26-Year-Old Breaks Down After Learning Her Student Loans Have 17% Interest & Balance Is More Than She Borrowed —'Didn't Know Any Better..How Could I?'

If you've ever made a payment on a loan and wondered why your balance barely moves, Alyssa Jeacoma's story will hit hard.

The 26-year-old went on TikTok in tears, trying to make sense of how years of payments had only left her deeper in debt.

"So as it turns out," she said, "the student loans that I've been paying $1,500 a month for, for two years, have a 17% interest rate."

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Then came the line that hit home for millions of viewers:

"I owe $90,000, and I didn't even spend that much on school."

In the same video, she threw out a desperate, half-humorous plea: "Jeff Bezos, this would be a really good time to Venmo me some money. Kourtney Kardashian, you probably have like eight houses. I'm never going to be able to buy one."

Jeacoma's story began years earlier at D'Youville University in Buffalo, New York, where she studied psychology for five and a half years. Each semester, she borrowed around $8,000, mostly from Sallie Mae, the private student-loan company. By graduation, her balance reached about $85,000.

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When she signed her first loan at 17, she didn't fully understand what she was agreeing to. "That is literally all I knew," she told People magazine. "I didn't know any better to ask questions because how could I? I was 17 with no knowledge about finances."

She admitted that no one ever explained how interest works. "No one taught me a single thing about interest. I didn't even know what it was," she said. "Some of my loans have a 10 percent interest rate. I thought that was standard across the board."

After her video gained traction, Jeacoma told People she read through thousands of comments, gathered advice, and created a plan to get back on track. She's now working to lower her highest interest rates first and continues to juggle two jobs to make ends meet.

She said that while many people reached out in support, others accused her of playing the victim. The misunderstanding, she explained, came from people thinking she was asking for handouts — when her intent was to warn others and bring awareness to how quickly student debt can spiral.

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Jeacoma said she's now focused on rebuilding — emotionally and financially. "Emotionally, I will be just fine," she told the outlet. "Professionally, I will continue in my career. I am using my degree, I am making my payments and working my way through this."

As of 2025, Americans collectively owe nearly $1.8 trillion in student loan debt, spread across roughly 42 million borrowers, according to federal data.  

Private loan rates can reach up to 18%, meaning many graduates end up paying far more than they initially borrowed. For borrowers facing steep balances or multiple loans, consulting a licensed financial advisor can help determine whether refinancing, consolidation, or revised repayment structures might slow the buildup of compounding interest and make long-term repayment more manageable.

As Jeacoma put it, she's learned the hard way how interest turns education into a lifetime bill. "I understand that's just how the system is," she said, "but it's such a scam and a horrible system."

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