Friday, July 30, 2010

Visited my old TTT

I took the day off from work the other day to go down to "city" to visit some friends. While down there I stopped by my old TTT law school to go pick up my diploma, 14 months after graduation lol. By virtue of it being a small private diploma mill, I was well known by faculty and staff and was greeted with great cheer. Many of them asked how I was doing, where I was working and how practice was going. I gave them this answer "I have not been able to get a legal job so I have been working in the restaurants with my family". The look of dismay and sadness on their faces surprised me. Perhaps staff is not aware of the current doldrums in the legal field? Anyways, I picked up my diploma and went off to see some buddies and had a great night.

Its been a while since my last post as I have been super busy running the family business. My family is in Greece until the end of September so its just me and the restaurants. My self esteem and emotional well being have greatly improved since I’ve dived into the family business full speed. My "partner" post probably showed how unstable and angry I had become. I’m glad that there has been a reversal in my emotional state as its not good for the body and soul to be consumed with such anger. I’m still pissed at the law school scam and the fact that I have to fork over $1100 a month in student loans for a degree which has netted me a whopping $650. However, being blessed with a family business that has no debt, has strong earnings, and is a great business model has spared me the ravages that many of my colleagues have suffered. But for the family business I would be working night shifts at gas stations to pay my loans.

With regards to our collective student loan predicament, I have been focusing on the legal aspect of their nondischargeability. We scambloggers rightfully and successfully dissuade hundreds of potential 1L's from attending the scam with the information and stories that we post. How about our own personal lives? What can we do to better further our own pocketbooks and financial wellbeing? For starters, I was thinking that we can form a coalition or organization on student loan reform and bankruptcy relief.

Could you imagine the media impact if JD's, MBA's, PHD's, and other scammed debt slaved students began picketing and protesting outside of Federal bankruptcy courts? Imagine if we all went there, holding signs stating how much we personally owed! I have no problem holding a sign that says "debt=110k, JD earnings to date= $650". I think such a tactic could prove to be effective over the long run. Within a few years there will be over $1 trillion in outstanding student loans, with many of these debtors owing huge amounts of money with dismal earning potential. Obviously industry opposition would be huge, but the numbers reside with us as we education debtors outnumber the industry shills by a ratio of at least 50 to 1.

I’ve noticed lately that many of the empty office buildings in SOCAL are slowly getting occupied by these "private universities". More and more young and older people are getting suckered into borrowing big money in exchange for receiving their "education". The debt slaves continue to grow in number at a rapid pace even though the business sector continues to wisely delever.

In conclusion, I believe that within a few years, there will be so many broke grads with such a high amount of debt that the outcry will be heard around the nation. As many of us are debt slaves ourselves, we have two options: do nothing, or fight back. I choose to fight. I hope many of you will follow.

Until next time,

3 comments:

  1. My diploma came late because a professor forgot to enter a grade! It hangs on my wall but it doesn't really mean anything.

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  2. My wife put mine in a frame, or I would have otherwise let it collect dust in its mailer. I still refuse to hang the stupid Third Tier Drake diploma.

    If you are serious about forming a coalition of unemployed "professionals", contact Cryn Johannsen of All Education Matters blogspot.

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  3. Unfortunately, I don't think these blogs are doing any dissuading. 30 something law student is a prime example. I've also been asked to speak to some 0L evening students at my alma matter. Every single one thinks they're going to be in the top 10%, and that the scambloggers were just really awful students (probably partially true.)

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