• Name: Danielle Rizzo, 34
• Hometown: Buffalo, NY
• Job: Lawyer

The American Dream is still possible for some people to achieve, but doing so requires a lot of work and possibly an equal amount of luck. It only seems to happen for a small percentage of the population, and there is no guaranteed set of steps that lead to its attainment.

I grew up in a rural New York town. My father had a high school education and worked in a box factory for over 30 years before retiring. My mother went to college and worked as a school teacher once my sister and I started school.

I went to a good private college with the help of academic scholarships, and after working for a few years, went to law school. I'm now an immigration attorney and am married, with two small kids. I work full time and my husband is a stay-at-home father.

Between myself and my husband, we have a ridiculous amount of student debt which we are slowly paying off. But I make decent money, which goes a long way in Buffalo. We have all we need and more.

We are not rich by any stretch of the imagination and still have to save up for big purchases like vehicles and vacations. But when I see the financial straits that a lot of my college-educated friends are in, sometimes even in a two-income household, I feel extremely fortunate.

Achieving the dream also does not mean that one necessarily becomes rich. It just means that you are able to climb the ladder a bit.

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