I think a good age to start making the life critical decisions is 7 years old. That's when you enter first grade here in the United States.
When I turned 19 (I started a year late) I graduated from HS with a 2.6. That may seem low, until you realize that I basically skipped every Monday. I regret that.
I went into ITT Tech. My counsellor was receiving kick backs for each student he sent there. I didn't know, and at the time I respected my elders. It's a for profit school. This was in 2004. I didn't know what it was and I signed away my life. My beliefs on ITT are in the link in my Signature. I wrote that when I was angry and I really need to rewrite it. Regardless, I'm a bit screwed now, but that's coming up.
I though college loans were unlimited. I was 21 and finished the ITT degree mill. I now had a 40,000USD piece of paper. Needless to say, it didn't work out as I had been told. I ended up going back into school. This time it was the University of Cincinnati. I had decided to ditch the whole ITT experience and do something that mattered. I picked Engineering. I finished my first year on the Deans list with a 4.0. I knew at this point that I should have attended every day of High School. Learning was fun. I looked forward to my new career goals. During that summer I made plans to change the world. I wanted to form a company that would make very low cost [omitted] that were so inexpensive that anyone could own one. I had the idea's. I knew about how I'd do it. I would be able to pay my college loans off in a decade to be sure.
I ran out of under graduate money. My 4.0 was great and all, but what the scholarships wanted was my High School grades. What the grants wanted was for me to be a minority and/or extremely poor. It was at this point, with no idea how to proceed that I entered the labour pool. I had 47,000USD in loans, half were private. I didn't know what that meant at this point. Only that my monthly payment was 800USD.
I started working at a warehouse. The money was good, but the rules kept shifting. I made double payments to my loans every month. At this rate I'd be debt free in as little as four years. Then I'd do things the right way. I'd pay for my college out of pocket. No more loans for me. I worked hard and long. fifty and sixty hour weeks at 15.50/h. I lifted 2000-4000 40lbs packages onto pallets every day. I became strong. I knew what I was going to do, and I had a plan. Then the warehouse made three key changes. Mispicked items would now count against the picker twice. In house mispicks were now counted once (then twice a month later), a missing package was counted against the picker three times. Accuracy requirements were bumped up to 99.96%. This warehouse didn't have scanners or any sort of error protection. One year to the day of employment, I was terminated for having an average picking record of 99.94%. I wasn't alone. They managed to shed 1/3 of their total work force. I would later find out that they had lost a large account and were shedding staff to save money. It was now November 12th 2008. (Side note - They got scanners; but due to company policies, they can't retain a staff any more.)
I didn't know there was a limit to the number of deferments on my government loans. I also didn't know that a Forbearance costed a hundred dollars on average, didn't apply to the loan, had to be filed for each private loan, and only lasted three months. I had seven private loans. I spent the better part of a year looking for employment. My 2,000USD savings was wiped and I had late charges. A lot of late charges. My friends, my family, and my emergency contacts listed at ITT where harassed hourly by collection agencies.
I started working for Walmart on Feb 05, 2010. When I attempted to pay my loans, they refused. They demanded that I pay the late fees in full before they'd accept a payment. I'm still sure that's not legal. I owed 17,000USD in late fees at this point. I had paid my loans down to 22,000USD. I had to read my contracts for my student loans. Private loans can set any amount for late fees that they desire. When I took this contract to a lawyer, I was laughed out of the office. I can't bankrupt on a school loan, nor can I have the contract expelled. I was 19 when I signed this. I'm 25 now. My federal loans worked with me and expunged the late charges they had filled... all 120USD of it. I gratefully paid them. The harassment from the private loans increased until I changed my phone number. My friends and family did the same. The letters still come stating that they may possibly work with me, but I have to give them my bank account number and call from my home phone.
Time moves forward. My Walmart 'career' ended in Decemeber of 2010 for reasons I'm not legally allowed to talk about. I can state that my manager was doing something illegal and I attempted to out her anonymously only to get nicked by a camera. I can say that any prospective employer that calls them will no doubt get a character destroying account of god knows what as she's still employed and delights in talking with them. I'm sure this is illegal too.
A year passed before I was hired into another warehouse. By this point, my Federal school loans were paid off. I currently owed 18,000USD in private loans and 86,000USD in late fees. Apparently this is legal as I spent quite some time trying to have the late fees waived. In every case it failed. I worked this warehouse job from Oct 16, 2011 till Feb 17 2014. Needless to say, this warehouse had scanners and I worked a 100% accuracy. The job wasn't as hard as my last warehouse. I even promoted to a delivery position. Then my ankle degenerated. The doctor told me that if I kept walking on it like I had been, I would loose my foot. My employer wasn't happy to see me go, but I'm keeping my foot.
I'm now unemployed. I'm attempting to find a IT systems repair job that I can turn into a career. I send out 6 to 18 resumes with ITT tech listed as the degree and one year experience working for UC in their computer labs. It isn't looking promising. Every decent job I find is some Temp agency masking as an employer. When I think I've found a decent place, they're not hiring right now. I haven't had an interview yet. I started applying back in October of 2013 when I submitted my four week notice that lasted almost five months with no replacement hired. I had no real future at this point. I live with my parents. I keep the house clean, mow the lawn, and take care of my two younger sisters.
Now if you wanted to know why I said all that above, this is why.
I messed up big time. I now owe well over 150,000USD. If by some miracle I get employed, I'll get a 15% garnishment. I'll never have a tax return. If my bank account balance goes over 12,000USD the collection agency will seize it. If I own two cars, the second one will be seized. If I write a best seller, the collection agency can seize the rights as well. They can even forbid me from writing a squeal to my own works. After all this, here is was I did to make up for it.
My Eldest Sister:
I made sure she never skipped a day. I ran anything she forget to the school. I used the little college I had to teach her the gaps the public school teachers had left. I proofed writings and homework. I made sure to collect her work when she was sick. When she entered High School, I made sure she obtained every grant and scholarship she could. She has received hundreds of awards from every program the school has offered. She's in her second year of college and she owes nothing. She has enough to go another three years and finish her BSA.
At every step the school attempted to mislead her. The counsellors attempted to send her to Full Sail University, then ITT, then the military. They attempted to have her apply for loans. They undermined her scholarship research. They stood in her way. One even accused her of being a racist and attempted to force her into a tolerance program down-town (She turned down a black kid; for sex, that up to this point had made her daily school life hell, including a suspension for defending herself from a group attack with a pencil) This is in her permanent record.
My Youngest Sister:
She's in middle school. She has perfect attendance and grades. With my Eldest Sisters help, she's half way funded for college. Every morning, I follow her on a bike while she runs a mile. I'm doing everything I can for her. I want her to succeed.
Myself:
I don't know if I'll have a happy ending. I have a plan now. One that relies on luck and timing. It'll most likely get me killed by some wealthy company if I pull it off.
And it'll change the world.