Here are a few of the 173 stories we've received on our website so far...

"The principle on my loan upon leaving graduate school was $60,000. It is now $120,000 and I live with the certainty that I will never be able to buy a house or really save for retirement…I wake up most nights in a cold sweat. I have even very seriously contemplated suicide at some of my lowest points because I see no way out. I am 38 and will probably still be paying off my student loans with my social security. This is not just my shame, but the shame of a nation that can do better but refuses." - Stephanie

"I am a single mother. I never received child support and tired of raising my children in poverty, I returned to school to try to make a better life for us. I applied for every scholarship possible but still had to borrow over twenty thousand dollars which I am still paying off. What was more devastating than my debt though was that when my children started college I was doing better financially than I would have without an education, however my thirty thousand dollar yearly salary put my children over the eligibility level to receive Pell Grants for their education and now they also are faced with a huge student loan debt." - Maggie

"I have over 130K in school loans. About 70K is in private loans with Sallie Mae. The last year I have tried to be aggressive in paying by sending in an extra $1000 a month. I was doing this for a few months before I realized that each time I sent in extra money they were pushing back my automatic withdraw which meant I wasn't paying as much per month as I thought. There is a special form to fill out and include with any extra payments to keep your regular payments on automatic withdraw. They really don't want you to pay more. Then, after a lengthy conversation with an agent, I found out that the required monthly payment (approx $350) is about $50 less than the amount of interest I accrue every month (approx $400). So I just found out that even though I was sending in an extra $1000 a month I still was accruing interest. I was going an extra $50 in the hole every month for 5 years. I maybe couldn't have sent in $1000 extra but I could have come up with $50 more a month." - Micah

"Currently unemployed, I have to make a decision between eating and sending my loan payments. Paying my loans is winning for fear of what not paying them will lead to." - Michelle

"Had the dream. Went to college, was always told I had to go to college to get a "good" paying job. I know have a Masters degree, 3 children and a deadbeat ex-husband and have 100,000 in student loans to repay. I have tried everything, forbearance, deferment, economic hardships, but the interest keeps going up and up and the debt keeps getting bigger and bigger. I know I need to repay the loans. But, do I take food out of my children's mouth? Do I not pay the rent or utilities, so Sallie Mae can get their money? Well, [their] answer is yes. This is what I have been told. They do not care that I have 3 children and living expenses to pay. I do not owe on a car, nor credit cards, just Sallie Mae, and a 600.00 a month payment. My children are supposed to go without, since Sallie Mae wants their money. Sorry, my children come first. Sallie Mae can ruin my credit and garnish my paycheck, but when you have nothing to give, what else are you supposed to do?" - Susan

"I remember the day the financial aid people came into class those last few days of school to show the video about repayment and gave us a slip with the estimated amount of our loan per month. So I kept that figure in my head as I had landed a job in the area of my degree and needed to move over 300 miles from where I was at. Those 6 months after graduation just flew by. I got my first statement from Sallie Mae and the statement was for double what was estimated. Come to find out the estimate that they gave us in class was only for repayment of the subsidized portion of the loan. Then the struggle began. My job was an entry position at entry position pay. My total repayment per month is over 25% of my net pay. I think it worked out to be just less than 20% of my gross pay so that I did not qualify for any kind of deferment. I would have made some different decisions had I known how much the repayment would really be per month. Sallie Mae sets you up so that you will default on your loan so that they make more $$$. I recently put my loans into forbearance to get caught up on bills and fell into another trap that Sallie Mae had set to make them more money. They charged me $150 fee of some kind to put my loans into forbearance. From my understanding this fee is unique to Sallie Mae. I guess this would be the best time to go ahead and consolidate my loans with someone other than Sallie Mae." - Ben

"My daughter was accepted to Willamette University some ten years ago. She hoped to complete her BA there and then move to George Washington University for her MA. Then the PELL grants were cut, followed by unprecedented cuts in other grants and scholarships, which she had relied on. To complete her BA she was forced to start taking out loans each semester. Until her final semester when she was told she could not borrow any more money and she had to ask me to take out a PLUS loan. I did so, even though I was already in debt up to my hairline, on the promise from my daughter that she would be able to pay this loan back while she was at GWU, as she already had employment in DC. Unfortunately, her employment was not enough to cover paying on that loan AND to complete her MA. She was forced to borrow more money, but in the end couldn't complete her MA when her debt load reached more than $70,000. I was forced to declare bankruptcy just a year later to avoid losing my home, but of course that does not include the PLUS loan. I have made at most two payments on this loan and have it currently in forbearance, which just means that Sallie Mae gets to pile up the interest. I live from paycheck to paycheck as does my daughter. The old joke about college graduates getting the best jobs at McDonald's is not too far off the mark. We are both college graduates and both of us have yet to see a return on our investment of time, money and life. I would have been better off becoming a carpenter or an electrician and probably would have had more fun doing it." - Melody

"I've had to sell all my personal property, my car, my blood, and my eggs (ova) to pay for school. My friends think I'm crazy for making such a bad investment, and truthfully if I wasn't already tens of thousands of dollars in debt, I wouldn't continue." - Stephanie

"Yes, I do owe money for my college tuition. Unfortunately, due to age and health problems, I am unable to repay without hurting myself financially. Everyday I am bombarded my various collections firms asking to speak to me. They are daily and constant. days, evenings and weekends, Even Sundays. Right now the government is withholding all it can from my social security check and leaving me with $750.00 a month to exist on. Yes, I borrowed to obtain something I always wanted: a college degree. Well, I certainly achieved my goal. I am thrilled about it but, at the age of seventy-six (76) years young, I am left with the horrible realization that I could never work to pay it back. I am so sorry I took out the loan which I thought would be only 9-10,000 dollars. Right now, some of those collection agencies are stating I owe over 25,000? I know I will be dead before I can pay it off and, meanwhile, I am existing on $750.00 a month, If only they could lower their deductions." - Leda