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Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
11–20 of 535 posts
Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
#12Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
#13It's such a weight off of the shoulders to have paid my wife and my student loans off a few months ago. Instead of the 20 or 30yr plan we put every extra dollar towards it and paid it off in 3.5 years. It feels fantastic! It's bizarre that student debt has become the norm and students who have potentially low-earning majors such as History are still given similar amounts of money from banks as a CS major.
> It's bizarre that student debt has become the norm and students who have potentially low-earning majors such as History are still given similar amounts of money from banks as a CS major.
Not so bizarre when you consider that student loans are very difficult to get discharged via bankruptcy. The loan issuers don't need to worry so much about whether you'll be able to pay it back or not, because it's more a question of "when" than "if".
Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
#14IMO, a large chunk of this would be resolved if federal loans where limited based on tuition not just need. If a school charges more than ~20k/year then students can't apply for federal loans and private loans become dischargeable.
Note: Some schools still charage less than 10k/year. http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list...
Instead, schools have a huge incentive to raise tuition endlessly and family's are stuck playing a zero sum reputation game.
Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
#15It's such a weight off of the shoulders to have paid my wife and my student loans off a few months ago. Instead of the 20 or 30yr plan we put every extra dollar towards it and paid it off in 3.5 years. It feels fantastic! It's bizarre that student debt has become the norm and students who have potentially low-earning majors such as History are still given similar amounts of money from banks as a CS major.
> It's bizarre that student debt has become the norm and students who have potentially low-earning majors such as History are still given similar amounts of money from banks as a CS major. Not so bizarre when you consider that student loans are very difficult to get discharged via bankruptcy. The loan issuers don't need to worry so much about whether you'll be able to pay it back or not, because it's more a question…
Yeah that's a very good point. Interesting how they aren't easily discharged via bankruptcy. I may have to do some research on how exactly that got put in place and who was behind it...
Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
My wife and I worked and sacrificed to pay our student loans off. Struggle builds character, appreciation, and gratitude.
Paying off your debt early also builds really good financial habits which will help in the future. You learn to live below your means, make a budget, etc
If they're Federal loans with a often below-inflation interest rate, the actual good financial habit is often to not pay it off, and instead amass a) an emergency fund and b) sock the rest into retirement via an index fund or something similar.
Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
#17IMO, a large chunk of this would be resolved if federal loans where limited based on tuition not just need. If a school charges more than ~20k/year then students can't apply for federal loans and private loans become dischargeable. Note: Some schools still charage less than 10k/year. http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list... Instead, schools have a huge incentive to raise tuition endlessly and f…
I like this idea. FDIC-style "look, we'll protect a reasonable amount" approach.
Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's bizarre that student debt has become the norm and students who have potentially low-earning majors such as History are still given similar amounts of money from banks as a CS major. Not so bizarre when you consider that student loans are very difficult to get discharged via bankruptcy. The loan issuers don't need to worry so much about whether you'll be able to pay it back or not, because it's more a question…
Yeah that's a very good point. Interesting how they aren't easily discharged via bankruptcy. I may have to do some research on how exactly that got put in place and who was behind it...
It got put into place because they are high risk loans given out to people that have nothing to secure them with.
If you could discharge them in bankruptcy, no one would offer them because huge percentages of people would go ahead and do so.
Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
#19It's such a weight off of the shoulders to have paid my wife and my student loans off a few months ago. Instead of the 20 or 30yr plan we put every extra dollar towards it and paid it off in 3.5 years. It feels fantastic! It's bizarre that student debt has become the norm and students who have potentially low-earning majors such as History are still given similar amounts of money from banks as a CS major.
> It's bizarre that student debt has become the norm and students who have potentially low-earning majors such as History are still given similar amounts of money from banks as a CS major. Not so bizarre when you consider that student loans are very difficult to get discharged via bankruptcy. The loan issuers don't need to worry so much about whether you'll be able to pay it back or not, because it's more a question…
That's the problem. You add bankruptcy back in and the student loan problem will disappear. Banks will start assessing each person's ability to pay back loans before giving them a lifetime burden of debt.
Fix bankruptcy laws, fix the student loan problem.
Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
#20Part of the problem is that the last few generations have been told the same thing: blue collar jobs aren't "good" jobs. You need to go to college so you can get a "good" job sitting at a desk because those other jobs are below you. If you take one of those blue collar jobs then you've failed and aren't "achieving your potential". The grand irony in all of this is that the people who did go on to become plumbers, ele…
>> Part of the problem is that the last few generations have been told the same thing: blue collar jobs aren't "good" jobs. You need to go to college so you can get a "good" job sitting at a desk because those other jobs are below you. If you take one of those blue collar jobs then you've failed and aren't "achieving your potential".
I think another part of it is that even low level office jobs now require some sort of degree simply because everybody has one. It's no longer something unique to have on your CV hence why so many people seem to be going for Masters degrees too. I know so many people only getting out of education in their late 20's and many of them got a degree, struggled to find a job, so went back for the Masters to give them ad edge.
Another problem all this education causes is lack of experience. If you decide at 16 or 17 that you're going into a trade you can get an apprenticeship and build up experience. If you go to college 'because that's what people do' and struggle to find a job based on your degree when you come out it's hard to even get a job in retail or sales because you're 23 with no experience.
One solution might be to only offer loans for degrees that lead to a job (doctor, lawyer, architect etc.) and consider things like History or Music a luxury.