Fallout on Main Street: College Debt 101 in Bloomington, Indiana

Is Sallie Mae poised to join Fannie Mae on the list of economic disaster stories? The rising cost of a university education combined with a flat job market is making it difficult for students and their families to pay off college loans. In Bloomington, Indiana many of those waiting tables and cleaning dishes at the famed Mother Bear's Pizzeria are Indiana University students working their way through school. Catching the rare free moment between orders, workers describe the stress they are feeling in these rocky economic times. The recent credit crunch at the banks and the chaos on Wall Street has already added to their worries - undercutting family credit records, draining stock funds, and causing some students to question what the future will hold.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• bailout
• Bloomington
• college
• debt
• default
• Economy
• Financial Crisis
• foreclose
• housing
• Indiana University
• layoffs
• loans
• McClatchy
• mortgage
• Mother Bear's Pizza
• real estate
• restaurant workers
• Stock Market
• student Tony Pugh
• Wall Street

[waverly2468]

College is a roach motel. You can enter but you can't leave until you lose all of your money. It's like one of Jigsaw's death trap in "Saw V", except it's worse.

[avataz]

English and African Dispora? What a dumb fuck

[MrFaisel34]

Poor fools, they don't know they've already reached the pinnacle of their career. The striven college degrees are beside the point.

Anyway, when the dollar falls, probably within the next 10 years, maybe this debt will disappear. If not, welcome to slavedom part III.

Please join the move to oust Dr. Amy Gutmann at the University of Pennsylvania from her position as president.

[peteyvogt]

@FaithLoveHopeLiberty yeah waiting tables sucks even though mother bears is actually one of the best places in town to get a serving job at because we are always extremely busy

[peteyvogt]

@theproplady basically the only reason i am defending that dude is because he is my brother and all the people in this video im friends with and you wouldnt believe how many people work there with degrees and cant get a job there are at least 4 or 5 people there that have degrees from the kelley school of business and cant get a job and same with the jacobs school and it sucks to see all these great people working at a fucking pizza place because they cant find a job

[theproplady]

I'm not saying that a college degree is useless on all counts, but I've seen so many people spending 50K and 80K on degrees for creative jobs that will never offer the type of pay needed to pay off loans and lead a comfortable life. So many degrees are overvalued and worthless. You have to be really careful when selecting a school these days.

[theproplady]

@peteyvogt Yeah, but how many of those top-end types of jobs actually exist? (I suppose a degree would give you an edge in getting them, but you have to weigh that edge versus the potentially crippling costs of a college education.)

[peteyvogt]

@theproplady you have a better chance for getting a job at like national geographic or something of that nature if you have a degree

[theproplady]

@Loodirros Exactly. When I heard the kid who wanted to get a degree for photography, I thought: What for? Just buy some equipment and some books on the subject, teach yourself, build a portfolio, and then do freelance work. You don't need to shell out thousands of dollars for a creative career like this.

[pedrogregorio]

"Your damned if you do, your damned if you don't"

very very true