Many make many assumptions because it is an easy thing to do. Not much thought is involved and no research is required.

First, let me educate you to a few very important FACTS. I did not take out a student loan to pay college tuition. The Vocational Rehabilitation paid for my tuition -- all seven years - and my school supplies. I was on welfare and could afford very little more than mac and cheese. I took out small loans to make up the difference between what Welfare considered "too much income" and what the Federal Government's financial guidelines were for "too much income" (to obtain financial aid ... you see I also applied for and got Pell grants ... every year I was a single mom in college, but I had to be attending at least 3/4 time --- there is the catch). I did this so that my son and I could have more nutritious meals. The second fact is the most important; no amount of job research before attending college can predict or prevent the Department of Youth and Family Services from destroying 7 years of work and planning by stealing a single mom's child -- after the single mom has attained a college degree and is in the process of looking for a job. The job that I did finally get after my world had been rocked for the worse was outside of my already researched and networked community of Nashua, N.H. I lived in Massachusetts because that is where my child was placed. I worked at Kinko's in Burlington. I was not working in my field, but I was earning enough money to make payments on my student loans. The story does not end there. After 3 years I finally regained custody of my child and relocated to Arizona to make a fresh start. Despite the previous 3 years of working full time under constant emotional duress I managed to make contact with and had lined up an interview with someone in the Corporate world of Kinko's and was within 2 weeks of a meeting to discuss the possibility of an overseas transfer. (Kinko's in Burlington, Massachusetts helped me get a transfer to the kinko's in Phoenix, Arizona.) I transfered again from Phoenix to Glendale. Because my son had been taken at a tender age and traumatized he was not doing well in school. My employer (at the Kinko's in Glendale, Arizona) did not sympathize and I was forced to quit because I was not allowed to take a leave of absence and help my child who was flunking the 4th grade for the second time! I gave up my opportunity to work overseas and the emotional weight that I had carried for many years forced me to my knees. That was in 1998 and I have been receiving Social Security since then. First these Federal benefits were called, "Supplimental", as I had not yet earned "work credits". A few years later and back in New Hampshire I got a part time job as a cashier and was still on Social Security. My student loans had become consolidated and after one or 2 deferments, forbareance, etc... I was on an "income contingent plan" with Direct Loans.

After working many years as a part time cashier earned enough "work credits" to qualify for SSDI, Social Security Disability. I have tried several times to pick myself up and get myself a real job. I have connected myself with the Vocational Rehabilitation and a few other organizations geared to helping the disabled find employment. However, because my student loans were not completely paid off when I stopped my full time job at kinko's in 1998 the interest continued to grow. That interest became a larger debt that Direct Loans has graciously given me the option to pay back on an "income contingent plan". It is unfortunate that I am only partially disabled and have been unable to obtain full time employment in a professional field because now a professional work income is the only employment which will be large enough to pay my over inflated student loan now. It did not start this way and it certainly was no fault of my own.