Graduated from Rhode Island College in 2001
Amount owed: about $35,000
Job: high school chemistry teacher
Christy Morley chose a public college to try to keep costs down, but she still graduated with about $30,000 in debt. She took seven years to get her degree, in part due to the cost – but now realizes that may have hurt her because it delayed her career and meant she had to take out more loans to cover living expenses.
With a degree in chemistry, she was overqualified for lab jobs and underqualified for research work, so she went into teaching. Ms. Morley, who lives in North Carolina and now has two children, still hopes to get an advanced degree someday, but is daunted by the idea of taking on more loans. Today she owes about $5,000 more than she did when she graduated, due to a few years when she couldn't cover all of the interest payments.
One possible bright spot: She is about to finish her fifth year of teaching in a high-needs school as a highly qualified science teacher, which should entitle her to get $17,500 of her student debt forgiven.
