Because of high costs, some high school graduates have opted to delay, drop out of or forgo attending college altogether to avoid student debt that could hang over them for decades.
When Alex, my elder child, who identifies as nonbinary, was ready to apply for college in 2022, I felt ill-equipped to help them navigate the process. I was raised in a low-income household and had been unprepared to figure out how to make my own college experience affordable.
I have been a single parent for 17 years. I have never earned enough income to have to make payments on my student loans, which total $81,000 for two degrees. I assumed I would carry the debt to my grave.
Alex is neurodivergent their brain processes differently than what is considered to …
Read the full article at: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/13/business/college-dropout-debt.html