How about colleges and universities stop price gauging the population? Or, eliminate student loans, so the population will not be able to afford their ridiculous rates and force the cost down.
Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
51–60 of 535 posts
Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
#52If this happens, do I get benefits on the debt I've already paid off? I would be pretty pissed if I didn't. I worked my ass off to pay my loans.
I understand that feeling... I'm nearing the end of my loans and dropped $3k on one of them yesterday. I would have rather had a vacation if it's just going to vanish! ...but don't get salty because the debt won't vanish. I have no doubt that if an education loan is forgiven, it WILL affect that persons credit rating. Much like when a debt is forgiven/charged-off. Also, charge-offs are typically treated as a form of…
A vacation, or buying a house, or just about any other use of the money would also benefit the economy more than paying it back into loan accounts at some bank or gov't ledger.
Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
#53If this happens, do I get benefits on the debt I've already paid off? I would be pretty pissed if I didn't. I worked my ass off to pay my loans.
You'd get indirect benefits from the debt unloading. Things like economic stimulus from increased spending power, likely increased home values by bringing more buyers (but this is good debt! /s). That last point is probably controversial depending on if you own or rent, it would be a real killer if that student debt unloading was just converted into a different kind of debt that hit a diff. proportion of the population.
Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
That ignores risk and also financial burden. If you owe $2k every month to NelNet or another institution, it's much harder emotionally and financially to quit your job to travel the world or start your own company. We had Federal Loans and the interest rate was still 6.5%
> it's much harder emotionally and financially to quit your job to travel the world or start your own company
Sorry, I have to laugh. This is the most HN thing I've read today. It's a tremendous privilege to have the option of quitting your job to travel the world, rather than the fear of being arbitrarily laid off, and failing to put food on the table or lose your house. My redneck might be sticking out this morning, though.
Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
#55I'm going to be so pissed off if a whole generation of students gets their students loans forgiven two decades after I paid mine off.
Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
#56If this happens, do I get benefits on the debt I've already paid off? I would be pretty pissed if I didn't. I worked my ass off to pay my loans.
I understand the sentiment, but "I had to do , therefore everybody has to do " isn't a great argument either, especially when it leads to a stagnant economy due to nearly an entire generation with no funds to spend. I'm not advocating for any particular solution, but don't react so quickly that you cut off your nose to spite your face.
It's a great argument, just not phrased correctly. It's more like "I had to work hard and make difficult decisions to succeed which included choosing a field that is guaranteed to pay and being obligated to pay back the money I borrowed. Therefore, everybody should have to do the same. If not, then I at least want to be treated fairly."
Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
That ignores risk and also financial burden. If you owe $2k every month to NelNet or another institution, it's much harder emotionally and financially to quit your job to travel the world or start your own company. We had Federal Loans and the interest rate was still 6.5%
> That ignores risk and also financial burden. Not having an emergency fund is about the riskiest thing you can do. > If you owe $2k every month to NelNet or another institution, it's much harder emotionally and financially to quit your job to travel the world or start your own company. The emergency fund helps with that. When built up, it should cover 6-12 months of zero income. Amassing it first means losing a job…
We took a slightly different approach. Have a 3 month emergency fund, then pay every extra dollar towards the student loan. Paid it off in 3.5 years instead of the 20year plan NelNet wanted. Now we are building out a 6-12month emergency fund and putting money into retirement. Maybe in the short term we are behind in retirement saving, but now we have a lot more cash every month to put into savings and investing. I would still recommend this approach because it emotionally feels wonderful to pay that last f*ing payment :)
But sometime emotions get in the way of financial strategy.
Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
#58Part 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…
I think the idea of offering loans only for 'vocational' degrees is extremely damaging. It leads to people taking 'Software Engineering' degrees rather than computer science or maths or physics when really these less directed degrees generally allow people to explore what they are really most passionate about.
The idea of a university is not a place where one goes to get a piece of paper that certifies one as competent to perform a job - that should merely be a side effect - university is a place where people should go to learn about things that interest them and inspire them in the company of other like-minded people whilst simultaneously growing as an individual. I acknowledge this is a rather idealistic view of our higher education institutes but I think it's one we should strive to make a reality.
Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
#59This will impact every other aspect of our consumption economy...home sales and even car sales will be impacted as working adults have to dedicate more and more earning potential to paying off student loans...far in excess of any real economic value these degrees have provided.
I hate to get all "Zero Hedge", but this really does stink of some conspiracy to turn the middle class into lifelong renters instead of owners. The independence the middle class once had by achieving a debt-free existence and owning their own residence is being wiped out, and as a result, the middle class itself will effectively be destroyed.
Re: Soaring Student Debt Prompts Calls for Relief
#60The typical new graduate owes less than $40,000. The great majority of student debt holders owe less than $30,000. I'd like to see more direct funding for schools and a shift of federal support to competitive grants, but those aren't huge numbers when you look at a degree bringing in hundreds of thousands of extra dollars over a career. Grants aren't as egalitarian as giving anyone who wants it a loan, but they can b…
They may not seem that large, but I suspect that compounding interest effects and the fact that the debt is there very early in peoples lifetimes make them very heavily weighted in terms of the effects on lives and economies.