That’s Melissa Meru, quoted in a much-discussed Wall Street Journal feature[1] published Friday. She’s talking about her husband Mike’s student loans. All million-plus dollars’ worth.
By the Department of Education’s count, as reported by the Journal, Mike Meru, a Utah orthodontist, is in select company. Some 101 people in the U.S., according to the department, are a million dollars or more in federal student-load debt. The number owing at least $100,000 is nearing 2.5 million.
While studying at USC to become an orthodonist — dental school is among the costliest of all postgraduate curricula — Mike Meru, who’d had his undergraduate studies funded by his parents and part-time work as a waiter and graduated debt-free, took out $601,506 in student loans. This Wall Street Journal infographic tracks the debt’s accumulation and expansion:
The Wall Street Journal
It’s worth noting that the reaction in social media and in the Wall Street Journal comments[2] was not entirely sympathetic, even as the Journal reported that the debt — on which the orthodontist is not even touching the principal with his $1,589.97 monthly payments — could expand to $2 million over time:
There's not a school on the planet that charges $100K a year for undergrad and dentistry. So he was charging, what, all of his living expenses for a decade? My pity meter is sadly broken. https://t.co/sqxSRJ72LN[3]
— tim mullaney (@timmullaney)
How utterly ridiculous to borrow that much money and then whine about having to pay it back.
— CJ 🚲 (@politichick_)
This is entirely their fault....
— PunkRockConservative (@ThePunkCnsrvtv)
References
- ^ a much-discussed Wall Street Journal feature (www.wsj.com)
- ^ comments (www.wsj.com)
- ^ https://t.co/sqxSRJ72LN (t.co)
- ^ May 25, 2018 (twitter.com)
- ^ May 25, 2018 (twitter.com)
- ^ May 25, 2018 (twitter.com)