Story

The purpose of this letter is to ask for some help with my student loan debt. My name is Dustin Myers, I’m 35, and I am a graduate of the University of New Mexico. Like many older college students, I worked while I went to school. I found a great job at Costco while in college and I loved working there and still do! While I love my job at Costco it doesn’t exactly cover all of my bills and my student loans. I have an amazing wife and daughter who is 3 and is my world. Now I know what you’re thinking, why doesn’t this guy just get a job with his degree? Well, I’ve tried and I cannot seem to get my foot in the door with my geography degree. The problem is I have a felony charge on my record, which I received during my senior year at UNM. It was spring break and I tried some very strong Marijuana and didn’t know I had a condition called cannibus induced physchosis. This condition makes me react to Marijuana as if it was acid. I was completely out of my mind on campus and unfortunately I tried to fight a UNM police officer and was tazed 5 to 10 times before being sedated and waking up handcuffed to a hospital bed. And, ultimately ended up in jail. When I went to court, I didn’t fight the case because I was still in such shock at my behavior and truthfully I was still terrified of myself. So, basically whenever i take any cannibus, i turn schizophrenic and try to kill myself. Thankfully, since I had never been in serious trouble before I was allowed to be on probation for a year and was allowed to finish my degree. This is all because of something I feel I didn’t have any control of and now i can’t get a professional job. I wish i never decided to go to college. But, this is not intended to make you feel bad for me, I have a wonderful and simple life now, working at Costco and taking care of my family the best I can. Also, I’m not lazy and I’ve never asked anyone for anything. Honestly, I’m embarrassed doing this. I work hard and my wife and I bring in a lot of money, but it’s simply not enough, we had to refinance our home and we’re still living paycheck to paycheck. We’re struggling to buy groceries at this point. I just cannot seem to get ahead of these student loan payments. I’ve tried many business ventures and failed many times. I’m afraid i just don’t have the money to try to start another business that might not work. I just feel trapped by my student loan debt. And, they won’t do student loan forgiveness for my circumstances. I owe $63,000 and have been paying on it for a few years and have yet to make a dent because the interest keeps piling up. So, I actually owe more than when I started paying and feel completely trapped. I’m sure ill be paying on the students loans for the rest of my life and i can’t help but feel stressed. And, this is not intended to be a sob story. That’s why I’m reaching out to someone like you. If there is any way you can please help me just a little bit you would be saving my life, it would make such a difference. Anything would help. Thank you for your time.