Comments (28)

1. 

   dbwilder

   robertby07 tells it like it is!

   Speak Brother!!!

   2 years ago

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2. 

   robertby07 Idea Submitter

   So, DBWilder...vote for this("my idea.,") above, and "agree with me, then maybe we will get the attention we deserve and SOMEONE from the part time faculty ranks (gosh, maybe even more than one) will be INVITED and SUBSIDIZED to attend the confab in DC. We need to get there for this meeting, but like MOST Part Time Faculty, we are either teaching and have no money or time to attend. Anytime during the week will GUARANTEE few or no part timers attending...very cleaver these full time/college administrator folk. So, unless SOMEONE will help to pay for us attending this meeting, I guess we will be on the outside looking in...YET AGAIN. Bro: Vote for this "thread/idea" so that we will rise to the top of the "issue" tree and let them try to explain why it is that even at this date, to my knowledge, there are NO PART TIME FACULTY EITHER HELPING TO PLAN OR EVEN BEING FEATURED ON THE AGENDA. Go figure. Tell your friends to vote for this thread. Let's make sure that our voices are heard BEFORE the conference! Thanks for your good thoughts. Carry on, How Much Longer, Part Timers? RBYoshioka, Ph.D. Santa Maria, California 805-264-1142.

   2 years ago

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3. 

   Community Member

   Dr. Yoshioka,

   Although I thoroughly disagree with the bitter tone and some incorrect, un-researched statements you made above, as an insulted "right-wingnut," I completely agree that many of the points you made are indeed correct. I taught as an adjunct at a community college for almost seven years (and also taught as an adjunct at two Universities in their graduate programs for about five more) before I took a full-time teaching job. I thought that even though I was not really well-paid as an adjunct, I was respected as a partner by administrators (deans) and full-time faculty members for my efforts and results. I might add that the service of teaching was my motivation for taking a full-time position since I had a well-paying job in the private sector - in fact, I took a $25,000+ pay cut to teach full-time (my real vocation in life). One problem for adjuncts attending this or any other conference is that most of you are working on another job during the day; that is the same reason why I won't attend the conference - I value my time teaching students too much to attend conferences frivolously.

   One of your statements very much in error: "ADMINISTRATORS, FULL TIME TENURE TRACK FACULTY, STUDENTS AND SUPPORT STAFF ARE ATTENDING YOUR CONFERENCE? HMM...very cleaver these full time/college administrator folk." Not very "cleaver" at all. No administrator or full-time tenured folks like me deliberately scheduled the conference to consciously exclude adjuncts. At our college, adjuncts are often invited/welcome to attend meetings, conferences, and training, but most don't/can't attend because of their job commitments elsewhere (we sympathize and understand). You should also note that the conference was called and scheduled by the White House - good move, no doubt urged along and thoroughly supported by Dr. Biden who has been teaching for years as an adjunct. Maybe the problem is that you live in a Blue State; come to Virginia, a near-Red State, where we treat our adjuncts with respect.

   One further point, you left out: one of the real problems nation-wide is that community colleges and other 2-year colleges are treated and funded as the step-children of higher education. We are very often funded, paid, and supported with facilities inferior to those of 4-year colleges and universities as well as high schools. Maybe this conference will bring that inequity to light.

   Ole' Prof

   2 years ago

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4. 

   J Martin

   The comments made by the Ole' Prof is proof that there's a wide range of misguided perspectives among the part-time ranks who teaches the majority of the students at any one campus in this country. I will make the argument that these statements are supported by the few. Anecdotal comments about having “respect” from full-time peers and deans do a disservice to this majority.

   If there is "respect" and you are valued, then you must be getting equal pay for equal work, right? But I'm certain that you don't. If you do have "respect" then surely you must have rehire rights (some may call it, seniority rights) or even better, tenure? You don't? Well, what about health benefits? You don't have this either? You write that going to workshops and attending meetings are signs of “respect” which is fine and dandy, but is there any equitably pay involved? If not, why not?

   I suspect that they do enjoy having you around as you are a wonderful and dedicated instructor but also someone who will work for less than the minority (full-timers). Real “respect” comes when we are truly paid with equitable wages and securing real job security and having health benefits.

   Overall, part-time faculty carry the majority of the teaching load in this country....it's a dirty secret and we need to get educators now to "walk the walk." We need to stop the nonsense about how they value our work and our students.

   Now is the time to bring this issue to the front of the classroom.

   A member of the New Faculty Majority

   2 years ago

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5. 

   robertby07 Idea Submitter

   Dear jmartin: As a member of the New Faculty Majority, thanks for your comments in response to "Ole' Prof." With friends like that, who needs enemies? ;) What we are witnessing is a rent in the fabric of community college operations. Part Time Faculty are finally coming to understand that there is a disconnect between how much we are paid (as a real measure of one's worth) and the "kind" words and "supportive" atmosphere that used to keep us in our place. If everyone in the system is valued by the salaries they make, then why don't we apply the same measure to ourselves? Are we afraid that if we realize that being a part time faculty member is not a rehearsal for finally attaining "real full time-ness," we might just wake up and either move on (as 25% of our number do yearly in California) or begin to take our situation as Part Time Faculty seriously and to demand respect, but this time in the "coin of realm," as Cuba Gooding said in the movie "Jerry McGuire (sp)" SHOW ME THE MONEY! Why is it that everyone else is valued in dollars while it is assumed that we thrive and survive on "verbal support" and "collegial respect?" and limp along on too little, too late...How Much Longer, Part Timers? RBYoshioka, Ph.D. Santa Maria, CA 805-264-1142

   2 years ago

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6. 

   burkkster

   I am a full time adjunct. I don’t have another job, this is my life work. I love what I do and I am an engaged instructor who has won many awards. But, to be able to make a living of any kind I regularly teach 29 credit hours a semester at 3 institutions and travel approximately 300 miles a week. Even at this pace I am still living within the federal poverty guidelines. I only have health insurance because I am lucky enough to live in Indiana where we have a state health plan. I agree we are the underpaid, unacknowledged players in the community college system. No amount of good will and open dialogue completely negates the fact that I work twice the hours for half the pay.

   I too hope the voices of Adjunct faculty are heard at this conference. The idea that we are cheating our students by attending a conference only continues the arguments of many, although not all, faculty in community colleges who stop attending professional conventions. We are worth the time away from our many classrooms. We need to learn and be heard.

   I think a point that is often overlooked is the utilization of adjunct faculty is what improves the community college experience over a traditional four year college. In a community college 100/200 level classes are all taught by full accredited degreed instructors who have experience in the field or in the classroom or both. At a four year institution these classes are often taught by graduate students and teaching assistants who are still learning the discipline themselves. Community colleges are not the inferior product we are often perceived as being.

   I am glad that the possibility to discuss community colleges is even being brought to the table in Washington. Now, I hope our voices are heard outside the hallways of our colleges.

   Katherine LaPierre

   burkkster@gmail.com

   2 years ago

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7. 

   Joy Walker

   We have this problem at our college too - the lack of integration of our adjuncts into important aspects of the college. First of all I believe there are just too many adjuncts. In my 30 years of teaching the ratio of adjuncts to full-time faculty just continues to rise. Secondly, adjuncts are NOT paid to attend any of the meetings except a one time per year departmental meeting and an orientation if they are new. This means they do not receive information they need to understand the mission of our college. Recently our district made a big effort to ensure that full-time faculty learned about classroom assessment techniques but adjuncts barely participated in these seminars. Adjuncts are not taught to use the latest technology in the classroom and MORE importantly they do not participate in dialogue with colleagues to learn from each other. It is a serious problem.

   2 years ago

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8. 

   pamb_alanb

   You can attract more flies with honey... As a student, I was turned off right away by the rude tone in your post. Keep in mind that it is not only part time community college instructors that are working with low pay and no benefits. Almost ALL part time workers anywhere at any job have the same problems. I would think when you are dealing with something of this importance, you would show a little more respect and be a little less rude. Again I am a student not an employee of any community college.

   2 years ago

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9. 

   Community Member

   Really turned off by the tone. Rude and totally inaccurate. Per hour Part timers get paid well above national average for part time work. To say that you are paid slave wages is an insult to full timer unions who fight for your pay increases. I agree we should get part timers better access to affordable health care, but as we all know that is a crisis everywhere. If you all are high enough in number, do something even BETTER than what Obamacare has done, if you think you can do better. Go for it. But quit painting a picture of martyrdom. A lot of us full timers are really kind and generous to our part timers, OK? I empathise, because I have been there, OK? So quit whining---either piss or get off the pot.

   2 years ago

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10. 

    vanessa.vaile

    Do I think Robert Yoshioka's tone is harsh, even bordering on "rude"? Probably, but understandably so. Inaccurate, no. Don't equate a failure to be sufficiently conciliatory with flawed reasoning or insufficient research.

    Instead, consider the frustration prompting this response.

    We've been polite, respectful, worked with the system, joined unions run by full timers and promoting their agendas, presented at workplace and contingent issues sessions, written letters to editors... all that honey and no equity, no progress, just flies.

    Nor do prevailing workplace conditions for most precarious workers in any way justify not treating specific groups fairly.

    And, yes, we are working on "doing something better," which why we KNOW we should have been invited and WILL be part of the discussion, invited or not.

    2 years ago

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11. 

    Community Member

    Rudeness and an angry tone will not get you anywhere. In fact, it is indicative of an individual who is inarticulate, unstable, and unable to better organize. If you think otherwise, keep it up, by all means!

    You are not unique in the world of part-time employment, except that you get paid far more than someone in a different sector of the job market.

    2 years ago

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12. 

    Community Member

    ...to generalize that the majority of adjuncts are abused in this way IS inaccurate. Why don't you focus your anger on your world and start with that? On the other hand---Some people are handed a fair treatment and still wake up angry everyday. First to ask is what is the root cause of ones anger? Would you be just as angry if you were a full timer? Probably. In light of the recession, many full timers are getting twice the amount of work dumped on them. Some are angry constantly about this as well...as they were probably angry as adjuncts, too. Some people are just inherently angry. First find out the real reason.

    2 years ago

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13. 

    robertby07 Idea Submitter

    To Community Member: Oh, it's you again. I'm Pissing, Pissing...and will get off your pot soon enough. Rude? I am not rude. What you are reading into my words is YOUR perception, and not my intent. Saying "piss or get off the pot" is rude...your words, not mine.

    Oh, and BTW, another comment of yours, "A lot of us full timers are kind and generous to our part timers," sure sounds condescending and patronizing to me, or am I just reading my bias and anger into your smarmy and trivializing remarks? And how long has it been that part timers at your institution are considered "your" part timers anyway? Wingnut conservative slave-owning talk doesn't cut it at the beginning of the 21st Century, or did you miss Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in your US History class?

    I really think you ought to make the time, and take your money to attend this conference in DC. What better way to make your point than in person? You may choose not to go, and that certainly is your right, but to sit back and be patronizing is just too easy...or maybe because you treat your part timers, generously and kindly, that is enough for you? Oh yeah...in the end, community member, talk is cheap...and condescending talk is, well, condescending.

    How Much Longer, Part Timers? RBYoshioka, Ph.D. Santa Maria, CA 805-937-4880

    2 years ago

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14. 

    pamela.hanford

    Community Member, you have to understand that many, many of us have taken the polite and submissive road for too many years with too little reward. Often that leads to individuals becoming "mad as hell" and deciding to "not take it anymore."

    But seriously, you can't actually BELIEVE that part-time faculty are better paid that individuals in other part-time work? We are not paid for preparation, for grading, for any additional outside professional development, and often not even for office hours or the "counseling" we offer our students.

    As a composition instructor, when I factor in preparation and grading time (that is if I truly wish to instruct my students well) to the "generous" hour for which I am paid in the classroom, my hourly rate is actually around $6/hour.

    Rationalize that, if you can, into your "kind and generous" treatment of "your" part-timers.

    Also, do not assume that the individuals you are addressing have not spent months, years working with the unions to improve the conditions. It is often pressure from full time individuals such as yourself, who believe they have first night rights to overloads which prevent unions from negotiating more humane working conditions for part-time faculty.

    Instead of attacking RBY's display of anger, perhaps you should engage in some self-reflection and address why you are so threatened by what he has to say.

    Pamela Hanford

    13 year part-time faculty advocate

    2 years ago

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15. 

    cj19552001

    Thanks Pamela and Robert for all your hard work in advocating for us poor part timers. It's bad all across the US, and we need Jill Biden, Martha Kanter, and others to heed our plight and do something at the national level to guarantee us our constitutional right to "equal pay for equal work."

    2 years ago

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16. 

    Community Member

    Community member, you suck, and confirm my general impression of full-time faculty. I'll whine all I want. I'll bet you have illegal immigrants working on your house.

    2 years ago

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17. 

    Community Member

    You're pretty articulate, you know, but I won't lower myself to your level. My words can be twisted all over despite my best intentions. No, I am not a right-wingnut. No, I do not hire illegal immigrants, but I am rabidly against punishing people who simply are seeking a better life here in the US. I AM pro health care, and have advocated for health care rights for part timers here at the school where I teach. I supported giving health benefits for gay partners, despite the Re-fuking-publican majority being against gay partner rights, marriage, etc here--- I am, in fact as liberal as one can get before being a socialist. And if you want to call me more names, I cannot imagine how you teach. I am a mixed race heritage human who has stated that I have BEEN part time longer than full, and that I can truly empathise with how I was treated. Back in the day---a chair could say things like, "We are the eschelons and you are the peons..." and THAT is exactly what I was once told by a chair when all I had requested was to not be notified THREE DAYS beforehand that I was to compile a syllabus and teach that semester's class. ALL I am saying is that I TREAT the adjuncts who work in my program a hell of a lot better SIMPLY BECAUSE I DO NOT want them to endure HALF of what I endured! OK? I do what I CAN. But do not tell me or my colleagues that we are slave drivers, etc when you don't know JACK about us. We have some of the highest adjunct retention rates in our program because we offer a hell of a lot better than is out there.I am NOT saying it is perfect ---It DOES need improvement---#1 being HEALTH CARE if the present administration cannot get their a$$ in gear on that one.

    In fact, I realise most of the individuals on this forum are California residents--a state which, although I admire-- is in dire straits on a number of levels--economy & education being 2 of them. I do not hail from CA myself, but originally from Philly, but now in a very very conservative, yet less economically affected-by-the-recession Midwestern state. When I use the term "Our" I am simply referring to to the faculty group--the college where I teach. Interpret that how you will. I sit on the Arts and humanities Council which strongly advocates for adjuncts and has adjuncts sitting on the council who take time out of their Friday afternoons to make suggestions which all the full timers AGREE with.

    So STOP thinking we are all evil enemies. WE AREN'T. This is why I hate webforums---if you knew me, and I knew you, and we sat face to face---this might be a hell of a sight more civil. Even the Mass General/ Harvard Neurology forum had to be shut down because MS patients were fighting with ALS patients on petty crap like this and they had to shut it down, despite the benefits outweighing the negatives...oh well.

    -a minority in KANSAS

    2 years ago

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18. 

    robertby07 Idea Submitter

    Dear "a minority in KANSAS."

    Thank you for your articulate and thoughtful reply to me and many others on this blog. After reading your comments (see immediately above) I did a little "scroll-through" and came to the belated realization that YOU were not ALL of the "Community Members" who posted here. Originally, when I saw the moniker, "community member," I thought that there was one person posting. My bad. Yes, I believe that we would have a hell of a time if we had the chance to meet face-to-face. We have good friends in Lawrence, Kansas, who we keep threatening to come and visit...so who knows. That might just happen.

    Sometimes I admit to "encouraging" others to get angry and outraged...sometimes I can be the soul of discretion (although many of my friends do not think I can be discreet...:() because I have "learned" over time that many of the people I have to deal with (in person, or in meetings, or in open forums) have long ago ceased to listen to anyone other than themselves or people who are from their own occupational class. Confronting them gets through their thick skins, and while they do not like it, they can be made to see that what they are saying is oftentimes crap.

    Frankly, another problem with being an advocate for part time faculty here in California is the sheer number of oppressed persons (47,000 +)who have been beaten into submission. Alas, the community colleges here in California enroll upwards of 2 million students annually. So many part timers live lives of quiet desperation that when I travel to many of the nearly 110 campuses spread out in 73 community college districts, it is disheartening to see the variety of ways that "them's who gots" treat part timers.

    This is to say that much of the "piss and vinegar" that we Californians find ourselves speaking is based on practical experience in having had to deal with the other "stakeholders" in the California Community College System who seem always ready to dissuade, block and downright oppose the kind of progressive change that most part timers would be comfortable living with.

    Yes there are good union members, and yes, there are good full time (and part time) faculty whose heads are in the "right" places, but, alas, it has been my observation, that the majority of entrenched players here in California have all gotten used to taking full advantage, of hapless and gullible part timers, for their own benefit. It is hard to empathize with OUR plight when, they are the direct beneficiaries of the current way of doing business.

    So, it is not only a problem to bring our issues to the fore, but it a major problem to get our constituents to begin to stand up for themselves within their own unions, in their own departments and between themselves and their colleagues.

    One of the great fears is that if part timers "make waves," they will be replaced. How you get people to take responsibility for their own destiny is a perennial problem that organizers have to contend with.

    But back to the Subject Head of this thread. Nobody at "Summit Central" has seen fit to contact anyone letting us know what the mechanism is for part time faculty to be invited to participate in this Summit - in person. I have several colleagues who would be willing to attend this confab. So, we shall see. Any ideas on how to make an invitation materialize? Your thoughts are welcome.

    Tell you what. Please contact me offline at: robertby07@gmail.com and let's chat up a storm. I need to go and get myself some dinner. It is early evening here in California, and yes, even us "left coasters" need to eat!

    Best,

    RBYoshioka

    robertby07@gmail.com

    2 years ago

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19. 

    cj19552001

    In reply to Community Member's post of "..to generalize that the majority of adjuncts are abused in this way IS inaccurate. Why don't you focus your anger on your world and start with that? On the other hand---Some people are handed a fair treatment and still wake up angry everyday. First to ask is what is the root cause of ones anger? Would you be just as angry if you were a full timer? Probably. In light of the recession, many full timers are getting twice the amount of work dumped on them. Some are angry constantly about this as well...as they were probably angry as adjuncts, too. Some people are just inherently angry. First find out the real reason."

    The full timers who are expected to take on overloads and additional students with very little compensation are really no better off than us part timers who are unemployed, with the exception of money. This problem is not limited to education. Other occupations expect their full time employees to work long hours with no pay for overtime while they lay off hard workers. It's not right in either case. However, a 2-tiered pay system without "equal pay for equal work" is a violation of our constitutional rights as Americans.

    2 years ago

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20. 

    J Martin

    It is obvious for some Pters believe that they have it made and are okay with their current job situation. However, there are others out here that are quite outraged by their lack of real respect (and I'm not talking about being invited to a dept meeting, or serving as a member of a campus academic senate or even having a place in the union's governing board) by those who are full-timers and/or management who governs the thousands of community college campuses in this country.

    What is 'respect'? IMHO, it's easy to define. Respect is having tenure or perhaps just plan old rehire preference rights (or seniority). How about the right to teach as many classes you can if offered? (Note: in California, it's illegal to work more than 67% of the teaching load at any community college district.) If the above is granted, then "equal pay for equal work" should be demanded and rewarded...not pleading for equitable pay--which is often the case.

    Regarding overloads, I know of plenty of full-timers who are teaching these extra classes, not because they're needed, but they want the extra cash....teaching 120% to 160% is nothing for them to do (and some teach 200%) and it's just down-right thievery. The math is simple: for every class that is taught by a Fter, it's one less class for a Pter. It's not hard to figure out that there is something very wrong with this picture.

    Ask a Fter or a CEO about what I just wrote here. You'll be amazed by their responses...I bet you'll will find nothing but a headache or perhaps worst. Seriously, go to them f2f and ask them. And report back to us here on this thread. Let's compare notes.

    I challenge any doubters out there.

    --A proud member of CPFA (California Part-timer Faculty Association) and NFM (New Faculty Majority).

    2 years ago

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21. 

    Community Member

    Please be sure to include part-time librarians as well.

    2 years ago

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22. 

    mbruning

    Where are the faculty of any stripe? We are the lifeblood of community colleges, and deserve a seat at the table. How are CEOs, administrators, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs supposed to know what we do, why we do what we do, and what we need? Given that administrators and faculty are often at odds with each other, why were we not invited to the discussion?

    As an adjunct, I find this disturbing, frankly.

    2 years ago

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23. 

    denise

    2 years ago

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24. 

    robertby07 Idea Submitter

    Watch the streaming video of the opening session and the closing session of the White House Community College Summit and be ready to have your darkest fears confirmed.

    Remember, the streaming video that the White House is touting is A ONE WAY STREET. you can see, you can hear, but you cannot speak or be seen.

    Well, boys and girls, better a half a loaf than no loaf at all.

    How Much Longer, Part-Timers?

    Thanks for reading and posting.

    RBYoshioka, Ph.D.

    Santa Maria, CA 805-937-4880

    2 years ago

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25. 

    robertby07 Idea Submitter

    All you bloggers and stalkers. Thanks for listening...but more important, thanks for setting down your thoughts on this and other issues.

    I am going mute. Watch the streaming video and be prepared to weep. I hope that I am wrong on this one, but...:(

    Laterz,

    RBYoshioka, Ph.D.

    Santa Maria, CA 805-937-4880/805-264-1142

    2 years ago

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26. 

    robtsum

    Indeed, to reiterate some points already made, there are more adjuncts now than full-time or tenure-track faculty -- and 'no one' cares that that hurts students, not to mention the adjuncts who teach them. And, us adjuncts work hard, and we work under harsh conditions, not to mention for much less pay and absolutely no benefits.

    It seems to me, and many others, this meeting, which is a meeting that has always already excluded the excluded, the marginalized, which is to say the adjunct faculty, only shows how little adjuncts are thought of -- even though without us there would be no way to have any community college, and most state universities, function. We make up the base, the floor, the ground, the foundation, and we are foundational; however, that is taken advantage of by community colleges and the like who are nothing more than education-machines.

    It must also be noted that if this administration wants any real change -- and not just a new coat of varnish on a damaged floor -- damaged because of the abuse of adjuncts and our treatment,of our precarious lives -- than adjuncts must be heard and invited -- without condition.

    It seems to me that adjuncts across the country are tired of the treatment we receive, and all we need to do is unify and leave the community colleges and universities: yes, and then there will be a huge crisis. And, indeed, it seems that this is exactly what this administration and conference are calling for, in a thoughtless, unconscious way. But the day is coming. Soon. We will not take it any more.

    2 years ago

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27. 

    habbibte

    I have been an adjunct instructor for three years. I am a single parent, yet I have traveled all over town, gone to more than one campus miles away from each other for different schools on the same day, I am not paid a living wage as I am limited in the number of classes I can teach at a college. I have no office, no phone number, no way to provide the office hours that my students should have with me, even the privacy to consult with them when they need me. I often work after hours with no support staff to help me when the copier,computer/technology breaks down, I walk a very long way in the dark to my car every night alone, I have no job security to speak of and student loan debt that is monumental because I have not been able to make payments on it in the last two years and the interest is just piling up, I live in a lousy neighborhood in the fourth largest city in the US, where I have to beg my landlord two or three times a year to let me pay half my rent this two weeks and then the other half the next paycheck because I have to wait so long to get paid after the semester starts. I am basically bankrupt only I cannot afford to file for bankruptcy, I am in desperate need of car repairs or a new car but would never qualify for a loan, never know if I am going to have a job next semester, cannot speak up or speak my mind in faculty meetings where I am unpaid for fear of losing my job, have applied to over one hundred full time jobs in the last three years and gotten two interviews, love teaching but I wake up every day angry and resentful that I am basically a temporary again, that I will spend at least four months out of the year unemployed because adjuncts typically have no summer employment and when there is the classes don't make in the summer and no affordable health insurance to speak of ($700 + per month just for me, not including my son), I went to school for seven years to become a temporary again. Thank you for marginalizing me and my participation in higher education, we are not represented in our workplaces and that is a travesty of exploitation, it is even worse that we are being ignored here.

    2 years ago

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28. 

    cj19552001

    Habbibte,

    Sadly, I am in a somewhat similar situation. Even though I'm married, my husband is working in a low-paying temporary job due to this recession. I'm an unemployed community college instructor who is scrambling to find work. I've taught as a part time instructor since 1998, 12 years of poverty and exploitation. When my part time teaching position was downsized in CA in 2003, we were forced to sell our home. We relocated to Oregon in 2005 in hopes things would be better here. Well, they're even worse. When I get classes to teach, it's for about 1/3 of what I made in CA, a flat rate of $476 per unit, no additional compensation for advanced degrees/units and/or years of experience. I teach online, but I have to provide my own computer, ISP, software, and cell phone for students to call me. My husband once asked me if I even made a profit after these costs. The first year I taught online I think it cost me money. I've cashed out my CALSTRS to pay bills and have applied for a mortgage loan modification. I get a whopping $150 a week in unemployment benefits (due to an extension), pay $335 a month for lousy medical insurance that has a $30,000 deductible (basically disaster insurance), and have applied for food stamps. Habbibte, like you, I cannot afford to pay an attorney to file for bankruptcy. Now why did I get an MBA and go into teaching? Perhaps I need my sanity checked.

    2 years ago

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