How one woman shed $350,000 in student loans — without a lawyer
CBSN
From the moment she moved to Los Angeles for graduate school, Mis Loe found herself living what she describes as always being "one paycheck behind."
The aspiring film producer had enrolled at the prestigious American Film Institute Conservatory in 2016, taking out loans to cover the more than $200,000 tuition cost, while working at a coffee shop and driving for Postmates to cover her living expenses. But despite working full-time hours, her monthly pay came in just below her expenses — $1,500 monthly rent, $800 for medication, $300 in car payments. Loe found herself falling further behind every month, putting daily needs like food and rent on her credit card.
"I was living off one overdraft," Loe, now 47, told CBS MoneyWatch. "I had to use every hour I had to create money." Still, the bills snowballed. And when the coronavirus struck in spring 2020 and shut down all three of her jobs, "the snowball hit me in the face," she said.
