Apartment Choice

By Sarah Butrymowicz and Meredith Kolodner Alduha Leon and Jared Sanders, roommates at Savannah State University , dined on hot dogs in their apartment on Thanksgiving Day of their sophomore year. They had decided to skip feasting with family in Atlanta to pick up extra hours at their airport jobs loading luggage onto planes. Payday wasn’t until Friday, though, and Leon only had $5 left on his food stamps card . During the three years they spent at Savannah State , Sanders and Leon struggled to pay their tuition, fees and living expenses. They accumulated more than $50,000 in loans between the two of them, despite working up to 40 hours a week. After exhausting themselves working late or overnight shifts so they wouldn’t have to miss class, and finding their grades suffering, they dropped out in 2015, joining a growing pool of Georgians who have debt but no degree. More than 108,000 students who had taken out federal loans withdrew from Georgia’s public colleges and universities bet...

Melissa asks: Was there really a “Craig” who started “Craigslist” or is that just a marketing gimmick? Craig Newmark is the Craig of Craigslist whose estimated net worth as of 2010 was around $400 million. This is in direct contrast to his financial wealth during childhood, where his mother struggled to support Craig and his brother, Jeff, after the death of their father. Craig Alexander Newmark was born on December 6, 1952, in Morristown, New Jersey, to Joyce and Lee Newmark. Lee worked as an insurance salesman but after his death, Joyce had to move her two sons into an apartment. Craig was only thirteen years old when his father died. After graduating from Morristown High School in 1971, Craig had earned enough scholarships to fund his post-secondary education at Case Western Reserve University . There, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1975 and a Masters of Science degree in 1977. With his new degrees, Craig landed himself a job as a programmer with IBM for 17 years – ...