I was born in 1979 and managed to live all of my life debt free until 1998.

In 1998 I had just won the National Scholastic Pinacle award for film. I was finishing high school and had been accepted to the college of my choice, Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. With my accolades in film behind me, everyone believed I would achieve my dream to become a director of television commercials. I was 19 years old and on my to a future of uncontrolled debt.

I didn't immediately realize, as I made my way through the enrollment lines at college, how much it was going to cost me to live in Pasadena. My college had no dormitories so all students had to find off campus housing and transportation to get to get to school. Tuition averaged $11,000.00 per semester and the school ran 3 continuous semesters per year.

In a sincere effort to fund my education, I turned to my college financial aid office, where advisors never even suggested federal funding or grants etc. . They simply directed me to private loan companies, who were more than wiling to lend me twenty thousand dollars when I needed it; which was each semester. It was a smooth process.

I had chosen my college because they offered a 35 millimeter camera package deal with an outside vendor, which let students use professional equipment at a good rate. This allowed all the students the opportunity to shoot real film, unlike most other schools. As I completed terms, or semesters, I knew that I needed to shoot a commercial reel, a portfolio, of my style of commercials for television advertising. All film students needed one in order to present their work to potential employers. So additionally, I took another loan of $40,000.00 for this purpose. Some of my fellow students were spending $60k to $80k on their reels. This is the cost of professional film shoots.

My debt was mounting, but I still felt confident that I would find work and do well after graduation. I had everything I needed. My reel was still not complete when I graduated, but I was working on it. I had two jobs at the time, one as creative director at a company in the Inland Empire and at the other, I worked nights and weekends as an FX compositor intern in Venice, Ca. All was well.

Then... out of the blue, I awoke one morning with my heart beating incredibly fast and my nose bleeding. My heart rate was up to 180 beats per minute. After five minutes my heart rate went from racing to irregular. It wouldn't stop. I was rushed into the emergency room at a local hospital where a team of three doctors worked hard to stabilize me. They did, but the outcome was that it was decided by a heart specialist that I needed an "ablation". This was to correct the extra electrical currents that had caused my heart to go into Atrial Fibrillation ( irregular heartbeat ).

I had the operation. It was released from the hospital the next day, but the full recovery period is 6 to 8 months. I was exhausted physically and mentally. I was in disbelief. My life would never be the same. The operation could not be considered a success unless I went for months without a recurrence of symptoms. This is when the medical bills came rolling in. One was was for $60,000.00, which I paid with... what else but the money I had set aside to shoot my commercial reel. My jobs did not provide medical coverage that met these costs.

At the same time all this was happening, my job as a creative director evaporated when the company closed down. I had quit my other job a few months earlier because I could no longer handle 16 hour work days.

When my car's transmission gave out, I bought a new used car, which I packed with a few belongings and moved back home to Rhode Island.

I claimed bankruptcy to rid myself of the remaining medical bills, but because of laws recently enacted by congress favoring the private banking industry, my student loans remained and continue to grow due to high interest rates.

My dream was over and I began a new chapter in my life, the debt chapter. With all my loans totalled, my average monthly payment was approximately $1,600. Having no job and having declared bankruptcy, I deferred my loans and used up all my economic hardship forbearances in the hope that I would soon find a good job. I eventually did find that job, but it only manages to sustain me in a form of limbo, unable to support myself, move, or buy equipment I might need in order to do personal work.

I barely pay off my interest every year. My interest totals over $20,000.00 each year. I've decided to use my new job skills in web design to spread awareness to other hopeful students who may be taken in by the lure of easy loans. There are many others who are in situations similar to mine.

I did not take $200,000.00 in loans, but thanks to my medical condition I was out of work for sometime. In that time I battled insomnia and anxiety, two new side effects of having delt with atrial fibrillation. I missed payments, and deferred my loans. After the late fees, and interest I found out I racked quite the dollar amount and the number keeps climbing every day.

I am not on the web to beg for money, or look for sympathy. I am here to spread awareness on what is wrong with private student loan corporations.

I am currently paying back my loans, even though I cannot make a dent in the principle balance.