Tuesday, June 1, 2010

College Shame Edition: Ms. Cortney Munna


Ms. Cortney Munna, College Debtor

This gal could possibly be the College Bubble Poster Child.

A college degree, alone, is not a key to success. Obtaining a useful, practical degree that justifies the cost is imperative. And a "higher education" for the purely intrinsic value is reserved for the truly wealthy.


What does $97,000 in college loan debt buy you?
How about an interdisciplinary degree in religious and women's studies. WTF!!!

2010-06-01: Buried in Debt
Today, however, Ms. Munna, a 26-year-old graduate of New York University, has nearly $100,000 in student loan debt from her four years in college, and affording the full monthly payments would be a struggle. For much of the time since her 2005 graduation, she's been enrolled in night school, which allows her to defer loan payments.
...
How many people are like her? According to the College Board's Trends in Student Aid study, 10 percent of people who graduated in 2007-8 with student loans had borrowed $40,000 or more. The median debt for bachelor's degree recipients who borrowed while attending private, nonprofit colleges was $22,380.
...
Cortney could move someplace cheaper than her current home city of San Francisco, but she worries about her job prospects, even with her N.Y.U. diploma.

She recently received a raise and now makes $22 an hour working for a photographer. It's the highest salary she's earned since graduating with an interdisciplinary degree in religious and women's studies. After taxes, she takes home about $2,300 a month. Rent runs $750, and the full monthly payments on her student loans would be about $700 if they weren't being deferred, which would not leave a lot left over.

4 comments:

Jim in San Marcos said...

Hi Tyrone

Looks like you've overcome the "writer's cramps."

Welcome back

Tyrone said...

Hi Jim,
Yeah, I just couldn't resist that story. I can't even begin to imagine what is going through the minds of people, taking on massive amounts of debt for an impractical degree. Return on Investment... you gotta have it.

Ty

tom12008 said...

Hi Tyrone,
Welcome back; you read my mind on this one. I read the original article last night, but missed the part about the religious and women's studies degree. When she said she would gladly giver it all back, it made me wonder what she got out of her curriculum.

And what about career advising? It doesn't sound as if this lady got much advice for all her expense and grief.

This was certainly food for thought. Thanks for posting it.

Tom

K said...

"I was a black studies major. If I had stayed in school I could have been black by now."

Woody Allen, Bananas.