The student loan trap
This Is Uncomfortable
Marketplace
4.6 • 3.6K Ratings
🗓️ 19 November 2020
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jessie Suren grew up hearing the same advice over and over: College would be her ticket to the middle class, even if it meant taking out tens of thousands of dollars in student loans. But when the job she applied for after graduation fell through, she ended up working at a call center to hound people who had fallen behind on their loan payments. She feared she was staring at a window into her future, and she would spend the rest of her twenties doing whatever it took to get her balance to zero.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We know kids have lots of questions and the ones about money can be the most difficult to answer. |
| 0:06.5 | That's why you need our podcast, Million Bazzillion. |
| 0:10.0 | In every episode we find answers to the tough, surprising, and sometimes awkward questions kids have about money. |
| 0:16.5 | Yep, from what is a black market to why do we get paid different amounts and what do grownups do with all their money? |
| 0:23.0 | Million Bazzillion from Marketplace helping dollars make more sense. |
| 0:27.0 | Listen to season 4, wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:36.0 | If you have student loans, maybe you've gotten an annoying call before reminding you your late on your payments. |
| 0:42.0 | Well, for a while, Jesse Seren was that annoying person. |
| 0:47.0 | I hated that job. Nobody wants to hear from a bill collector, let alone a student loan bill collector. |
| 0:54.0 | It was 2010, her first summer after college. |
| 0:58.0 | And every day she'd walk to her cubicle and recite a script that sounded something like this. |
| 1:04.0 | Hello, this is Jesse calling from American Education Services. |
| 1:08.0 | You are currently 90 days to link with on your student loan. |
| 1:12.0 | You owe a total of $340. How would you like to make that payment today? |
| 1:16.0 | And every day she'd have to deal with reactions like this. |
| 1:20.0 | $340. I can't even pay for my diapers right now. |
| 1:25.0 | How are you? |
| 1:25.0 | $440. Do you pay all of your bills on time? |
| 1:28.0 | This is not even my cell phone right now. I can't even afford a cell phone. |
| 1:31.0 | When I can shit out money, I'll give you some. |
| 1:33.0 | Oh, oh my God. |
| 1:34.0 | I know. I'm telling you, it was really the worst. |
... |
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