Reply #26: I'll be 57 soon...

[northernlights]

Lost my career in the hi-tech crash / post-911. No jobs, none, for the 2 years following 911. Sold everything, moved to Maine. My property trashed; spent 2 years repairing that damage.

Got my 1st new job in '05. For $10/hour. 80% or so cut in pay. They phone harrassed me at home, literally poisoned me (contaminated well...they were upstairs drinking poland springs water while I was downstairs puking), and then final straw came to my home and assaulted my animals, so I quit in '07.

Went back to school. Was going to sell my house in '07 to pay for it, but I stooopidly listend the the advisor when she dumped emotional manipulation on me, "DOOOON'T sell your HOME. Just take out a student loan!" And lied, lied, lied to me about a math placement exam their facility offered that had no published information. Long story short, she turned what should have been a intense 2-year program that I expected to finish in 3 years tops for cash and been able to move to where I was hired, into a 4 dragged-out years with $30K+ in student loans...and the local job market in the field started drying up last year.

Got a job last year at $11.50/hour, following a couple desperate weeks working at Subway for a couple cents over minimum. Had to quit the now $15.00/hour 2 weeks ago because the schedule wouldn't work with this semester and the courses are the most intense. I can't afford to fail out. I can't pay off the student loans at $15.00/hour if I quit school. So now I just buy one year at a time with student loans while I try to sell my house into a nonmarket at a huge loss.

That's what I get for thinking I could re-tool my way out of this economic catastrophe with hard work and determination.