Duke Grad Student Lived in Van to Avoid Graduate Debt

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T

Train

Lifer
Jun 22, 2000
13,599
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www.bing.com
Never mind, just read the article, English and History major. Get used to being poor kid. Hope you enjoyed those Duke home games.

though at the end it appears his books will sell, which puts him above 95% of the authors out there.
 
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Meractik

Golden Member
Jul 8, 2003
1,752
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Train said:
Someone who is willing to spend some time living like most won't, so that he can live like most can't.
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I agree, anyone having served in the armed forces can vouch for your statement - its surprising what you can do with determination and discipline.
 
dr150

dr150

Diamond Member
Sep 18, 2003
6,570
24
81
Train said:
Never mind, just read the article, English and History major. Get used to being poor kid. Hope you enjoyed those Duke home games.
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With those majors, he can still go to law school or get an MBA. Then all will be right again in the world for him.
 
SKORPI0

SKORPI0

Lifer
Jan 18, 2000
18,503
2,427
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Misleading title of article, he wasn't avoiding the debt. He eventually paid it all off the $32k debt 2011. :thumbsup:
 
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Pantlegz

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2007
4,627
4
81
SKORPI0 said:
Misleading title of article, he wasn't avoiding the debt. He eventually paid it all off the $32k debt 2011. :thumbsup:
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Your reading comprehension isn't the best. He racked up 32k in debt for his undergrad which he spent 2 years working to pay off. Then went to Duke and got his masters(?) with 0 debt.
 
sunzt

sunzt

Diamond Member
Nov 27, 2003
3,076
3
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No commentary no lock?

Anyway, guy is amazing. Aside from teaching and getting further professional degrees, this would be the most productive path for an English-History major. Go off the road less traveled, have great adventures, muse a bit, and then write books about it all. Recipe for success.
 
S

Slammy1

Platinum Member
Apr 8, 2003
2,112
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The stipend at my grad school was terrible, most people worked outside of school and those that didn't lived with family.
 
SKORPI0

SKORPI0

Lifer
Jan 18, 2000
18,503
2,427
136
Pantlegz said:
Your reading comprehension isn't the best. He racked up 32k in debt for his undergrad which he spent 2 years working to pay off. Then went to Duke and got his masters(?) with 0 debt.
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Correct, my bad didn't completely read the article. I was thinking about his BA English and History $32K debt.
Not the Masters he eventually took and living in a van to avoid being in debt for taking it.
 
KeithP

KeithP

Diamond Member
Jun 15, 2000
5,664
202
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I think the guy is pretty smart but not in the way most are probably think...

In his book, "Walden on Wheels: On The Open Road from Debt to Freedom," Ken chronicles his journey out of debt.

He was kind enough to share his story with us this week.
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'Kind enough?" LOL

I believe the graduate school and living in the van was planned with the purpose being to generate publicity for his book. These kind of books are a dime a dozen and I doubt he has anything new to say. However, having the hook of living in van will probably sell a lot of copies.

-KeithP
 
Slew Foot

Slew Foot

Lifer
Sep 22, 2005
12,379
96
86
Considering that most liberal arts majors are lazy assholes who expect someone to give them a job smoking pot and posting on facebook from an air conditioned office, Id say he has a leg up on the competition.
 
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mikegg

Platinum Member
Jan 30, 2010
2,139
681
136
Train said:
Never mind, just read the article, English and History major. Get used to being poor kid. Hope you enjoyed those Duke home games.

though at the end it appears his books will sell, which puts him above 95% of the authors out there.
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I just a hired an English major for a marketing role. English majors can write great marketing content/copy/messages. I avoid general business majors because they can't really do any one thing well enough.

I also just hired an Art History major for a technical marketing position. She could also write very well. I thought her Art History major was a plus because she showed that she's an interesting person.

I generally hire whoever I think is intelligent and easy to work with. I don't really care about majors(unless it's an engineering role or a very technical role).
 
E

Exterous

Super Moderator
Jun 20, 2006
20,615
3,840
126
Good for him. Sounds like he is a good candidate to become one of those extreme early retirees.

Its a sham that Duke has prevented others from being able to do what he did. (I doubt they would have had a huge influx of people doing it)
 
Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
71,290
14,074
126
www.anyf.ca
Or he could have just kept living with his parents even though it's not the "cool thing to do". But kudos for being financially responsible, in a rather interesting way. When you're at school your life is pretty much dedicated to studying and working on projects so I imagine most of his time was spent in the building using the computers etc anyway and van was mostly just to sleep and eat.
 
Kaido

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
52,430
7,669
136
That's awesome! He's a rare breed. Wish I'd done that!
 
DrPizza

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
49,601
167
111
www.slatebrookfarm.com
I think I posted in this forum before that for the first 6 months of my son's apprenticeship, even though he was earning decent money, he lived in the back of a van. Couldn't get an apartment, because there was no guarantee he'd be in the same city for a year (lease). Got a Y membership - went there and worked out (and showered) every day, and drove back to the work site, parked his van in the yard, and slept in the back.
 
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holden j caufield

Diamond Member
Dec 30, 1999
6,324
10
81
I'm sure this provides some grounding, respect for money and character. Maybe kids should do this for 1 semester.
 
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