After ₹40 lakh loan for US studies, Indian techie returns home jobless and ‘drowning in debt’ | Trending

An Indian techie turned to Reddit for guidance after taking a hefty education loan to study in the United States but failing to land a job there. In an anonymous post shared on the ‘India’ subreddit, the user said that he took a loan of ₹40 lakh to get a master’s degree in the US. However, the bleak job market, coupled with visa limitations and lack of internship opportunities for Indian students, meant that he could not secure a job in the country. An Indian man opened up about his failed job search in the US Now back in India, the techie has a job that pays him ₹75,000 per month. His EMI comes up ₹66,000 per month, leaving him with just ₹9,000. “I’m back in India, drowning in debt, and don’t know what to do,” he said in his Reddit post. “I took an education loan”The Reddit user explained that he did his undergraduate course in IT and took an education loan of ₹40 lakh to pursue a masters in the US. “My father ran a small business and, along with my family, they put in a lot they had — emotionally and financially — to help me chase the dream of a better future,” he wrote. The Indian student did an MSc in Management Information Systems in the United States, confident that he would land a job paying in dollars afterwards. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Despite one year of applying relentlessly to US jobs, he could not secure employment in the land of opportunity. Meanwhile, he struggled to cover his living expenses. His family sent him money from India, spending the last of their savings on him. “I completed my degree, but due to the economic recession, visa limitations, and lack of internship opportunities for Indian students, I never got a job in the U.S. I applied relentlessly for a year, but couldn’t even earn enough to cover my own living expenses. My family sent me money every month — draining their last savings,” he wrote. Jobless with a loanThings took a more unfortunate turn for the Redditor when his father’s business started making losses and he fell ill. “Eventually, my father’s business was making losses and he fell ill. They couldn’t support me anymore, and I had to come back to India, heartbroken, jobless, and with a huge loan on my head. (Update: He’s better now and healthy),” he wrote on Reddit. Back in India, he resumed his job hunt. After looking for months, he managed to find a job paying him ₹75,000 per month – of which he now spends ₹66,000 on paying back his loan. The Reddit user said that he is now trying to get his life back on track looking for freelance work that can generate extra income, or trying to restructure the loan – which has so far proved unsuccessful. Reddit’s adviceHis post has sparked a wider discussion on the US job market and the immigrant issue. More and more Americans are lashing out at ‘job-stealing’ immigrants, making it harder for people from other countries to find employment there. Several commenters on Reddit asked the original poster to keep applying for roles that pay more until he can switch. Others advised him to start freelancing on the side. “Hopping to higher-paying jobs on an aggressive schedule – like every 8 months or 1 year – is your best option. No NGO or HNI will handover money for cases like this,” a user said. “Look to upskill, work hard, change jobs – the market is still good if you’re ambitious. It might be tough now, but it’ll get better,” another wrote.