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Student became the teacher- Professor of Anthropology Dr. Erin Browder talks about her past as a student facing poverty instead of debt in the process of attaining her goals of higher education. Photo by Victoria Gonzalez/Staff

Student loan debt is a national scourge that is easy to accumulate and difficult to pay off. It is rarely forgiven and is nearly immune to bankruptcy.

It can, however, pay for an education that will lead to well-paying careers and can be a good investment by students in themselves.

Median student loan debt in the U.S. is about $13,000, according to a survey by Pew Research Center. Jonathan Lewis, 23, is already over that. He is enrolled in the culinary arts program at The Art Institute of California-San Diego for his associate degree and is $15,000 in debt. He has no scholarships because his grades were less than stellar in high school, he said.

Lewis said earning a degree is a necessity because in the culinary profession it is easy to gain experience and move up. If you stay in the same restaurant, that is.

“If you move to another place with no degree, you’re just a line cook with lots of experience,” he said.

Lewis said his $15,000 student loan debt feels less like a kitchen knife and more like the Sword of Damocles.

“Debt is in my mind kind of like a prison,” he said. “It is always stalking. It’s a shadow over your head.”

Lewis works during the day and goes to school from 6 p.m. until midnight. He said his grueling schedule is taking a toll.

“I’m already burned out,” he said.

Even though Lewis has 10 years from the time he graduates to pay off his debt, he said, it weighs heavily on his mind. He is considering dropping out of the Art Institute to take classes at SWC.

“I’m starting to think it’s not worth the money,” he said.

Lewis’ decision to go to a for-profit college was planted in his mind in high school on a class visit to the Art Institute. He said he now regrets the decision.

“(For-profit colleges are) not necessarily bad, but consider your school options because that was a mistake I made,” he said. “I probably could have gone (to Southwestern) and got the same thing a lot cheaper.”

A recent SWC graduate, Daniel Zavala, 23, previously a four-year university student, said SWC is a viable option to save money for the same quality of education. He said he was not sure what to do after high school, so he worked as a mechanic for two years, but spent everything he earned. He studied psychology at SDSU while still working as a mechanic.

“I was out of my parents’ house and I wasn’t about to ask them to help me pay for school,” he said.

When Zavala started taking upper division classes, he said, juggling college and work became too difficult, so he quit his job and got a student loan. He soon realized psychology was not a good fit, but he finished an associate degree. He decided to move on to the real estate program at SWC.

“I dropped out (of SDSU) because I didn’t see the point in taking it at a university and wasting more money when I would get the same education at a community college and pay a lot less,” he said.

He got another job to pay off the debt from SDSU, he said, but the process was slow going.

Zavala said students should avoid loans, if possible.

“I would definitely recommend that they don’t do it unless it is a last resort and they really have no other way to pay for it,” he said. “I owe money for a degree that I’m not even gonna use.”

Some students are able to pay debt off quickly or avoid it entirely.

SWC Professor of Anthropology Dr. Erin Browder managed to avoid large student loan debt while earning her doctorate at UC Berkley. She said she is wary of for-profit institutions like the Art Institute. They are called “for-profit” for a reason, she said.

“I am personally surprised at the amount that some people will pay for-profit organizations,” she said.

Browder said when she was a student at UC Berkeley in the early 1980s she racked up $6,000 in student loan debt which, adjusted for inflation, would be about $15,000 today, similar to Lewis’ debt load. She said she was able to pay it off in about five years.

At that point in her life she was completely independent of her parents.

“I was legally emancipated so they didn’t really give my anything,” she said.

Browder said paying off her debt required commitment.

“I never borrowed any student loan money for living expenses,” she said. “I was super frugal to the point of actually being homeless. I didn’t borrow money to eat or pay any other kind of bills. I was as poor as the state thought I was.”

Saving money became habitual, she said.

“Money was for staying alive, not getting stuff,” she said. “It was not embarrassing to be super poor.”

Browder’s frugal lifestyle allowed her to earn a doctorate before she owned a TV or a car with power windows and air conditioning. After graduating she worked a series of part-time teaching and research jobs. She was able to do that because she worked all throughout college, she said.

Many of today’s students have poor spending habits, she said. Students who cry poverty often have cell phones, cars and trendy clothes.

“They obviously feel a tremendous pressure right now for cosmetics and fashions and electronics and being seen at the right places,” she said.

Browder said that sometimes getting a degree that comes with debt is the best way to land higher paying jobs and solid careers.

“It’s the only money you can borrow that is going to allow you to make money,” she said.