Krystle Bernal was sold on Westwood College the minute the admissions representative showed her a chart of potential salaries in her dream job. A top buyer at a department store, the chart said, could someday earn $65,000, even $80,000 a year.
Bernal, then 19, visited the financial aid office and signed up for the fashion merchandising program one afternoon by herself.
Bernal, now 24, made $10 an hour at a year-round Christmas store until being laid off a week ago. In this difficult economy, finding a high-paying job is difficult, and she is awash in more than $75,000 in debt: interest, tuition, expenses and books.
Westwood says tuition at that time would have been about $65,000 for three years.
Bernal says she’s going to again reach out to Westwood for help finding work in her field. She has already deferred $45,000 in federal loans because she is so broke.
“I didn’t need a college degree for this,” she said, her eyes welling one night after work. “I just thought my life would be different.”
