As you are reading my story, please understand that I am not here because I messed up my life or because of unfortunate circumstances. I have worked extremely hard throughout my entire life to not be a victim of circumstance. I am simply hoping that you might remember how demanding life was for you in your early-twenties and that you might feel compelled to help me along in my journey.

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At the age of 17 I was accepted into the college and program of my dreams, unfortunately I had no way to pay for it. I worked 2 – 3 jobs throughout my time in college, working overnight shifts, going to class, and sleeping in the afternoons. It was extremely challenging and forced me to become extremely good at managing my time. I was able to put myself through school, graduate in 3 years (at the age of 21) and begin my dream job in a promising career within 2 months of graduation.

I started working on February 13, 2020. As you already know about 30 days later, COVID-19 hit an shut down the world. Luckily, I am considered an essential worker and have been able to continue working throughout this time. Unfortunately, working full-time, plus overtime when it was offered, was still not enough for the bills that were piling up.

I will be straightforward and honest about why exactly I am here. I have ~ $2,700 in credit card debt as my bills had to be paid regardless of where the money came from. This is of course in addition to the ~ $12,000 of student loans I have remaining as I was responsible and have been paying on my original $25,000+ balance from the moment I began college. I have excellent credit and have not missed a payment because I understand the obligation and responsibility I have to pay that money back.

I will breakdown why this has been so difficult:

I get paid bi-weekly at $1,060. My rent is $925 and I do not have roommates as I live in a rural, not extremely welcoming community where I do not know a soul. My car payment is $315. I pay $200 every other week as I am pursuing my masters degree to fast-track my career in public service. My utilities fluctuate around $100 a month including internet, electricity, etc. I pay ~ $300 a month towards my student loan as I am technically 6 months out of college, but I am also still actively enrolled as a student so I am not penalized if I don’t pay. As we all know, interest is astronomical and will accumulate faster than I will be able to pay it off if I wait. I pay my own insurance (car, renters, healthcare, dental, and vision). I pay above my “minimum payment” for my credit card every month, again trying to reduce the amount of interest I will pay over time. I put money into retirement from every paycheck (have to take advantage of employer match right?) and I have done all of this entirely on my own.

Did I mention I am barely 22 years old? Yes, I work hard. Yes, I make the most responsible decisions I am capable of making. No, I do not drink/party/etc.

I’m trying and I simply need someone, anyone to resonate with my story and help to ease some of my financial stress. I am not sitting at home waiting for someone to fix my problems. I am actively going out and working hard every day to help myself. I know I will be OK, regardless of whether or not anyone ever reads this. I also know that all it will take is one person who is more well off than me to remember what it was like when they were just starting out, and to help push me along in my goals.

I want to buy a house, I want to be able to move to my dream city (North-western Montana), I want to build my savings. I don’t need a million dollars. I don’t even need $100,000. I want to earn that kind of money on my own. All I need is some help with my > $20,000 in student loans, car loans, & general debt.

$10 would help to buy groceries on my strict budget, $50 would pay my internet bill for a month, $115 would pay my car insurance for a month, $200 would pay my tuition for two weeks, $315 would pay my car payment for one month, $500 would pay all of my bills other than rent for a month, $1,000 would pay my rent for one month, $1,500 would pay every bill I have for one month, $2,500 would almost entirely pay off my credit card, $5,000 would pay off my credit card and give me the opportunity to build my savings back up, and $10,000 would change my life.

Anything helps, and every bit of help means more than you could ever know.

www.Paypal.Me/paigekgentry

Thank you

xo -P

Hello there!

My name is Aidaliz, I’m a 23 year old graduated university student from Puerto Rico. I graduated last year (2019) and I had taken out a small student loan of $3,000 around two years ago and now that I have graduated I need to pay it off as soon as possible. The reason I took out the loan was because my scholarship didn’t cover my classes and fees for that quarter. I also used the remainder of the scholarship money to help my housing rent and necessities such as gas and groceries. My mother worked multiple jobs to make ends meet back in my hometown, but it still couldn’t be enough to help out with my university costs.

(I have included a screenshot from my borrower account showing my balance due to be paid.)

I had to set up a repayment plan based on income (which at the time was 0) and was recently placed in forbearance because of the current situation with the pandemic I was laid off after just starting working full-time back in February of this year, I tried applying for unemployment but I was denied since I didn’t work for a longer period of time. I had moved out of my family home to seek employment in another town and only just in January I found an affordable enough small apartment close to the job I had gotten. The stimulus check I received was barely enough to cover my rent and utilities so I could not pay enough of my student loan back.

I have been trying to find any job available online and there haven’t been any callbacks or interviews ever since the pandemic started and my whole was on lockdown and with curfews still in place most places haven’t been looking for employees. My family, back in my hometown were experiencing terrible earthquakes and fled to the US to seek a better life, so I’m basically fending for myself with no support system in place. My mother has been helping with small amount of money but it’s not enough to pay for everything. My anxiety has been terrible since this situation has continually gotten worse, and what little extra money I have, I only use for food and my cat’s litter and cat food, since he’s pretty much my emotional support pet.

With any donations I get here, it will go directly to my student loan payback fund, so I won’t have that dark cloud looming over me any longer. This will greatly ease my anxiety and I will feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

My paypal.me link: paypal.me/aidalizan97

If you donate, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart and soul!

With much love and kindness,

–Aidaliz

Hello to You!

Every step taken forward reminds one of the previous steps that should possibly have been taken in the past. You cannot change what has already happened but one can look toward a new path with fervent enthusiasm and a passion to experience unchartered waters.

Several years ago I embarked upon unchartered waters with the expectation of making an impact upon the many lives I would touch through teaching. I will never forget one child telling me that I was the only one who had ever taken the time to teach him how to read. This one statement made me realize I had accepted what God had planned for me to do in life.

Each day I step into my classroom hoping and praying to ignite a spark and thirst for learning within all of my students. As I want each of them to learn, I had to continue in the pursuit of greater knowledge and understanding. That is why I am coming to you now and asking for help.

I wanted to obtain a master’s degree and in doing so took out several loans. I thought that since I was in the educational field it would be easy to qualify for a public school forgiveness loan from the government. However, as time has progressed I see that I am not making any dent in paying back over $50,000 that was borrowed. Even though for the last five years I have been sending in the required paperwork that keeps track of qualifying payments the government indicates that I have only had 20 qualifying payments that meet the requirements for cancellation. I have been paying on-time every month. It is like a never ending cycle that I will never get out of debt.

With each passing day updated knowledge has become one of the most important tools in helping students advance in today’s society. I want to be able to give students guidance and support in mastering what has become the wave of future learning. With the Covid-19 pandemic, children and parents are being forced into a new way of education. They need all of the support each teacher can give so that children are not left behind. However, in order to stay in the field of education, I need your help. Any donation you could give would be greatly appreciated.

Please help me to achieve this goal.

Sincerely,

Linda

paypal.me/specialteacher

Hello,

I am a college student who’s majoring Civil Engineering with a minor in Architecture and a concentration in structures. I am currently struggling with paying for my rent, student loans, and books. Due to COVID-19, I lost my job and so did my parents and siblings. I have filed for unemployment, but I have yet to receive the money. I’ve been trying everything that I could possibly do to make some extra cash and even got a “sugar mama” that scammed me. She asked for a clearance fee which I completely understood and then she kept saying that her manager needs more. Instead of me doing more research, I jumped right into this with desperation which resulted in me losing a lot more money.

I go to an all year-round school, so I have a bill every three months. In the beginning it was okay but at some point I had so much stress, anxiety, and depression build up to the point that I didn’t do so well in my classes and am now unable to receive financial aid for this year. Financial aid is the main reason on why I went to this school and could afford it. I’ve actually considered taking a semester off because I’m not sure what to do anymore since nothing I’ve been doing has helped. It would be lovely if anyone could send some donations to help for anything I’ve said above because I want to succeed and finish my college career but am unable to move forward since I’m stuck. My school bill is around $10,000 every three months and my rent is $850 a month.

I appreciate you much, thank you so much.

paypal.me/rizz99

I’ve never been one to ask for help, but anyone will crack under the most desperate of times. Recently I’ve had a tough time dealing with things. Last year I took a gap year in between my sophomore and junior year in college to attempt to pay for a car so I could have reliable transportation when I transfer schools. By the time school starts I’ll have the car loan down to at least 40% of what it was. During that year I lost my mother unexpectedly. It was always a dream of hers that I go to college to get a good job, get married, and be happy.I think about her everyday and it only hurts more the more I write about it. This year as I’m closing up on my gap year, I enrolled in college. I already have 61 hours completed of my 124 hour B.A. Great, enrollment was easy. I’m excited for my classes and I’m excited for the new people i’m going to meet. On to filing my FAFSA. The first two years I filed, I was awarded the max Pell grant they could give me. During those two years I was living with my dad, because my parents had separated when I was five. I avoided the price of campus housing, because it was more than tuition and fees. This year I filed and will not receive any financial help other than a loan offer that may not even cover costs of school. Although loans can help me through school, I grew up watching my dad drown in his and my mothers financial aid that to this day is only gone because my mother died. I watched my parents struggle with money throughout my life. I am terrified of being in debt. I am terrified of having to settle or not continue because of a financial reason. Current estimates of my last two years will around $14,000. Which may not seem like a lot to some people, but that is far from small when it comes to my families financial situation. I’m not asking for much, but what I am asking for will go towards my tuition, fees, books, classes, and whatever else my college needs me to pay for.

paypal.me/collegeisr