Earlier this week we asked for your stories on how you pay to get through college. We’re interested:  whether Georgetown is giving you financial aid, or you are taking out loans, or you are set to graduate without any debt at all. Send them our way at blog@georgetownvoice.com

This Saturday, the class of 2012 will receive their diplomas; the air filled with a twinge of pride and sorrow. Our high graduation rate of 87 percent is a blessing to be sure. Many of our peers are bound for masters programs, law school, or the working world. However, many future graduates are unemployed, caught in a seemingly endless job search, and beginning to lose faith in the great unknown of post-college reality.

According to recent data compiled by the New York Times, student debt at Georgetown averaged $25,315 in 2010. The national average for that year was $25,250, and the data shows these numbers rising over the years. This data from the Times also shows that over 90 percent of students working towards a bachelor’s degree take loans or borrow in order to pay for their education.

At Georgetown, tuition hovers at around $41,000 and when combined with room and board averaging $13,000, the grand total can be crippling.

Federal student loan interest rates are set to double on July 1, which has the potential to increase debt for almost 6,000 Georgetown students. Senate Republicans just recently blocked a bill that was meant to curb the interest rate hike, further extending the debate. President Barack Obama is speaking out across the country in favor of low interest rates on loans, providing a real meaning to the circulating Twitter hashtag, “#dontdoublemyrate.” Students are protesting at universities around the country in hopes that the education they invested in will not become their heftiest burden.

Vox is starting a series on debt for Georgetown students. We want to hear the kinds of obstacles you’re facing, whether you’re graduating or just starting your first year of college. We’d even love to hear stories of students who have success keeping their debt from overflowing. Any and all stories are welcome.

If you want your story heard, email us at blog@georgetownvoice.com

Illustration by Nico Dodd

An opposition member of parliament has accused Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak of using taxpayer money to travel to Kazakhstan in order to to secure the engagement of his daughter Nooryana Najwa Najib (SFS ’11) - a recent University grad.

“It may no problem procedurally, if your boss (the PM) approves something no one is going to question,” MP Dzulkefly Ahmad of the People’s Pact told the center-left news site Malaysiakini. “But it is morally wrong to use public funds to travel to your daughter’s wedding. Najib has no class!”

The leader of the youth wing of the PM’s Barisan National Party Khairy Jamaluddin countered that he and Najib were in Kazakhstan to attend the Seventh World Islamic Forum in Astana.

“The trip was NOT used in any way to ‘arrange’ for PM’s daughter’s engagement,” tweeted Jamaluddin “Short of any proof that is unsubstantiated lie.” Since then, Dzulkefly and Jamaluddin have since been trading jabs on Twitter, with Jamaluddin calling the MP “desperate” in his criticism.

Nooryana is set to be married to Daniyar Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, who she is said to have met while a student at Georgetown. According to a May 25 article on Eurasia Internet, Nazarbayev is the nephew of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The Malaysian embassy was not available to comment on the situation, calling it a “private matter.”

Photo: Pena Kusisip Blog

On 1001 Rules for My Unborn Son, writer and TV producer Walker Lamond writes tidbits of clever insight and usually-lighthearted quotations to advise his future progeny (or current progeny—the author now has a small child).

And since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and the Internet is big enough for as many similarly-minded Tumblr pages as its users feel compelled to create, one apparent fan of this quirky advice page decided to put a slight twist on the idea, and offer advice to his younger brother, a recent Georgetown grad. The result is the markedly un-cleverly titled new blog, Rules for My Younger Brother.

The page’s subheadline reads “Here’s [sic] all the rules I wish an older brother told me,” and underneath it Big Bro pffers up a bunch of guidelines. They range from the archaically insightful (“Praise your opponent”) to the vaguely condescending (“Pick up hired help”), and some could even be taken as a little offensive.

Vox‘s personal favorite? Big Brother’s post-college reading list, which includes A Heartbreaking Work of Unbearable Genius. Whoops.