Kimberly K. Parker: NOTHING SHORT OF A CRISIS

It’s 7:30pm on Saturday, August 11, 2012 and you’re probably wondering, “Why is Kimberly giving us time and date information?”  You see, I usually write in the wee hours of morning.  My creative juices tend to flow much better before the cock crows.  However, the exception today is nothing short of a crisis!

I just walked in the house from attending Rev. Jay Cameron’s Debt Free College Degree: The Seminar held at The Life Center.  The goal of the event was to show how to earn a top-quality college education…DEBT FREE.  Mission accomplished.  Due to so much jaw-dropping information shared, my mouth is still out on Route 301.  On a more serious note, Rev. Cameron dispensed tough medicine on the state of student loan debt that left me floored.  It is with his expressed consent that I will share...just a little.

Let’s start with the facts.  According to Fastweb.com:

1. Student loan debt has surpassed credit card debt in America and is expected to surpass $1,000,000,000,000 (that’s one trillion dollars) in 2012. 
2. The average undergraduate degree takes 5.58 years to complete.
3. More than $150,000,000,000 (that’s one hundred fifty billion dollars) in financial aid is awarded annually.  Only 3% is in the form of scholarships.

These statistics go on and on.  See for yourself.

Rev. Cameron made it clear that, in large part, College Recruiters are professional sales people forced to make a quota.  Skeptical?  Check out the lies levied by these two for-profit universities and how one woman quit because her conscience, finally, became her guide.  Wait!  There’s more.  Rev. Cameron weaved in another video clip that really drove home his message on our crisis like this video on Looming Student Loans.  Thereto, he strongly encouraged us to watch this documentary called College Conspiracy.  Brace yourself.

Again, this is nothing short of a crisis that is impacting our country in a horrendous manner. Alas, Rev. Cameron offered much hope if we’re willing to change our lethal financial management habits, sacrifice to the bone, where necessary, and develop a plan…NOW! 

Here’s just a snippet:

1. Take a real honest look at your debt and assess your financial picture.  No more running and hiding from those five to six figures.  You can’t “just pray it away.”  There must be deliberate action.  Faith without works is oh so dead!
2. Don’t take on more debt.  Period.
3. Develop a college education plan that will not add to your existing debt.  It’s quite possible to attend college without loans.

I could have sat there all day just ingesting the priceless information shared.  Now, I’m a bit more equipped to map out my children’s college education.  I merely scratched the surface of the seminar in this blog.  Please plan to attend and yourself as well as his stage play College Fever: The Stage Play.  Trust me: your life will forever be changed.

Kimberly K. Parker is the President and CEO of Writing Momma Publishing, LLC (www.writingmomma.com). On September 8, 2012, the 2012 Write On! Writing Program participants will release their book entitled Young Voices.  Wise Words: Poems, Essays, and Short Stories at the Spaulding Library.  For more information visit Book Release Celebration.  Kimberly is a publisher, author, and blogger living in Maryland with her husband and three children.