19. A Tough Life
Being in debt is something you must constantly worry, and when you’re starting your life with such great debt, it’s difficult considering you’re just beginning your career and the job market is unstable. And for a nursing student or others that want to enter the medical field, the debt is even greater!
18. Single Mom and Nurse
Jasmin Ford is 30 years old. She lives in Chicago, is a single mom and a nurse, and owes almost $150,000 to the bank. She graduated almost 12 years ago and had worked hard to pay the debt and raise her boy, Caleb.
What kept her going?
17. She Loves Her Job
Jasmin loves her field of work, but living with such debt is stressing. She is the first child from her family that went to college, works two jobs, almost for the entire week and raises Caleb. There’s no way she isn’t living a stressful life!
16. A Hard-Working Woman
She’s been working as much and as hard as she could to pay her debt, but with such a sum, she couldn’t see herself every paying back that money. But the Fifth Third Bank had a life-changing surprise for her, as surprise that started with a short documentary. Here’s her reaction in the following photos.
15. Student Loan Debt in America
Fifth Third Bank wanted to create a documentary about student loan debt in America, and Ford agreed to participate in it. The documentary was meant to inform the new banking program for the bank. Ford was already eager to just be part of that video project.
She has no idea what this man is about to tell her!
14. She Is a Great Candidate
The leader of the project is Mike Crawford, who is also the digital product manager at Fifth Third Bank, had to overview the documentary participants. He got to know Ford and decided she was the best candidate that would need help with her loan debt: “Her story was just so compelling.”
13. A Passionate Person
“She’s such a passionate person who’s focused on changing the world and giving back,” explained Crawford. He is one of the many people who know that if you made a difference for a person like her, “you make a difference for the community.”
12. Filming the Documentary
After reaching this conclusion, Crawford went to Ford’s house with a camera crew to begin the documentary. She was already happy to be part of the video and didn’t even know that a huge surprise was waiting for her!
11. Entering the Room
Crawford entered the room, cameras rolled, Ford waited for her cue, and then Crawford told her: “On behalf of the Fifth Third Bank and the Fifth Third Momentum app team, Fifth Third is paying off all of your student loans today.”
Her jaw dropped!
10. She Was Speechless
As soon as she heard what Crawford told her, she remained speechless. Tears started pouring, hands began shaking, and Ford couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her next words made everyone in the room force themselves not to cry with her…
9. A New Life
“I can start over,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I can be the nurse I want to be, the human being that I want to be. The entire direction of my life I think—I know—has been changed.” This gift will change her entire life from now on, and it all starts with her focusing on her little boy and her career, she added at #6.
8. The Bank Is Offering Scholarships
Ford’s case is special, but Fifth Third Bank also plans on letting people know about the student loan debt, promising scholarships for people and that’s not everything they have in mind for 2019! They plan to make other two people happy!
7. Pacing Around
“I still can’t find the words,” Ford said a few days after the news, adding that she was off work that day and she is “just sort of pacing around and restless because I know my life is going to change.” One thing is true, she added…
6. Time With Her Family
Now that she doesn’t have to struggle to pay her debt, she can spend time with her son and have some spiritual freedom: “I can open myself to more experiences, opportunities and just be able to sit and be with my thoughts and be able to pursue what it is I came to do.”
5. A Happy Mom
As for her little boy, she said that Caleb’s life will be very different from now on, adding that she is very happy and proud that she will be able to offer him everything he needs. Ford will use her nursing career to give back and “pay it forward.”
4. An Opportunity
Ford explained later in an interview with a news outlet that this documentary was “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for her, explaining that she is just a “South Side of Chicago nurse and I have a kid, that in itself is not that exciting, and I got to be in a documentary…”
3. The Bank
With this huge giveaway, Fifth Third Bank will surely draw in more customers, and Ford is just lucky to be the recipient of the gift. We all know that not all people get this lucky, but Ford’s story is truly inspiring, and she deserves this kindness!
2. A Burden
Student loan debt is a burden many young people deal with, especially when they’re on their own and trying to find a job to pay off the debt. It’s stress they get to live with for many years, hoping they will have their breakthrough and see that debt fully paid.
1. Saving Money
Thankfully for Ford now, she will only need to save money for the present and the future of her family and not think back to the student loan debt she kept struggling to pay for almost a decade!