Teacher Compiles $410K In Student Loan Debt By Basically Making Every Dumb Mistake Possible

I absolutely loathe articles like this piece on Business Insider but it’s the way of the Internet. This website isn’t innocent when it comes to link baiting but we always make an effort to not be over the top in our headlines.

The headline of the piece got me to click because I, like most people, am swimming in debt so it’s nice to read about other people drowning in even more debt.

HEADLINE: How a Missouri high school teacher ended up with $410,000 in student loan debt

Wow! That’s a ton of money? Did they just forget to bill her and one day, years later, they finally realized she owned money or was it a clerical mistake or did she go to Hogwarts or something? Nope, none of those. Her massive debt is due to absolute stupidity.

Her choices started in 1990, when she first enrolled in college, already married with children. After four years at Maryville University, she had accrued her first $26,278 in student loan debt (the equivalent of about $42,000 in 2015, Carey notes).

After three semesters of law school, a career path change to teaching — which required more graduate school from 1999 to 2004 — additional loans to cover child care for her four children, and steep interest rates, she owed $194,603 by April 2005, the Times reports.

One final educational endeavor post-2005 — a Ph.D. program at Texas A&M — tacked on an another $7,748 in loans.

It wasn’t until this September that Kelley realized the extent of her debt, thanks to a call from her loan servicer. After 25 years of not making any payments, her total was a jaw-dropping $410,000.

I’ll give her credit because she acknowledges her choices led to the massive debt but I’m absolutely weary of a lawyer/teacher with Ph.D. who “didn’t realize the extent of her debt” after NEVER PAYING A DIME TOWARD HER LOANS IN THREE DECADES.

And the cherry on the stupidity sundae is this line from the piece..

“In fact, the accumulated interest was more than double the original principal, Carey writes.”

Can’t. even.

[via Business Insider]

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Chris Illuminati is a 5-time published author and recovering a**hole who writes about running, parenting, and professional wrestling.