STUDENTS are going to extreme lengths to pay off their college tuition fees.
One woman has opened up about her struggle with paying back her college loans and even admitted to donating her eggs fives times to keep herself afloat.
Kassandra Jones told The Wall Street Journal she first did it in 2017 to help pay for her move to New York City to pursue a graduate degree in public health from New York University.
Upon graduating in 2019, she was not able to find work.
Once she did, her paychecks didn’t cover her living expenses – let alone the $131,000 in federal loans she had to take out to secure her spot at NYU.
Now, Kassandra is 28 years old and has donated her eggs five times, earning her a total of $50,000 – but she still feels like she won’t ever catch up.
“There are definitely moments where that number just looms as this tunnel that doesn’t have a light at the end of it,” she told the publication.
“It feels like I’m kind of trapped.”
She’s far from the only one in the position, as a single mom-of-three, Kimberly Swald, took out $140,000 in Parent Plus loans to help her son pay his way through his degree at NYU.
She also still has $34,000 in loans from her own schooling.
“I’m going to die with this debt,” she noted to The Journal.
While Kimberly did not choose to donate eggs to help with her finances, Kassandra is not the only woman who has used the procedure as a means of necessary income.
An April report from CNBC detailed the egg donation journey of a woman who also decided to give it a try to help pay for college.
Furthermore, an article from ABC shared another woman’s story who made $100,000 by donating her eggs six times in two years.
She did it because she received a flyer in the mail, and figured it would help her pay off some of her debts.
There is not much data to show exactly why women choose to donate eggs, but it seems to be a business for those who are interested in more than just giving their own DNA away.
The Donor Solution, a family planning and egg donation clinic in Texas, said women can be rewarded between $4,000 and $10,000 for an egg extraction procedure.
However, Darlene Pinkerton, the CEO of A Perfect Match, a company that matches donors with hopeful parents, told Wired that women can make upward of $50,000 for a round of egg donation.
She added that non-American couples often pay higher prices to buy donated eggs due to stricter regulations in other countries.
As noted by eggdonor.com, the first successful birth from a donated egg in the US occurred in 1984, and the industry has since grown rapidly.
While it seems that egg donation is a growing – and certainly lucrative – industry, it’s much more complicated than donating blood, for instance.
First, for the egg donation company Perfect Match, donors need to meet an intense medical history check, according to Wired.
“Potential donors must also submit to genetic testing; a psychological screening, the results of which they can’t see; a medical screening; and to an ultrasound, vaginal culture, and STD screening,” the website noted.
“A drug, nicotine and alcohol screening is required as well.”
Once the background checks are done, patients then take medication to control their menstrual cycle and inject themselves with “up to four drugs multiple times a day to coerce their ovaries into producing dozens of eggs.”
This, of course, can take a huge toll on one’s body.
And while short-term effects such as nausea, weight gain, mood swings, and more can occur, long-term effects are lesser-known.
Boston University’s Public Health Post noted that some long-term side effects may include “aggressive” breast and colon cancer and fertility issues – but none of this can be confirmed due to the lack of scientific research on the matter.
So, while egg donation may put some much-needed change in your pocket, it’s important to discuss potential health risks with professionals.
Of course, the ultimate decision is up to each individual woman.
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