The high cost of attending prestigious universities abroad forces many students to take out student loans. And, in some cases, these loans are so hefty that students are unable to repay them despite working odd jobs while studying.

That is what happened to an American woman who claims to have taken a 'bold' step just to get rid of her mounting debt.

Kassandra Jones worked three jobs while studying and even lived rent-free at her parents' house, but she still had to pay off a massive $240,000 AUD student loan.

She was still short by $36,250 AUD after four years of studying for a degree in dietetics, and her Masters in Public Health was set to cost $58,000 AUD per year.

Kassandra, determined to pursue her career path, applied for scholarships but was unsuccessful. As a result, she underwent five rounds of egg donation in an attempt to raise the funds she required to continue her studies.

"When you're desperate to figure things out as a young adult and you have this crushing amount of debt from the education system it puts you between a rock and a hard place," the 28-year-old woman said.

In order to pay off her college loans, Kassandra sold her frozen eggs. Credit: Jam Press/Kassandra Jones.​

Word-of-mouth is how Kassandra found out about the possibility of donating her eggs.

Several of her female acquaintances had previously undergone the operation, which they did to assist them in paying for their educational expenses such as books and tuition.

When she did it for the first time, she was only 23 years old, and she was paid $14,500 AUD for each round. She has already completed a total of five rounds which have earned her around $72,000 AUD; nevertheless, the payments she has made have not made a significant difference in her debt because interest rates continue to rise.

"Hearing that number [of egg donations] out loud every single time almost makes me catch my breath," Kassandra told Jam Press.

"I didn't really have any other option."

When a woman donates her eggs, she is assisting families who are unable to use their own. However, it can be a physically and emotionally demanding process.

Kassandra admits the process was labour-intensive, and she recalled feeling a lot of pressure and swelling in her lower abdomen after the procedure, as well as cramping pain that made it difficult to walk, stand up, sit down, or laugh.

The feeling, which she described as “discomfort,” was worsened by eating or drinking too much, and caused her to have cravings, tender breasts, dehydration and sex drive changes.

After two times, the subsequent donations began to have longer-lasting side effects.

"I felt like my body wasn't able to recover in the same way," she said, adding that she's convinced she has long-term hormonal imbalances and scar tissue despite having yet to see a specialist.

Ms Jones' unconventional approach to dealing with her crippling debt has raised some eyebrows, but she claims that people her age "get it."

"The biggest misconception about debt is that we made this decision, and so we should somehow live with it, but what choices were we really offered to secure our futures?" she said.

"People my age get it. They completely empathise with the situation and are just as angry at how our education system and the government have failed us."

Even with a master's degree, Ms Jones was only able to secure a part-time paid internship post-graduation when the COVID-19 pandemic first started.

Credit: Dr. John Jain - Santa Monica Fertility​

Egg donation provides a genuine opportunity for a couple to have a child, and is frequently sought after by women who have reached a certain age and no longer have viable eggs, or by gay men who require an egg donor to have a child.

In Australia, the donation of reproductive tissue must be altruistic. It is an offence for someone to intentionally give or offer compensation to another person for the supply of a human egg, human sperm or a human embryo.

Check out the video above to learn more about the process.

 

[Ricci]

What a parlous state of affairs when you have to virtually prostitute your body for the sake of education.. There has to be a better way although I'm not sure what that might be, I'm sure that better minds than mine could figure something out. How are these young people ever expected to progress in their life and get ahead when they have such crippling debt hanging over them before they even start?

 

[aquarius123]

There are dangers with this practice as well as with sperm donations. What happens in the future when hundreds of children turn up related to the egg donor?

 

[Dee Sharee]

In the 90's there was an article in the Sunday Times, where female University students were going from Perth to Kalgoorlie to work as sex workers during their semester breaks to earn money for the degrees that they were doing, and to pay for everyday costs during the semester. I think any human being will do what they have to, to survive.

 

[DrChip]

In the 90's there was an article in the Sunday Times, where female University students were going from Perth to Kalgoorlie to work as sex workers during their semester breaks to earn money for the degrees that they were doing, and to pay for everyday costs during the semester. I think any human being will do what they have to, to survive.

Finally a sensible answer, thats life

 

[DrChip]

What a parlous state of affairs when you have to virtually prostitute your body for the sake of education.. There has to be a better way although I'm not sure what that might be, I'm sure that better minds than mine could figure something out. How are these young people ever expected to progress in their life and get ahead when they have such crippling debt hanging over them before they even start?

There is an answer, Denmark has found it, free education. Taxes are very high but the people we talked to say its worth it. Free medical and free education, only rule for education is you must work enough to earn 800euros per fortnight, their govt then give them extra dole amount. plus the free education. It does work, if the politician cut back the HUGE perks that they receive when in office and the ridicules perks when they retire, it could help pay for most of it

 

[Liz]

We had free tertiary education with Gough Whitlam, that is how a lot of my age group peers got an education, don't know why governments of either persuasion don' t look at that again. after all Julia Gillard and go were successful recipients of this scheme. Probably it would cost the economy too much money.

 

[Ezzy]

Woman sells her frozen eggs to pay student debts: "No other option"​

The high cost of attending prestigious universities abroad forces many students to take out student loans. And, in some cases, these loans are so hefty that students are unable to repay them despite working odd jobs while studying.

That is what happened to an American woman who claims to have taken a 'bold' step just to get rid of her mounting debt.

​

Kassandra Jones worked three jobs while studying and even lived rent-free at her parents' house, but she still had to pay off a massive $240,000 AUD student loan.

She was still short by $36,250 AUD after four years of studying for a degree in dietetics, and her Masters in Public Health was set to cost $58,000 AUD per year.

Kassandra, determined to pursue her career path, applied for scholarships but was unsuccessful. As a result, she underwent five rounds of egg donation in an attempt to raise the funds she required to continue her studies.

"When you're desperate to figure things out as a young adult and you have this crushing amount of debt from the education system it puts you between a rock and a hard place," the 28-year-old woman said.

In order to pay off her college loans, Kassandra sold her frozen eggs. Credit: Jam Press/Kassandra Jones.​

Word-of-mouth is how Kassandra found out about the possibility of donating her eggs.

Several of her female acquaintances had previously undergone the operation, which they did to assist them in paying for their educational expenses such as books and tuition.

When she did it for the first time, she was only 23 years old, and she was paid $14,500 AUD for each round. She has already completed a total of five rounds which have earned her around $72,000 AUD; nevertheless, the payments she has made have not made a significant difference in her debt because interest rates continue to rise.

"Hearing that number [of egg donations] out loud every single time almost makes me catch my breath," Kassandra told Jam Press.

"I didn't really have any other option."

​

When a woman donates her eggs, she is assisting families who are unable to use their own. However, it can be a physically and emotionally demanding process.

Kassandra admits the process was labour-intensive, and she recalled feeling a lot of pressure and swelling in her lower abdomen after the procedure, as well as cramping pain that made it difficult to walk, stand up, sit down, or laugh.

The feeling, which she described as “discomfort,” was worsened by eating or drinking too much, and caused her to have cravings, tender breasts, dehydration and sex drive changes.

After two times, the subsequent donations began to have longer-lasting side effects.

"I felt like my body wasn't able to recover in the same way," she said, adding that she's convinced she has long-term hormonal imbalances and scar tissue despite having yet to see a specialist.

​

Ms Jones' unconventional approach to dealing with her crippling debt has raised some eyebrows, but she claims that people her age "get it."

"The biggest misconception about debt is that we made this decision, and so we should somehow live with it, but what choices were we really offered to secure our futures?" she said.

"People my age get it. They completely empathise with the situation and are just as angry at how our education system and the government have failed us."

Even with a master's degree, Ms Jones was only able to secure a part-time paid internship post-graduation when the COVID-19 pandemic first started.

Credit: Dr. John Jain - Santa Monica Fertility​

Egg donation provides a genuine opportunity for a couple to have a child, and is frequently sought after by women who have reached a certain age and no longer have viable eggs, or by gay men who require an egg donor to have a child.

In Australia, the donation of reproductive tissue must be altruistic. It is an offence for someone to intentionally give or offer compensation to another person for the supply of a human egg, human sperm or a human embryo.

Check out the video above to learn more about the process.

Easy to understand why students go to these measures to pay for their Scholarship with costs as high as $240,000 AUD, the alternative of course is prostitution to raise this money. As stated by Ms Jones the procedure is not simple & puts her body under a lot of physical & mental strain. I suspect there could be a big drop out rate from Uni due to the high student loan repayments unless they receive financial support from family or work several jobs.