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Eva's story

Despite having a very generous financial aid package (based both on financial need and merit), I graduated with 37,000 of student debt from a public university (UCSC).

I graduated in 2008, in the midst of the great recession. I worked absolutely any and every job that would hire me, including waving a sign on the side of a road to promote a real estate company.

My dream was to work in book publishing, and I got accepted to my dream internship at an indie, feminist publishing house. However, the internship was unpaid, and actually required costly transportation to and from work—so I was actually paying for the opportunity to work unpaid for 20 hours a week. I had to subsidize my unpaid internship, plus my student loan payments, by working long, hard hours. I can honestly say that I've never been more thoroughly exhausted than those years of working two full-time jobs, plus several side hustles on the weekends.

I was ultimately able to find a job that pays enough to comfortably support my student loan payments, Bay Area rent, and other basic costs of living (plus some extra to give back to my communities and build a small safety net for myself). But I know that it was mostly luck that landed me this job. I'm smart and good at what I do, but so are the countless other people I know who didn't land a high-salaried, full-time job. They're every bit as deserving as I am, yet they're being crushed by student debt. That could just have easily been me, and I don't ever let myself forget it.

I want to live in a world where nobody has to worry about paying hundreds of dollars a month for their education. I want a country where the wealthiest, most comfortable families pitch in to level the playing field for our most marginalized communities. Nobody should have to wonder if they'll be able to afford to get an education, or regret going to college because of their suffocating debt. Let's change that.