While there are too many deceptive and shady practices in the student loan industry, many graduates who are burdened with certain levels of debt need to get over their predicament. I read a story where a guy graduated with some $35,000 in student loan debt and because he began missing payments and couldn’t find a job, over the course of five years that number skyrocketed threefold. Look, in that situation the “problem” likely is the fact that the guy isn’t willing to put himself in a position to be able to afford his payments. Doing some quick math shows that this guy was probably required to pay some $230 per month in order to make his payment.

Come on. Anyone can make $230 per month by working at a gas station or at a retail shop. I don’t want to hear about this guy complaining that he is a victim. I’ll listen to his story about how his life was torn apart and how he’s been stunted from advancing as quickly as previous generations of college graduates (trust me…I know), but don’t act like you’re a victim when – after five years – you couldn’t position yourself to pay $230 per month.

Quite a while ago I wrote an entry called “Personal Clarification on Student Loan Debt” where I stated quite clearly that I am no victim. One of the major problems that I see brewing out of the student loan debt dialogue is this victimized stance that so many people take. Hey – I signed the paperwork to get these loans and while I didn’t fully understand how much the loans would effect me post-graduation, I wasn’t taken advantage of by anyone in the student loan industry. Sure, I think that the “system” which decides who gets free rides and who has to pay is fundamentally flawed. I’m glad that it has been changing (too slowly) over the past six years since I graduated, but don’t paint me as a victim.

On a similar note, I’m not playing the old “fish story” game here either. In other words, I’m not suggesting that the guy whose story I read about only graduated with $35,000 in student loan debt and since I graduated $118,000, then I’m more deserving of pity. First, I don’t want pity (though money would be nice). Second, I’m not interested in promoting a race to the bottom between various student loan borrowers. I have a ton of student loan debt and though I’ve been diligently paying it, I’m still going to be on the hook for a while. That doesn’t mean that I deserve pity, though!

I sincerely hope that an honest national dialogue opens up about how to address the gigantic student loan debt burden that will continue to stunt our economy for the foreseeable future. Once policymakers realize that personal social advancement and personal wealth accumulation are not possible when America’s 20 and 30-somethings are saddled with unmanageable debt, then we might see some positive action. My fear, though, is that no one will realize this until it’s too late (imagine an economy that is poised to succeed but can’t figure out why drastically reduced home prices aren’t selling units and consumer spending is continuing to constrict). Here’s hoping that some forward-looking policymaker or legislator sees this problem early-on and begins addressing it as soon as possible!

Well, remember the stories that we had over the summer months coming out of Ocean Township:

• Car Burgalries
• Child Predators on the Loose
• Slumlords not being dealt with
• The Dirty Developer who Ruined Local Home Prices
• Underage Drinking Problems (non-college!)
• More Underage Drinking Problems (non-college!)
• Poor Planning in the Senior Development
• A Growing Drug Trade Problem
• Even more non-collegiate underage drinking problems!
• And yes, yet even MORE underage drinking problems that have nothing to do with the local university (though this writer feels the need to mention that the university is close by)
• A Pirated CD Ring Busted
• Sketchy Little League structure (even little league is screwed up here!)
• Gas station robberies
• One of the biggest stories of the summer – the capture of a pedophile who had over 400 counts of sexual assault against him
• Purse snatching, marijuana arrests, and more
• Even MORE burgalries
• A massive “summer tenant” party that got busted up as the local police THOUGHT they had their first college party of the year…
• Utility problems in Ocean Township

Yes folks, that was just the crap that took place in this town over the summer months! Now I ask you – with all of this garbage going on in Ocean Township, New Jersey, do they REALLY have room to complain about college students? I think not. As a matter of fact, I think it’s obvious that they put the blame for all of their ills on the backs of college students from September through May. It’s disgusting and it’s blatantly obvious to anyone who actually looks at this stuff to see that this town has got a serious “good old boy” problem that needs to be fixed.

What prompted this post were the following stories:

• Underage Drinking on the Rise
• Peeping Tom Gets Caught

Are you serious? These assholes have the audacity to say that underage drinking is on the rise because of the college? Read your own stories and you’ll see that that’s not true!!!

And the second story – there was a peeping-fucking-Tom staring at people through their windows! Isn’t that a little more serious than some high school kids having a beer (I say high school because the drinking problem is NOT college-related, that’s just the media taking an easy shot at the university)?

Oh, but it gets better. Another local paper publishes the following:

• Prostitution Ring Broken in Ocean Township
• Investigation Continues in Cindy Lane Fire

That’s right, folks. Not only is there that gigantic list above of completely ridiculous problems from the summer months, but now we also have prostitution and 14-year-olds setting fires in town!

But hey…gotta go after those college students, right?

Ridiculous.