A resident of New York has already sold 6 of her eggs to pay off a student loan: the debt has not decreased much

Cassandra Jones tried hard to get rid of her student loan debt. For this, she even had to donate her eggs for money, reports Fox News.

Cassandra Jones, at 28, is a freelance videographer specializing in public health communications and social media content strategy. She mainly works with non-profit organizations.

After earning a bachelor's degree in kinesiology and a master's degree in public health, Jones owed $165 in student loans.

She started thinking about the cost of college when she was only 15 years old.

At the time, Cassandra was living in California and participating in a program that offered free classes at a local college for high school students. This gave her the opportunity to start college without debt.

After graduating from high school, Jones went to Pasadena City College, a community college, rather than a university, due to the cost of tuition. There she received two associate degrees and then transferred to La Verne University in California.

Jones did everything she could to keep her tuition costs down. She lived with her parents, delivered pizza and worked as a video shooter.

The girl received several scholarships and a California grant to pay for tuition. However, she graduated with $25 in student loan debt.

Since La Verne in 2016, Jones has taken many steps.

“I talked to consultants, people in my field,” Jones explained. “They told me that if I want to get a high-paying job, I have to go to graduate school.”

In her first round of graduate school applications, Jones focused on registered benefit programs. But all of them were rejected.

“I had about a month to raise enough money to pay for my first semester at NYU.”

After spending several months traveling around different countries, she realized that she was passionate about public health. Jones applied to NYU's Global Public Health Program. She was accepted right before the start of classes.

When Jones was researching ways to pay for graduate school, she learned from her friends about selling eggs.

They told her that it was possible to earn between $6000 and $10. “When I heard that there was an opportunity to make a big contribution to my education, I became curious,” Jones explained. She researched the process and then donated her eggs to the Fertility and Gynecology Center in Tarzan, California. According to her, she was paid $000.

Egg donation requires hormone injections. It is similar to the in vitro fertilization process. Doctors monitor donors to determine when eggs are ready for collection. This happens during a 10-20-minute procedure, according to the NYU Langone Fertility Center website.

Donor eggs are used for women who do not have viable eggs for a number of reasons: illness, age, previous surgery, or genetic abnormalities.

In August 2017, Jones had her first egg donation - the day before classes began at New York University.

“Payment time is up,” Cassandra explained. “I was desperate.”

Jones ended up with a $25 scholarship to New York University's School of Global Public Health.

“Given the cost of living, the rest of the tuition, etc., the scholarship was good. And I'm grateful for that," Jones said. However, in the long run it didn't make much of a difference. Cassandra ended up taking out about $140 in loans to pay for her tuition at New York University. Which means her student loan debt peaked at $000 when she graduated.

“As I started getting closer to the end of the program, that number really caught my eye,” she said.

Despite months of filling out job applications and attending seminars, Cassandra had a difficult time finding a permanent job: “You look at mountains of debt with no solutions. There are no job prospects, no income. You are in an expensive city. And you have to figure out how to live on.”

Jones said that was when she decided to donate her eggs again - four more times.

In July 2019, she donated her eggs to the NYU Langone Fertility Clinic, who paid her $10. Cassandra donated again at NYU Langone in October 000, July 2019 and February 2020. For each donation, she received another $2021, she said.

Jones said desperation is what drove her to sell her eggs.

“I wouldn't have put my body to this test so many times if I knew there was another option. If there was a job prospect, a salary that would be enough to survive and pay off student loans.”

In total, the sale of eggs brought her $46. But even after donating her eggs, Jones only marginally paid off her student loan debt. This is partly due to interest rates. And partly because she used her egg donation money to cover her living expenses while she was looking for a job.

Today, the girl has about $150 in debt.

“I am disappointed that the system charges such high fees for our education.”

After submitting hundreds of applications, Jones was eventually able to get a full-time job, as well as find additional clients on the side.

Every month, she puts aside part of her salary in preparation for the end of her student loan break. To date, she has $10 set aside.

Avoid “victim mindset”

In 2021, Jones received her free MBA from a pilot online program at the Quantic School of Business and Technology.

“One of the reasons I got my MBA was because I wasn’t going to support the victim mindset with student loans,” she explained.

Cassandra has been able to improve her financial literacy in order to pay off her loans and set herself up for future success. Despite the difficulties she faced, Jones said she learned her lessons.

“I have no regrets about the education I received, about all the people I met, about the experience that I was lucky to have. But I am disappointed that the system is charging such a high fee for our education,” Jones concluded.