Art Institute of New York City Stuck in a For-Profit Stranglehold New York New York

  In 2007 I decided that it would be a good idea to move from a small town in Western New York all the way to the Big Apple, the one and only New York City. I had always grown up with dreams and aspirations. Sadly I believed that the American Dream could be accomplished by making the move to NYC to attend the Art Institute of New York City. 

  Let me first say that there are numerous complaints across the internet about how AI and Sallie Mae had shammed students into signing on dotted lines, only to leave them in a financial hell. Well my story is much like all of those reports you have read. Maybe just a little different in terms of how much I owe and my occupation now. 

  In 2007 I had just turned 21 years old. I had already exhausted the local bar scene and wanted something different from my life. Around that same time I saw Rob Zombie's first feature film "House of 1000 Corpses" and fell in love with the idea of directing my own movies. At the time I was working two jobs. One in a grocery chain stocking shelves all night and the other cleaning floors at a local computer giant. 

  One morning I remember going home and seeing an ad on television about how the Art Institutes could change my life. I saw that they had video production at the New York campus and gave them a call. At that moment my dream of becoming a film director was in its early stages. Man all I had to do was graduate school, finish the film script I kept thinking about every night at work and introduce myself to Rob Zombie himself. How naive I was then. 

  The next day I scheduled an appointment to talk to one of the Art Institutes "Advisors" on the phone. He informed me of how I didn't need a co-signer for the tuition. He also told me a bunch of lies about how previous students had great success. Obviously it was all just a sham. Looking back I'm sure I wasn't the only sucker that bit on his sales pitch that day. 

  Fast forward 9 years and now I live in Olean, New York. A small town in Western New York. Close to my home town, actually right next to it. I am engaged and raise my fiances 3 year old daughter. I graduated from the Art Institute with an Associates degree in Occupational Sciences. Whatever the hell that means. I made it through their "Film School". I never did direct a blockbuster hit or meet Zombie. I work for the world's largest bakery in the world. Doing production work. 

  I couldn't afford my student loans after graduation. The thought of paying back my massive debt is unimaginable. The Art Institute and Sallie Mae have left me over $140,000 in the hole. Sallie Mae wanted $1400 for loan payments. I could never pay that. Currently I make a modest $42000 a year. That's the only income in my household as my fiance is a nursing student. This isn't a sob story though, or is it?

  Student loans have been such a burden. I have federal loans that could be consoliated but I have too many private loans to do so. 25% of my paycheck is garnished each week. I have exhausted my options and feel trapped. 

  Where does this end? When will for- profit schools be held accountable and then there's Sallie Mae. The giant loan shark. I know that I had bad credit at 21 years old but was still able to get a loan for over $140000. Not bad for a kid making $6.00 and hour.

 I'm desperate and so are other students in my same situation. It feels like the government has turned their backs on us. We got into these god awful situations at an early age yet we are to be blamed for our ill fortunes. 

 One day I pray that this nightmare comes to an end. Maybe I'll be able to give my parents back their vehicle that they let me drive. Maybe I'll buy one on my own. Maybe one day when I'm married I could purchase a house. See that American Dream that I read about when I was in high school was all just a myth. Society pressured us into thinking that you needed a degree in order to have a futute. Now I work with some men that don't even have high school degrees. They live in comfort. And then there I am working next to them. Locked in an Art Institute stranglehold.