What struck me about this post was how money worries can pressure people to make choices they would not make otherwise. I got thinking about private education, even a Christian education. I teach a a Jesuit school and it is a great institution, but would I recommend someone take out massive amounts of loans to pay for it? In most cases, no. Even if this person was a Catholic and wanted to be surrounded by Catholics, there are smarter ways to do this - for instance, get involved with a Catholic church or a Catholic student union at a public university, or even participate in the extracurricular activities and lectures (many are open to the general public). I would say the same is true for non-catholic institutions as well. How many evangelical students (or Christians of any stripe) are pressured to attend an expensive "Christian" school they can't really attend? And does that cost interfere with their abilities to live a Christian life upon graduation? Will they feel able to give charitably, to accept a more Christ-centered but lower-salaried job, to be selective in who they marry, etc. if they have overwhelming student debt? I think all Christian students and Christian parents should think about this, and consider carefully whether attending a specifically Christian college is worth the financial obligations.

As a young women with the student loan crushing debt, I can see where this is a possibility. I am blessed enough to have financial help in paying back my loans. However, fear grips me often. If I weren't to have the help, what else could I do? Where else could I turn? How could I not feel like a complete failure? I was told, with many others, "Just go to school so you can get a job and you'll be able to pay them back." So now I have a decent job but I still can't pay them back. It makes you feel like a complete failure. It is difficult to live with a mortgage of student loan debt - it can define you and make you feel like there is no hope. I know that this isn't the point of life. Money, getting "ahead", and bills don't define who I am. Again, I am blessed enough to have help and be able to pay my debts. However, I know many who do not have help. Cutting back and not having luxuries is irrelevant to the problem. With a student loan payment of almost $1,500 a month -at your first job, how do you still get to and from the job, feed and clothe yourself (never mind pay for a place to live, if that is even an option)? How does one not feel defeated and worthless day in and day out knowing that this will be lasting for the next 10+ years? We all need grace to remind us that your current financial situation or the current economic situation doesn't define you. We need to be cautious and understanding of the fears and emotions running people. No blame, no excuses - just love and appreciation that they are who they are and they are important in your life. If we could all focus on love and the person (instead of falling into the "you are what you do" trap of the outside world - which I do constantly) we could help to counteract these thoughts of fear and failure and maybe even counteract the behaviors that accompany these thoughts.

Yes, what about the men? How many men marry nurses or teachers so their wives can put them through graduate school and then leave afterwards? It is not different than what was stated in the article and it's been going on for YEARS.

What about the young men who graduate with exactly the same level of debt? In academia, they are even less likely to be hired than the young women. Ah. But they are not of interest.

Well done, Hannah!

Anne, I think you're missing the point of the article. The author isn't saying that these "sugar babies" are horrible people who need to be ashamed of themselves and burn in hell, nor is she saying that Christians are above such behavior. On the contrary, she's saying that while many Christians might be tempted to say, "Thank God I'm not one of those whores!" The truth is that we might be emotional whores, and certainly all of us have been spiritually unfaithful at one time or another. "No one is righteous. No, not even one" (Romans 3:10). This article isn't written from a place of condemnation; it's written as a warning to those who might be hasty to judge. We can't think that we're "better" than that because any one of us could fall into the same sinful trap. Also, I know you were only citing verses to be snarky and ironic, but you're a bit misguided. Yes, you're right. Jesus did interact with sinful women. However, He didn't tiptoe around their sin and pretend it was okay; He told them to "go and sin no more" (John 8:1-11). There is a position between being a holier-than-thou jerk like the Pharisee in Luke 18:10-14 and being an enabler. Confronting sin was something God commissioned prophets to do all the time, and it's something He still expects of His followers now. It's all in how you go about it. I'm glad I read this article. Maybe I'm sheltered, but I didn't realize this was as huge of a phenomena as it is. It's definitely been eye opening, and I hope that the church can find a way to be a beacon to these young adults who feel like they can never pay off their college debts. We need to actively seek ways to offer them hope instead of despair, and we need to guard against similar sins in our own hearts and lives. Well done, Courtney.

Anne, have you read the whole life of Christ in the Gospels? Surely you are teasing us? Right?

Let us thank God that we in the church are not like these immoral young women (Luke 18:10-14). After all, we read in the Bible that Jesus always avoided and condemned sinful women when He walked on earth (Luke 7:37-50).

From reading a few of the longer articles published recently about this, it repeatedly struck me that many (altough not al) of the young women were not faced with a choice of poverty/destitution or the prostitution which they chose - they were faced with a choice of a less than affluent lifestyle versus prostitution. They chose to sell sex rather than cut back their luxuries (a sad commentary there).

Is anyone surprised by this? We shouldn't be. Being in debt way over what we can handle can lead us to do many awful things. And how sex is belittled and thrown around so easily, including the "friends with benefits" mentality, why not trade it for financial gain rather than just friendship? Our whole system is screwed up when we have been brainwashed to think that it is okay to go into debt big-time to get an education. Going into debt can be done wisely but there has to be a plan. We don't give our young adults plans. It is the norm now to borrow thousands of dollars for an education that might not prove fruitful. I think the biggest crime are the men and women graduating with a degree to become a pastor or missionary, etc, but they are limited where they can go because of the great debt hanging over their heads. We as a society have been duped to be chained to finances. Finances are a tool but they've become the god so many follow (including many christians). God has the answer. God is way bigger than any financial debt but it takes a whole lot of belief that can be scary to put into practice. Gotta fall on the Father!