•

40-year-old delivers for DoorDash to help pay down her $100,000 student loan debt—on top of her full-time job

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/18/millennial-works-works-3-jobs-to-pay-off-her-student-loans-in-houston.html

Shonnita Leslie's side-hustle as a DoorDash driver helped her pay down around $20,000 of her six-figure student loan debt. Here's how she spends her money.

40-year-old delivers for DoorDash to help pay down her $100,000 student loan debt—on top of her full-time job

53 comments

HappycamperNZ

•

One of the best things my country did was interest free student loans while you remained in the country.

Debt is alot more manageable without interest

FunderPants

•

Canada now has interest free student loans and very generous, flexible repayment schedules.

We also directly transfer a lot of money to our colleges and universities that helps keep tuition lower.

HappycamperNZ

•

Ours are % of income above a threshold. Technically if you make less than that and stay in the country it goes up like $5 a year in fees.

My wife finished studying while we had our first kid and only worked 4 hours a week - student loan wasn't touched till she went back to full time a few years ago.

sparkle

•

In Norway, student loans are interest-free until you're out of college. Crazy that a "first world" country wouldn't have something like that.

Donebrach

•

Most Federal loans in the US are the same (at least they were when I took them out nearly 20 years ago, problem is you are only in school for 4 years.

Then you get a shit paying job for at least 5 or 10 years after that—maybe you’re motivated enough to seek a masters or PHD after that but most aren’t (for the implied benefit of higher earnings, nothing else). Coupled with the fact that the cost to attend any higher ed in the US is outrageously overpriced to begin with, wages are stagnant, cost of living is beyond unaffordable pretty much everywhere in the states…

It’s just another facet of the capitalist hell system we’ve saddled ourselves with and continue to just shrug off as if there’s no other way to do things.

thirteene

•

I took out a 31k loan, I've currently paid 40k against it and still owe 20k. Exact scenario. Turns out 17yo me didn't know what major I wanted and I had to defer until I had a new plan. The current system is predatory.

HappycamperNZ

•

But this way companies make soo much interest

SlopppyEngineer

•

kandoh

•

Your country damaged it's economy by doing that.

You probably have college educated citizens who can work less the older they get because of the higher income they earned getting out of college. This means they're less productive than the college educated Americans whose extra income is siphoned away through the interest from their loans, keeping them perpetually on the edge of poverty, and thus at peak productivity.

sebinspace

•

Oh no, not the economy!

Also your whole argument is that older people aren’t being held at gunpoint, and younger people are having to do more work to earn far less than they did.

Your argument is that we should starve the dogs to keep them obedient.

Fuck right off

jonne

•

I'm guessing this is sarcasm, but it's uncomfortably close to how actual neoliberals think

kandoh

•

I'm absolutely certain that there way student loans were set up in the US was a concerted effort by the ruling class to keep the working people who went to college from accumulating wealth for themselves.

TimewornTraveler

•

Not sure why they report on one person doing this.... isn't this the norm nowdays? Work two jobs to pay a debt that ought never have existed?

Me, I got the 100k debt but I just pretend it doesn't exist and I'm fine!! We'll pay the minimums til I die....

Maggoty

•

This is CNBC. This series exists to gaslight people about their finances and the economy. In this article they have normalization of hustle culture and admonishment of her getting a degree based on passion instead of ROI.

In the past it's been used to gaslight readers into thinking their budget problems are solely due to their own inadequacy. They do this by highlighting people who are usually in marginal areas, like disabled people, and show how they make their budget work. Every single article has something like, "lives rent free with parents" somewhere in there. Others have straight up given ridiculous numbers for rent and utilities.

LifeOfChance

•

It's absolutely the norm. I work with loads of people who jumped ship on their degree because they couldn't find good enough pay in the field. I'd say maybe 40% of my team is in this situation most of them over 35. One of the younglings gave up after his first semester after researching his FOS and learning he didn't stand a fincial chance. It's pretty fucking sad honestly. Great kid with nothing but ambition and hard work to give.

clearedtoland

•

As a near 40 year old with the same amount of student loan debt, I have absolutely considered a part-time gig to help pay down the loans. But the amount seems so enormous, and the repayment would be so comparatively small, that the little free time with my family is far more valuable.

some_guy

•

I thought no one wants to work anymore? /s

Surp

•

Education is for becoming more and more just for the rich

gravitywell

•

I will never understand why people work so hard to pay off student loans..If you've been paying off a loan for years and the balance just keeps going UP, the sensible thing to do is default on the loan, accept the consequences of that (which is minimal with student loans) and move on with your life

Edit: everyone saying they will garnish your wages, this is not something that is common, its fear mongering. If anyone has personal antidotes about having their wages garnished I'd love to know how long that process took and what it was like but I doubt we will see any.

kungen

•

I thought one of the big problems with America's student debt was that you can't effectively default on it? That it will still persist even after filing for bankruptcy for example?

Fredselfish

•

And guess who is president and responsible for that?

Dkarma

•

Not how it works you utter fucking moron

fishpen0

•

Joe Biden wrote and voted to pass the very bill that makes student loans immune to bankruptcy as part of BAPCPA back in the 2005 when he was a senator.

Learn the voting and bill submission history of your politicians you utter fuckng moron

gravitywell

•

By default I just mean stop paying. You can't get rid of the debt by bankruptcy or anything, you still owe it, but it also doesn't affect peoples credit score as much as many seem to think it does.

Soulg

•

They can garnish your wages

Fester

•

You can’t escape student loan debt by default, bankruptcy, etc.

The best thing you can do is sign up for IBR and accept that 5% of your income is lost for 20 years, and hope that whoever is president at that time isn’t a sadist cunt. Also try to save some extra money for possible income tax on the forgiven amount.

That’s assuming your loans are subsidized. If they’re private, try delivering for DoorDash on the side!

gravitywell

•

I'm saying you can stop paying, Im not saying you won't still owe them, but I know people who owe tens of thousands in student loans and have not paid them a cent in over ten years, they have a credit score of around 800, its never affected their ability to get any kind of credit or housing.

I think people over estimate how important they are or what kind of consequences there are for not paying as if it ruins your credit score forever or something, and its just not true.

takenaps

•

You may have missed this link someone else posted, but if you stop paying, your employer may be required to withhold some of your wages to make the payments

https://studentaid.gov/help-center/answers/article/what-is-wage-garnishment

gravitywell

•

Okay but what I'm saying is, why work extra hard and take a second job? Why not just make a single minimum payment every 270 days to avoid them moving to the next steps? There are just so many other options besides working a second job to pay them, and so many delay tactics you could employ to avoid getting to the point of garnished wages.

interrobang

•

You're right. Im late 30s, took out tons of loans at 17yo, and my dad swindled me out of anything that didnt go directly to tuition.

I stopped paying a decade ago, keep waiting for my checks to be garnished, but hasn't happened yet.

I don't use credit, im financially not an adult in many ways, but i kept waaaaay more of my money than anyone else i know.

gravitywell

•

thank you! Ive yet to hear a single story from anyone who's actually defaulted and had wages garnished for student loans. Sure it can happen but its pretty rare.

Jonnynny

•

I've had two employees at my work get their wages garnished for defaulting on student loans. It definitely happens.

Edit: One of the guys told me flat out that he will never willingly give a cent towards his student loans ever again. The other guy was going through some financial hardship after leaving here and we got a notice to garnish but he was no longer employed with us so we just had to respond back to the notice.

interrobang

•

Same- all threats, don't know anyone actually being garnished.

When my choice was pay loans or eat, i ate, and i sure af am not going to call someone and offer them money just because it got slightly better a couple years later. Ive never owned a new couch, i am not well off.

If debtors prisons come back, I'm fucked, but until then, frankly, what can they do? I can't afford a house or kids either way, and i am not throwing away anything on interest that will only grow and stress me out.

I have no idea what i must owe now, over triple my salary, min.

They sold a for-profit bullshit degree.

Fuck em

BruceTwarzen

•

Or just flee to a developed country

Kecessa

•

Yep, learn to do something in high demand, move the fuck out and don't look back.

sparkle

•

Be sure not to say that out loud before you do it though... taking out loans with the intention of jumping the country and never repaying them could end up with you wanted for fraud. Unlikely it'll matter if you never come back, but it could bite you in the ass.

roofuskit

•

You can't.

JiveTurkey

•

You can't do this with student loan debt which seems incredibly dumb. I also don't understand borrowing 100k for school.

fishpen0

•

It’s not the original loan amount. The trap in student loans is the initial deferment when they gain interest while you aren’t paying and taking classes for 4-6 years. One of my loans was 14k and when I graduated had more than doubled. By the time it was paid off in my 30s the total sum I had paid in to interest was over 100k. And I was paying on an accelerated cycle for the last 5 or so years to kill it faster.

I had discovered with one of my servicers that they were applying my overpayment only to interest as well so the principal would not go down and keep generating new interest. This is actually illegal now thankfully

RoquetteQueen

•

Wow Americans start accruing interest on student loans while you're still in school?? That's crazy.

fishpen0

•

Yeah. There are two kinds of loan as part of the federal loan program. Subsidized and unsubsidized. You get granted a pool of loans from both kinds when you apply for aid. The unsubsidized loans accrue interest the whole time. The subsidized loans are equally horrifying mostly because the interest is accruing, it’s just being paid for by the taxpayers on your behalf. Neither public loan actually accrues no interest while you are in school

The insidious part is this is all sold to you at 16-18 by your own student advisors and the university as “financial aid”

Dkarma

•

Dkarma

•

Viking_Hippie

•

I also don't understand borrowing 100k for school

Other than the fact that college tuition has become absurdly expensive, the predatory fees and interest structures of student loans means that most people who have been paying theirs to the best of their ability for several years actually still owe MORE than the original amount borrowed, which I'm guessing is the case here.

The terms and conditions that people who are usually 17-18yo and know fuck all about contract law are coerced into agreeing to in order to "ever make something of themselves" would make Franz Kafka disown The Trial for being utopian sentimentalism in comparison.

ripcord

•

Are in-state tuitions not a thing anymore? I'm old but when I went to school it was the difference between something like $30k a year and $5k a year.

Edit: for one local major university in a kinda shitty state (but a good school), I guess now it's 10k/year vs 30k/year

Also, how many 17-18yos are deciding on this stuff without parents' help?? I mean, clearly not all, but surely most?

interrobang

•

My parent encouraged me to take out loans including housing, then overcharged me rent from it lol

Not all parents are helpful

Dkarma

•

State university in my city is 10k a year

Stop lyin

sparkle

•

Most 4-year universities in the US average around $15k after federal aid, plus rent in a city like Boston or Atlanta will probably cost you a lot more than $15k per year, not including cost of living. Interest rates for student loans can range between 4% and 17% monthly. $100,000 is a little high but very realistic.

Viking_Hippie

•

Which part of "most people who have been paying theirs to the best of their ability for several years actually still owe MORE than the original amount borrowed" didn't you understand?

10k/y for 4 years comes out to 40k and it's not at all unusual for people to end up owing 2.5 times the original amount or more in spite of doing the literal best they can to pay it off. That's how awful the terms and conditions of student loans are.

gravitywell

•

You're thinking of bankruptcy, you can absolutely stop paying student loans, you'll still owe them but they can't force you to pay them.

RainfallSonata

•

They sure as fucking hell can garnish your wages.

Deceptichum

•

I’d love a little extra on top of my wages. I just hope it’s not parsley.

snapoff

•

https://studentaid.gov/help-center/answers/article/what-is-wage-garnishment

SeedyOne

•

I will never understand...

You might try reading up on it (or the link someone posted) as you've got it wrong. That's why this has been such a huge issue, they are unlike other loans.

ripcord

•

gravitywell

•

I know people who've defaulted on student loans, I'm not making anything up, you are assuming a lot.

The one thing I did not know was that a court case isn't needed for fed loans to garnish wages

but what I do know is none of the people I know ( in mid 30s-40s, college was 10 years ago), who have stopped paying, have not had consequences that prevented them from getting credit or housing or other loans, nor does wage garnishment just automatically happen and is actually pretty easy to avoid. This isn't just due to the pause on it either, they stopped paying long before covid hit.