The One Dollar Campaign

My name is Josh Spicka, and all I want from you is one dollar.

Let me explain.

I made a mistake – a big mistake. After finishing my term of military service in 2003 I went back to college for photography. I wanted to go to the best school I could and the Brooks Institute was at the top of the list. RIT was a close second though.

When I talked to the person representing the Brooks Institute, I had some trepidation. It was going to cost me an estimated $20,000 a year to go school for three years. That’s a lot of money, even for a trade school with such a high reputation. Even counting the $30,000 in GI Bill I had to use, that was still going to land me $30,000 in debt. I was assured at that point by the person at the other end of the phone that I would be just fine. After all, I was told, the school had a 96% placement rate and it was not unheard of for graduates to be making about $50,000 a year – more than enough to pay back the loans. I believed that. I trusted what I was being told, and that was my mistake.

I enrolled and got down to business. Imagine my surprise when a year and a half in to my education I found that my loans were already in excess of $80,000. I was shocked. How did that happen? So I started to investigate. Apparently the school had been purchased a few years before by CEC – Career Education Corporation. Once that happened the school went from ‘for education’ to ‘for profit’. I was reeled in, the costs were slowly raised, and I was stuck deciding to leave school with no degree and a huge debt, or to keep paying and come out with a diploma.

I stayed, and I graduated with a 3.25 GPA with a degree in digital imaging but down $127,786.24. It's been almost three years since I walked across the stage and sadly, I have yet to work as a photographer. I work at a job that I could do without ever having graduated from college at all. While I struggle to eat or buy basic items (you can follow my financial decisions via twitter if you like), my loans continue to grow faster than I can ever hope to pay them off. But what about job placement, you say? Apparently McDonalds counts.

Don’t believe me? You don’t have to take my word for it. This link to CBS' website is a great example that confirms what has happened to myself and others.

So there it is - I screwed up. I never thought that the overseeing body of an institution with such a reputation would even consider doing something like this to their students for financial gain.

I’ve been living under this cloud for over two years now. I haven’t bought a brand new pair of shoes in over three years. New clothes? Regular grocery trips? A daydream. If my car breaks down right now, there is no way I can get it fixed. I have been working my tail off at a day job and at night coming home and trying to get my photography off the ground, but I just can’t do it. And every day I fall further behind as Sallie Mae is happily capitalizing my interest (I owe exactly $173,487.38 at time of printing, a capitalized difference of 39,810.06 which is more than I make in a year) and threatening to garnish my wages and take the remainder out of my parents. Screw that!

So I am asking for your help.

I’m betting there is at least 174,000 people who screwed up at one point in time in their lives or just found themselves in a situation they could not get out of, who had to ask for help. People who, whether or not they received it at the time, are willing to lend a hand in time of need.

That’s what I am asking for now. Give whatever you want, I’m not asking for much – just one dollar a person.

I went to school to be a photographer. Help me get out from under this so that I can start getting my work out.

The catch: I want to do this in two weeks. My parents have always worked hard to give my sister and I the best they could. My father moved us to Corning and would drive about 60 miles one way from Corning to Geneseo where he works and back every day so that my sister and I could get the best education available. He bought into this too and co-signed on my loans.

Sallie Mae wants in excess of $2000 a month from me. Like I said - All of my money goes just to deferments (which they are happy to give since in the meantime they capitalize all of my interest). There is the very real threat they will go after my parents and take their retirement savings. Again, I could write a long article on the trouble I've had with them, but why take my word for it when you can see them in action at the consumer affairs website.

I want to give my parents a Thanksgiving they’ll never forget. To be able to tell them that they can retire on time and not have to worry about Sallie Mae coming for what they have spent years to save.

All I need, as the Beatles would say, is a little help from my friends.

If you could help me out by donating through paypal at the link below it would be much appreciated - if you would like more information or further proof that this is not a scam, I would be happy to provide it and answer questions.

As of closing time for ChipIn we were at $164 ... combined with the $310 from the garage sale we're at $474!!! Thats amazing!

Any further donations can be done via paypal to Diarmid_dhu@Hotmail.com