Alexa Little was halfway through the spring semester of her sophomore year at Yale University in 2013, when her health began deteriorating. “I was in near-constant pain, and every day was a struggle,” Little says. She considered leaving school to get medical treatment, but learned if she withdrew mid-semester, she’d have to pay tuition for the full term, borrow money to take courses while she was away, and reapply to Yale when she returned—with no guarantee she’d be readmitted. “I had several panic attacks over spring break,” she says. “The cold logic that saved my life was the thought that my family would rather take on $25,000 in debt than see me die.”

February 18, 2015 ・ From Bloomberg Business