The part that sticks out to me is: Ms. Kelley has one possible escape route: a federal loan forgiveness program that caps her payments as a percentage of her i

The part that sticks out to me is: Ms. Kelley has one possible escape route: a federal loan forgiveness program that caps her payments as a percentage of her income and erases her debts if she logs 10 years of service in the public or nonprofit sector. (For today’s students, income-based repayment systems are helping lift the burden of debt.) But that would still mean a decade of what she describes as “futile” payments that won’t even cover her monthly interest expenses, leaving nothing to put away for retirement. She didn't pay a single dime towards her loans in 25 years. Furthermore, she voluntarily cashed out her retirement fund, which would have been 100% protected against creditors. Working for 10 years in the public sector in order to forgive her debt is not futile. That would be the one intelligent thing she could do in the 25 years of pure stupidity. She doesn't deserve a retirement, especially when she's done everything possible to not have one at all. Yes, she doesn't claim that it's anyone else's fault, yet at the same time, she doesn't really seem to understand that all of her actions have serious consequences, and the actions she still makes also have consequences. She seems to think that when she reaches retirement age, she should be able to retire, just like that, even though she has actively jeopardized it in the past 25 years. If she's not willing to pay a portion of her debt because its "futile", the best she can hope for is that her kids do well and take care of her ... or leave the country.