The ease with which students can get loans can cause them to graduate with more debt than they should. (Elliot Torres/Borderzine.com)

As new college graduates go job hunting, the bill collector comes calling

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EL PASO – Graduation is an accomplishment every college student looks forward to, a reward for years of hard work, but for some students what should be the beginning of a successful life can be the start of a nightmare – paying back thousands of dollars in student loans. “I would use half of my student loan to help me survive the next six months of school, until I got the next loan,” said Salvador Jauregui, a 2010 graduate from the University of Texas at El Paso. He, like many others across the nation, worked while attending school and relied on student loans to help cover expenses. After gradation Jauregui had difficulty finding a good paying job, and eventually defaulted on his loans. Student loan debt is no small issue.

Attire ready for graduation day. (Elliot Torres/Borderzine.com)

A long-winded retrospective on a long-winded college experience

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EL PASO – I can’t help thinking about Doogie Howser, M.D. For those of you who never saw it, Doogie Howser was a show starring Neil Patrick Harris (before he became NPH of Harold & Kumar fame) about a teenage genius that became a talented surgeon. Every episode ended with him typing on a computer about what life lessons he’d learned during that week’s episode. So, here I sit, looking at a blinking cursor trying to find a way to wrap up my college career as a whole. I began way back in 2001 at El Paso Community College where I finished my basic courses and moved on to the University of Texas at El Paso in 2009. Like many other students, I have worked my way through college, there were years I did not attend school and I switched majors, twice.

Mormon temple of the El Paso Texas Stake at 1212 Sumac. (Elliot Torres/Borderzine.com)

Mormons see increased exposure by presidential race as potential benefit

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EL PASO —The two candidates running for the presidency in a close election face questions about the fate of the U.S. economy, poverty and discrimination, but aside from these traditional political issues, republican candidate Mitt Romney has to deal with questions about his Mormon faith. We are not only talking about 2012. This happened to John F. Kennedy in 1960 when voters wanted to know if his Catholic faith would make him subject to edicts from the Vatican. Religion has always been a factor in politics, but this year it seems to have a different wrinkle, one that is highlighted by Romney who is a Mormon like some 6 million other Americans. Though the Mormon church has existed for well over a century and half, and was founded in America, it is still misunderstood by many.