Student loans - a life sentence

Forget about getting married and buying a home. This generation is thinking about next month's payment.

"My student loan debt is my biggest source of stress in my life at the moment," said Steve Desroches, a 2002 graduate from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. "I live paycheck to paycheck."

The degree left Desroches, who works for a newspaper on Cape Cod, $50,000 in debt with no savings. He's unable to buy a needed car or to even think about entering Massachusetts's "out of control" real estate market.

The repayments were so financially restrictive he briefly considered declaring bankruptcy, until he learned it wouldn't affect his student loans because they're federally guaranteed.

"My feelings about my degree now? My graduate education was invaluable [to my career], but it wasn't worth $50,000, or more accurately, it isn't worth the debt. My options are definitely limited."

I can soooo relate. I've put a lot of thought behind teaching but the one thing that keeps coming back is the low pay. It's what I want to do but I simply cannot afford it -and- pay my student loans off.

At the same time with IT work being outsourced and offshored I'm not sure what my future holds in this field either. What stays here won't pay as much as it used to. Some of the support centers still in American only pay $7/hr for entry level techs. Compare with 28-32k salaries a few years ago.

God this is depressing me.

Off to work.

A pain in the back

Really.. I have pain in my lower back again. Thankfully it's not the sciatic type from 4 years ago (which led to surgery), but it is sore and I wish it would get better soon.  Maybe I twisted something playing volleyball last week.