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What a fantastic thread. Grad school costs and debt are way down the list of important stuff, but the Biden loan forgiveness possibility makes it relevant now.
I referenced my $150k+ in student debt the other day. 95% of that was law school debt (cry me a river, I know). 1/x https://twitter.com/kevincarey1/status/1331356847991885824">https://twitter.com/kevincare...
I referenced my $150k+ in student debt the other day. 95% of that was law school debt (cry me a river, I know). 1/x https://twitter.com/kevincarey1/status/1331356847991885824">https://twitter.com/kevincare...
Cost was an *enormous* barrier for me when it came to undergrad. 17 y/o me literally yelled & cried in the GSU admissions counselors& #39; office (thank you, Miranda). Eventually, that was sorted (thank you, Georgia lottery funds!). But when it came time for law school? 2/x
Apparently all this 21 year old had to do was sign for it! (Always a great idea, right?) I& #39;d managed an undergrad (& #39;96) w/ ~$5k in personal debt, and then swan dived into more debt than my parents ever incurred for a house. But American dream, that& #39;s what you do, etc. No?
3/x
3/x
Again, not asking for an ounce of sympathy. But this 21 y/o signed up for enormous debt on the strength of "I& #39;m going to be a lawyer!" and "If you work hard, you& #39;ll be rewarded." [pausing here for you to recover from the laughter, but it was genuine.] 4/x
When I graduated in & #39;00, my loan payments were ~$1200/mo? (I think higher, but eh). Holy fuck, how was I going to pay that when the pub interest jobs I wanted paid $35k? Lucky me, I landed a great job (boutique commlaw firm) that turned into Biglaw* ($$$). 5/x
So there isn& #39;t really a super-sad ending to this story. I managed to wrangle a job that let me make every payment on time and live a very decent life. But that debt precluded me from taking any of the public interest jobs I really wanted to take. 6/x
The whole reason I went to law school was to do the sort of work those jobs offered. I& #39;d worked full time in undergrad doing public interest work that made my heart & soul sing. I thought law school would let me do more of that,& better.
Then I had to pay my loans, instead 7/x
Then I had to pay my loans, instead 7/x
Which gets me back to the beginning of this thread. Enormous grad school debt is robbing our society of a huge amount of talent that would otherwise love to be a part of solving our problems. And that easy grad school debt? Is fueling the problem. 8/x
Again, the troubles of incredibly lucky people like me aren& #39;t the first (or second or third) thing we should be focusing on right now. But if we& #39;re gonna do it, we can& #39;t stop at zeroing out student debt. 9/x
We need to look at the structural issues that result in talented folks stuck in careers that service debt, and not our social needs.
So - strike the debt, and then get right to work on preventing it being accumulated in the first place. 10/10
So - strike the debt, and then get right to work on preventing it being accumulated in the first place. 10/10
