private lenders from pushing millions of Americans into default.

"It's going to be default after default, after default. And once you default, that's a black mark on your credit report for life, because student loans cannot be discharged in bankruptcy," Stef Gray explains. "There was legislation that was taken right away in 2005 that Sallie Mae lobbied for, spending millions upon millions on lobbyists."

Student loan debt in the US is nearing one trillion dollars, reportedly already surpassing the nation's credit card debt. A generation of Americans find themselves enslaved to banks and armed with a diploma that no longer guarantees a job.

http://rt.com

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[djhivesdotcom]

I warned imbeciles 13 years ago NOT to go to college - they laughed at me - now look at them! No job AND IN DEBT!  I started a company after highschool with no debt and watch those who laughed at me then SUFFER NOW! Nothing in life is free - thats what BORROWERS always learn the HARD WAY!

[boggywoman]

Frankly, I have NO idea how any of us are limping along at this point. Credit card debts - high mortgages, frozen wages, unemployment, no living wage jobs for former blue-collar workers. We have a huge surplus of people with no jobs, and no options for small business due to an unfair playing field with slave labor from China flooding this country with clothes, toys, and all the other daily things we use. What will happen to all of these people? How long can they scrape along?

[boggywoman]

Folks on here saying she should have majored in this that or the other thing (the most popular choices now are chemistry biology and anything medical). Problem with that is this: If EVERY college student rushed into THOSE fields, do you think there might then be a surplus of those..? And why are we all rushing about trying to please a handful of corrupt corps. in the hopes of getting our meagre wages? Heres the deal. They dismantled our manufacturing base and shipped it overseas. Period.

[dochokeana]

@HerresKoolaid Continued...Someone needs to be creating something in order for investments to be sound but when someone tries they get infested with paper pushers who send a general message that if you work to create something "you're a loser" and that where's a shortcut to Paradise by simply being a parasite. A crowd then goes and does just that believing it to be a recipe for success, most of them loose out and a few win try to lure more people into it to get wealthier.

[dochokeana]

@HerresKoolaid No offense but invest into what? It's been shown time and time again that the traditional routes aren't stable (stock market crashes, real estate depreciates etc...) whenever it's followed by masses and non-traditional (such as education, medicine etc...) aren't popular because of general "what's in it for me/where's the immediate profit" attitude.

[HerresKoolaid]

@dochokeana What we need to do is invest and save for our kids...............Seriously. And not to offend anyone out their but....a masters in geography is virtually useless now. She should have done something like biology,chemistry

[TheCajunGambit1]

@HerresKoolaid I wasn't majoring in anything when I was in College I was just trying to get my Associates Degree by just taking General classes like English, Math, Science and History. But things didn't work out because I suck at Math which was required to get a Associates Degree so I dropped out of College just because of one class Math! I passed everything else fine though.

[HerresKoolaid]

@turkydog bet behing all this sad students someone in sallie mae is watching this and getting giggles over this....capitalism is ruining our country. Americans wake up!!! Corporations rule

[HerresKoolaid]

@TheCajunGambit1 what do you major in?

[turkydog]

I feel for these students, but how do you accumulate such debt? You knew how much you were borrowing, and I assume, understood you'd have to pay it back. If you borrow such amounts, even a good paying job would require several years before you could pay this debt off. Students need money management courses, not more student loan money.