This is an awesome “Reasons Why I Hate Student Loans” poem from Brian Yu performed at CUPSI (The College Union Poetry Slam Invitational) in Austin, Texas. This first meme is an abridged version, and below you can watch the full video and read the transcript of the full quote:

Here is the video from CUPSI 2016 in Austin, Texas:

And here is the full quote:

Reasons why I hate student loans.

8. Because they suck.

7. As a kid, I never liked owing people money.
Never liked the feeling that somebody could use the fact that I owed them as something to hold over my head and follow me every step I took.
If you were take all the money that every student in UC Berkeley owes,
It would stand higher than the 8 story clock tower that we built as a testament to what students can achieve.
Let there be light, yes, but not without the shadow of debt.

6. When it came time to pay for college, it took my mother and her extended relatives everything they had just to make the down payment.
It felt wrong to be taking from people who had sacrificed so much already.

5. I check my bank account the same way some people check their GPA,
Reminding myself constantly that the Bank of America is not an institution that rounds up.

4. I once saw a sign at another university that said by cutting Starbucks out of your daily diet, you can save more than $2000 a year.
But because I’m an over-achiever, I not only cut out coffee, but tea, clothes, shoes, all the hairs on my head that weren’t gray.
Sewed off my mental health as a down payment for a future i’m wondering if I can still afford.

3. What they don’t advertise on the glossy college brochures is that losing weight because you skipped lunch for the fourth time that week comes free with the tuition.
I’m not a good cook by any means but on days when I’ve run out of pepper, hunger is the best seasoning I know.
I’ve tasted instant noodles so many times, I can tell you what flavor it is by the sound of powder hitting water.

2. My parents sacrificed everything to come to this country to give me a better life.
Gave up a chance at stability to start all over at the bottom just so my brothers and I could have a chance to reach the top.
How can I complain about 18 hour work days when my mother finishes a day at the office, comes home, and has cooked for the family for the last 22 years?
Do you know how much strength it takes to stand in the kitchen and raise a family when you barely have enough to lift your own head?

1. When I call my mother at the end of the week, she asks me how I’m doing.
I tell her I’m doing fine but she can hear the tiredness in my voice,
And she says she’s sorry she’s not able to do more for me.

0. They told me college would be expensive, I just didn’t expect to pay an arm and a leg to be a part of this student body.
0. Didn’t expect to type so long, I developed tendinitis.
0. Of staying up so late, things begin to blur together.
0. Of missing office hours because of work.
0. Of missing work to study because I missed office hours.
0. Of missing the test because I overslept because I spent all night working.
0. Of starting all over again.
0. Of giving and giving and giving and having it not be enough.

-1. They said by going to college, I would be working towards my dreams.
Now, when I go to sleep at night, I don’t dream anymore.

(via: Slam Poetry for the Soul)