The chorus of people complaining about how student loan debt that has ruined their life has gotten even louder and finally reached the President.
He claims that he is going to do something about it.
Call me a pessimist because I’m not optimistic.
President Trump is not the only one saying that he wants to do something. Senator Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who both happen to be running for President in 2020, have talked about helping student loan borrowers for quite some time.
That’s the problem. All politicians ever really do is talk.
Very few actually put their money where their mouth is like Robert Smith did at Morehouse College by paying off the entire graduating’s class student loans.
By the way, look at what I said these Morehouse graduates should do now that they no longer have student loans.
What do people do when they can’t pay their student loans?
Realistically, since most people can’t wait on politicians for student loan relief and looking for a billionaire to come to the rescue is not a plan…what do some people do when they can no longer pay their student loans?
Sadly, many have chosen to leave the United States.
Newsweek reported on this.
Below, I highlight some major points from the article.
Chad Albright told the York Daily Record that America had become a prison and that he felt he had no choice but to leave in 2011. At the time, Albright said, he had been searching for a job for two years but was never hired.
Albright graduated in 2007, at the start of the Great Recession, and was often told in interviews that companies were going with an individual with more experience who had been recently laid off from another job.
“But the last thing they would say to me. ‘Don’t worry, your day will come,'” Albright told the Record.
Once the bills began piling up, he took out student loans and thought he would find a job after graduation and be able to pay the loans back.
“I was expected to make a $400 loan payment every month, but I had no money, no sustainable income. College ruined my life,” Albright told the newspaper.
His choice to leave the country came after he saw an interview with a woman who was teaching English in China. With support from his parents, Albright bought a one-way ticket and took a job teaching in Zhongshan, China where he made $1,000 a month.
With his rent paid for by his employer, and the cost of living considerably lower in China, Albright said he was able to enjoy things he couldn’t in America.
“My life was so much better once I left. Why would I ever go back?” Albright said.
Student loan sufferers receive a higher quality of life by living abroad
Chad Albright is not the only person who decided to leave the United States to avoid student loan debt.
A recent CNBC report highlighted two other college graduates in addition to Albright, who chose to move to other countries when the burden of student loan debt became too much.
Here’s what Chad Haag, a Colorado native who moved to India, had to say.
“I have a higher standard of living in a Third World country than I would in America, because of my student loans.”
This is what Katrina Williams, who currently lives in Japan, said when her $700 a month student loan bill required her to take on multiple jobs.
“I was working every day. I had enough money left over to put gas in the car.”
Student loan defaulters are scared to come back to the United States
While they may have avoided their student loan debt by moving to another country, it doesn’t mean the debt has gone away. The consequences of failing to pay the debt remains.
If the person wants or needs to return to the United States, they’ll find their loan balance has grown while they are gone. Compound interest, collection fees, and late charges will guarantee that the amount owed increases each month.
Williams moved to Japan to teach English in 2015 and said that she has considered moving back home, but knows that if she does she will be hit with wage garnishment and collection calls. Her student loan debt is now over $100,000.
Like Williams, Albright said he is afraid to return to the U.S. because of his debt.
The fears that Williams and Albright share is not unwarranted.
US Government gets tough on student loan defaults
The US Government is getting tough and is suing borrowers that have defaulted on their federal loans.
In nearly every one of the cases, the borrower loses and the government wins.
What do they win? A lien on the borrower’s assets, if they have any.
If you own a house, or inherit a house from your parents, you will not be able to sell it until the lien is removed.
You don’t have to move abroad to teach English
Albright and Williams both teach English to foreign language students abroad. While neither seems to regret their decision and, for now, they don’t have to worry about their student loan debt, they didn’t necessarily win.
They no longer get to physically see their family or friends. They cannot attend a wedding or a funeral of someone in the United States.
It’s terrible that they couldn’t find a job that paid a living wage after they completed their degree.
I’m glad that they were able to improve their quality of life by finding jobs teaching English abroad.
I will not judge whether their decision to default on their federal loans and leave the country was right or wrong. I’m not in their shoes.
But what if they didn’t have to leave the United States in order to make money teaching English?
What if they could teach English to TEFL/TESOL students online from the comfort of their desk or dinner table?
Could this have impacted their decision to leave? Probably, yes.
Teaching English online would have given them additional income to go towards student loan repayment while enhancing their resume/CV.
After all, teaching is a real job that requires skill and professionalism.
Moreover, it would have bought them a little more time to until their “day finally comes” when they find the job they really want.
I said in a previous post that teaching English is a proven work from home opportunity.
There is high demand for English teachers, and the demand is not going away any time soon.
This has created a great opportunity to earn some extra cash.
I personally know someone that makes $2,000 extra dollars a month teaching English online to Chinese students.
Obtain a TEFL/TESOL Certificate
If teaching English online interests you, you will need to obtain a TEFL certificate first.
You can obtain a TEFL certificate by enrolling in an online TEFL certification course or going to an in-class TEFL certification course.
At TEFL Online Education, there a three different price plans, but the Basic online TEFL certification course will cost you $200.
You can obtain a TEFL/TESOL certificate in less than a month and in as little as two weeks.
While this may not be for you, perhaps you know someone – a fresh college graduate looking for a job or someone looking for part-time work – that needs a flexible work from home job that allows them to set their own work schedule.
If you know someone like this, please share this post with them.