A Carthage College senior with a mountain of student debt has gone to a crowdfunding web site to raise the final $2,500 to enable him to graduate on time. At last check, it’s not going well: Just a few hundred have been donated.
Spencer Alexander tells WGTD that Carthage won’t issue his diploma until he pays up. That’s not uncommon for most schools. But it’s leaving Alexander with mixed feelings as he prepares to move on to the next stage of his life. "I'm going to be sitting on $80,000 of debt in about six months and looking back I think I'd rather have bought a house," said Alexander with a chuckle.
Still, a bit later in the brief phone interview Alexander emphasized that he’s proud of his accomplishments at Carthage and is happy to have that four-year liberal arts education under his belt. "Absolutely. That I wouldn't change. I wouldn't change the work I put in. I wouldn't change anything about it."
Well, not quite. If he had to do it all over again, Alexander said he'd major in business and not psychology. The part-time manager at Reefpoint Brewhouse in Racine says he’ll gain full-time status there this spring. He and a partner also operate a thriving bar trivia business. And student loans aren't preventing him and his fiancee from making plans to get married next year.
Alexander’s $80,0000 debt load is more than twice the average debt of a student who graduates from a four-year school in Wisconsin.
The 27 year-old Horlick High School graduate has some advice for this year's crop of high school grads as they head to college this fall, some possibly not completely sold on their planned academic and career paths. "Take your time," he says.
-0-