As he drapes his next piece at the sewing lab at the Art Institute of New York City, a for-profit college, Andrew Flynn, 21, ponders how will he repay his $115,000 student loan. His 6-month grace period ends in December, and his monthly loan payments will begin thereafter.
Flynn graduated four months ago with an associate degree in fashion design after a 28-month program. His initial plan to attend the Savannah College of Art and Design, ranked 6th in the country according to Fashionista, a fashion blog, ended a few years ago when he received a last-minute call from a school official that he wouldnât receive the promised financial aid.
âI was ready to leave that day. I had everything packed in my car when I received the call,â he says. âThere was no money left.â
The problem he said was that the schoolâs endowment wasnât generating enough income to fund his scholarship. That was common at many universities amid the financial crisis.
It was late August 2009 and Flynn didnât have a back-up plan. Traditional colleges and universities rarely accept students at that time of year, so he needed to turn to a for-profit college as his only option. He didnât understand the implications from an academic or professional perspective, but he knew that high debt was clearly on the horizon, as financial support from his family was not available.
Flynnâs family emigrated from Jamaica in 1986 and settled in Hartford, Conn. He was born in 1990, and says that while he never missed anything at home, he didnât have it easy.
Concerned about living conditions in Hartford, Flynnâs family applied to live in an affordable housing project and eventually got approved for a community in Simsbury, Conn. Shortly after settling in their new home, Flynn started attending pre-kindergarten, and an event at school helped shape his career.
One morning, the mother of a classmate brought chocolate to a school event. Flynn knew he was allergic to peanuts and declined the offer, rare for a kid of his age. His teacher forced him to accept one, thinking he was being rude.
âShe tried to teach me a life lesson that it was bad manners to decline a gift, but she almost got me killed,â he says.
He had an immediate allergic reaction. His mother arrived a few minutes later with medicine, and he recovered.
âMy mother immediately pulled me out of school,â he says. âI didnât go back until primary school a couple of years later, and in the process I learned to socialize with adults. I was hanging around them all the time.â
In high school he had a difficult time interacting with his classmates. He found their conversations uninteresting and foolish. His looks didnât help either.
 âI was disgusting and almost a health hazard. My weight was 82 pounds. I was not even allowed to play football,â he says.
He decided he wanted to be involved in fashion when he was 13, while watching the Disney classic 101 Dalmatians. That movie led him to start sketching and drawing, and he hasnât stopped since.
Flynn started at the Art Institute in October 2008, a couple of months after his plans at the Savannah College of Art and Design were toppled. He had to work throughout college, serving as a sales representative at a TJ Maxx store. But even so, he would take on more debt each quarter, as tuition of $13,000 came due.
âI hated work but was very pragmatic about it. They had the money and I needed it, so letâs make both of us happy,â he says, as he needed to buy a computer.
Flynn eventually graduated from the Art Institute, and his collection at the school was awarded the Most Editorial. Jennifer Moore, a full-time faculty member at the Art Institute, says this award is one of a number of awards given by the school every year to promote a competitive environment.
âThis is an important award,â she says. âThe competition creates a lot of expectations throughout the year.â
Three months later, Flynn landed a job as a sales representative at the menâs department at Bloomingdaleâs. He started working last week and is looking forward to his professional life. But he knows money will be tight for the next few years.
âMy job is commission-based and Iâm starting at a great time with the Christmas season approaching,â he says.
He has a fixed hourly wage. Flynn wouldnât disclose the amount, but the New York Department of Labor sets the minimum wage at $7.25 an hour. The minimum commission he will get paid on sales is six percent, but higher-ticket items may pay substantially more.
Flynn is also hoping for some relief. He has been reading about President Obamaâs recent proposal to help college graduates with high debt. If eligible, his payments on his student loan will be a percentage of his disposable income, as opposed to a fixed amount as with traditional loans.
The presidentâs plan would cap a graduateâs required monthly payment on a student loan to 10 percent of the individualâs discretionary income for 20 years; after that, the balance of loan debt would be forgiven, according to the White Houseâs blog. It is calculated based on gross income, family size and state of residence.
According to the Department of Educationâs income-based repayment calculator, Flynn would pay $110 a month in a scenario in which he would make $25,000 a year, or $235 a month if heâs compensation package was $35,000 a year. On a typical 30-year student loan with a rate of 6.8 percent, Flynn would pay $749.71 a month on his $115,000 debt.
âI am a fighter,â he says. The odds were against him but he worked hard to stay in college and graduate. âI know I can pull this of and repay my debt.â
