Northeastern alum Kelli Space, 23, owes $200,000 on her student loans, and has to pay federal student loan agency Sallie Mae $891 per month. That figure will nearly double in a year, and Kelli doesn’t make enough to pay off her debt. In desperation, she has launched a website called Two Hundred Thou, asking for donations. These aren’t charitable donations, now—you won’t get any deduction for giving to Kelli, any more than you will giving to the homeless guy on the street. This is begging, plain and simple.
Her pitch:
“Please feel free to donate any amount of money — however small — and together we can be sure there will be one less student-loan-ladened young adult in our country. Not to mention, without my debt, I can spend my money elsewhere, probably single-handedly spurring the economy. I can save my money. I can donate to charities. The possibilities are endless.
So, really, with one small donation, you’d be helping out our country.”
Not bad, all things considered. As the old saying goes, it doesn’t hurt to ask. Kelli’s site is free of any hint that she believes that it is anyone’s fault but hers that she is in this fix, and she’s not demanding anything. She’s desperate, and who knows? Somebody might have 200,000 bucks to burn.
Of course, they should burn it elsewhere…like on that homeless guy and people like him; like on the thousands of struggling charities and non profits that may go down the drain in these financially strapped times. I’m not even sure that Kelli would disagree. As begging goes, this is about as unobtrusive as possible; she’s not startling me by coming up to me on a dark street corner, or making me feel guilty, or lying to me. Kelli’s just asking strangers for help when she really doesn’t deserve it any more than most of us do when we get ourselves in trouble with bad decisions. If someone chooses to help her, good for him, and good for Kelli. Kindness is always ethical, and giving someone an opportunity to be kind isn’t wrong.
A lot of bloggers are ridiculing Kelli right now. She is, they say, symptomatic of a hand-out society, a generation of young adults who refuse to take responsibility for their own actions. I don’t see it that way. There’s nothing wrong with asking. She won’t get any money from me, but I wish her nothing but good luck
So far, she’s raised 35 cents.
Ethics Alarms 
Right now, there’s an internet telethon called Desert Bus for Hope going on. A group of video game players play the most boring video game of all time, and donations to Child’s Play (a charity that gives money to hospitals for toys and such) force them to play longer. So far, they have raised $100,000.
Furthermore, I’m in a decent amount of debt (not nearly that amount, but not a small amount) from my student loans, and I have not succeeded finding a job in my field (or any non-temporary work, for that matter). I don’t have a lot of money. I donated just under 50 bucks.
Just puttin’ that out there.
Thank you for your compassion
Give me a break. “Give me money so I can pay back my student loans” and think of all the good I can do with your non-deductible charity to me! Pass it on to others? Nope: pay off the loan, right? It doesn’t compute. Why not try to renegotiate the loan? And assuming some dimwits actually do contribute, does she plan to declare the income? Will she give enough of it away to real 501(c)3)s to offset the income she’ll have to declare?
This is a great example of yet another way people try to use the Internet in idiotic ways. Just how many suckers does Kelli Space think are out there? People are busy selling goods and services on the Internet to survive through this recession: who in their right mind would give to some unknown person (even with a cute name like “Kelli”) to pay off loans for her college education? At least she has one. Don’t know where she got her degree, but perhaps it was mail order… This is her best idea coming out of college with a baccalaurate degree?
Shame on her. I hope she spends her 35 cents wisely.
Final thought: Change her name to “Kelli Spacey” and she might appeal to a different group of people.
Regarding the income, unless she has a big donor, it might all be tax free. In the U.S., anyone can give anyone up to $13,000 tax free, and up to $10,000 without submitting any documentation.