This article's focus is on a lady who went through med school and had a debt of around 250k by the time she finished. Unfortunately for her all the deferring she had to do in order to complete her schooling/residency caused her school loan debt to hit an amazing 550k. That's over half a million dollars to those of you keeping score at home. I'm only a fraction of what she is in debt and I'm sweatin' on how I'm going to pay back that loans I have.
I couldn't find the "sweatin' bullets" section in the Reeve book but he does talk about stress. Between getting caught up on the espn and tmz pages I found an article online (http://www.medicinenet.com/stress/article.htm) that talks more in detail about stress and defines it as "simply a fact of nature - forces from the outside world affecting the individual. In general, stress is related to both external and internal factors. External factors include the physical environment, including your job, your relationships with others, your home, and all the situations, challenges, difficulties, and expectations you're confronted with on a daily basis. Internal factors determine your body's ability to respond to, and deal with, the external stress-inducing factors. Internal factors which influence your ability to handle stress include your nutritional status, overall health and fitness levels, emotional well-being, and the amount of sleep and rest you get."
This article is crazy (my first reaction to what I read); I can't believe that this student racked up so much debt & also had so much extra put on top of it. I have been lucky enough to not have to take out a loan yet, but I also attended a community college, worked & lived at home for free for a year and a half to get my AA general education degree. Therefore I was able to save up a lot of money & tuition was cheap for me. With the help of scholarships, work, and stock investing, I have been able to pay 2 1/2 years out of pocket, & my parents have paid the rest, but it hasn't been easy, I consider myself lucky.
I am still in school until December, when I graduate, and my brother also starts college, when will cost just the same for someone in the dorms at UNI. I will be taking out my first loan this next fall, because although I work two jobs, I haven't been able to save enough to pay for it yet. I am also leaving the country over the summer, so I won't be able to make a whole lot of money.
The article talked about how the doctor and student have lost sleep over figuring how to pay the loans, I understand this. I only have to pay with loan for 1 semester, and I am freaking out. I think about what Ch. 5 says though about needs that are physiological, psychological, & social. Tho we aren't to Ch. 7 yet, socially, if someone were in debt from school loans of $500,000, they are not going to be able to feel achievement, power, or affiliation with the events and feeling that are in their lives. They are going to go through limitations, anxiety, worry, let down, and more. No one should have to go through that just because they are trying to learn and better their chances at a job & good pay to survive in this mess of a world.