Susan – Thank you for shedding light on exploding college tuition costs “Debt and Despair” . My husband and I are about to feel the crushing burden of college loan debt with our oldest son who begins his undergraduate studies at Temple this fall. My brother and I attended college in Philadelphia in the ’80’s. We graduated debt free and my parents were able to afford college on one salary, no loans. Both alma mater schools – Temple and Chestnut Hill College have seen tuition rates balloon to 5 and 6 x the amount today over rates in the late ’80’s. It’s unthinkable My husband works 2 jobs and I had the 3rd job before being laid off 4 months ago (still unemployed); even with a small college savings plan for our son, we’re still looking at student loans and possibly parent plus loan or do we borrow against our 401K or our home’s equity. $1.2 trillion in student loan debt in the country with Pennsylvania an embarrassing # 2 in student loan debt; 1120% increase in college tuition since 1978, 68% of students at our public universities not graduating because they run our of money. This is unconscionable. I’d like to talk more about this issue. I have already reached out to my State Senator who also serves on Temple’s Board and requested they NOT increase tuition another 3-5% and look at increasing the state’s contribution to higher education. As a community organizer, this is an issue that I believe needs to be front and center in this year’s gubernatorial election. How best could I reach you? BTW, Ivory Tower documentary hits theaters Friday, June 13th and spotlights the broken higher ed system and student loan debt crisis. Thank you, Karen Lash, Philadelphia, Pa.

Great read, alot like Willam Styron’s Darkness Visible. We have lived parallel lives. Thank you for articulating our experience and not pulling any punches.

I read your article in More magazine and I just love your work! Great stuff. I haven’t read anything as touching in a long time and when I found your article on teachers dealing with X parents, I forwarded it to some of my educator friends.

Hello and Thank you,
Former school Teacher with burnt-out. Gave more than I had for too Long. But still in contact with former students and families. What a ride. Now a little nutts and trudging a new path.
Thank you for your sharing,
Keep up the urban farming. Hunting and gathering is becoming our future,
~ Peace ~ J.L.M. :-)

Hey Susan, Such an inspiring story. I wish I had had the balls & guts to stick up for myself like you did. I am a fan.

I just read your passage on the daily worth, I bought your book 3 minutes later. And actually sat in silence for a bit. While it shouldn’t happen to anyone it makes us who we are. And I feel a little better knowing that there is someone else out there who has a similar story, yet still unique. And if it makes you feel better I moved from Galveston when I was 4, yeah 4. But I still identify with being a Gulf Coast Texan and getting to play at NASA all the time… I was the coolest Texan in Georgia. :)

Fabulous bit on not sharing checking accounts. Having already been through Bachelor #1 who nearly bankrupted us — I was clueless and trusting and he had signed on to that new-fangled thing called “online bill statements” thru Amex long ago–I made it clear with Bachelor #2 that I’ll never co-mingle money or accounts again. Live and learn. It’s sad how ex’s who once goo-gooed over their babies quickly lose interest once they’re out of the house and not involved in the day-to-day raising of those children.

Inspiring to hear how you stuck up for yourself.

Good for you, Susan. My daughter was lucky enough to win a scholarship to a private all girls secondary school in Brighton, England. She wasn’t really intellectually inclined but obviously showed potential. As a single parent with her father being insolvent, there was no way I could have afforded to send her to a private school without that scholarship. It was super to see her in a school that wasn’t bursting at the seams, and now she’s a grown woman who is passionate, successful, and has become my guiding light.
So I am totally behind your decision, however difficult it might have been, to opt for private.

Susan, congratulations on what sounds like an authentic great life! I look forward to reading some of your work. Have a unique perspective on parenting myself so will follow your blog.