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US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

nytimes.com

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Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#251

Post by callalex »

prawn wrote: post #231
Teknoman117 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went to one of the UC schools and left with $121k in debt ($100k borrowed plus the interest I couldn't pay off while working during school). Basically didn't qualify for any sort of scholarships or grants due to my parents making "enough money." Don't know where they get that figure from, as its not like my parents' could afford to write a check for $25k/yr just for my education (especially not with my sister enter…

Is that 7.5% interest rate standard? Is it high because of the risk inherent in young adults being unable to service the loan?

That's the standard rate for the "federal non subsidized stafford loan"

Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#252

Post by RealityNow »

austenallred wrote: post #70
manacit wrote: post #10

I don't know if it's a "bubble" (I am not qualified to say that), but I can't imagine that the current trend with student loans will continue. Looking at the numbers for someone entering college in 2017, it feels nearly predatory what a good portion of private and out of state colleges are charging. Even with financial aid, $30-40k a year for 4-5 years is insane. I was fortunate enough to have parents who made saving…

It sure feels like a bubble to me. I don't know how many friends I have with six figures of student loans and no career, but it's a lot. Considering that those loans don't even go away with bankruptcy, it's waaaay too many. I've noticed that younger students are starting to realize how much risk there is in something like that and shy away when my generation didn't. Maybe it's that I grew up in a "striving" middle cl…

Except now there's a glut of aspiring junior engineers in the market. A friend of mine who graduated 1-2 years ago from a bootcamp told me his cohort's job placement rate after 3 months was 90% whereas this year it's less than 50% at the same school.

Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#253

Post by aianus »

libria wrote: post #19
mdorazio wrote: post #3

For those who just read the title, the cause of this new high is ballooning student debt, not mortgages. Housing debt is still mostly declining.

Why is student loan debt not dischargable in bankruptcy? If it were, banks would be far less likely to issue them, students would find cheaper education alternatives, and universities would be forced to provide greater assistance.

Then we'd all be mad about how poor people with bad credit can't afford to go to college while middle class people all get their loans cosigned by their parents who have assets.

Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#254

Post by axaxs »

prawn wrote: post #235
axaxs wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your last couple sentences sum it up nicely. Anything is possible, but not in our political climate. The two sides think of each other as mentally ill, and are to the point of violence. I hope it calms down, but in my lifetime it's only gotten worse. That needs to be fixed before we can get anything good for the nation done.

What incentive is there for a politician to do the right thing on the whole? They need a broad professional support base (party) to succeed in the American voting system, which means they toe the line or go nowhere. And there are lobbyists (at best) pressuring or forcing their hand on decisions where so much money is at stake (private prisons, healthcare, education, etc). You could say that a real character or charis…

Wow, thanks for sharing that link...I was enthralled. What a fascinating person...time shall tell what life has in store.

Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#255

Post by austenallred »

RealityNow wrote: post #252
austenallred wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sure feels like a bubble to me. I don't know how many friends I have with six figures of student loans and no career, but it's a lot. Considering that those loans don't even go away with bankruptcy, it's waaaay too many. I've noticed that younger students are starting to realize how much risk there is in something like that and shy away when my generation didn't. Maybe it's that I grew up in a "striving" middle cl…

Except now there's a glut of aspiring junior engineers in the market. A friend of mine who graduated 1-2 years ago from a bootcamp told me his cohort's job placement rate after 3 months was 90% whereas this year it's less than 50% at the same school.

IMO there's a glut of subpar junior engineers that don't understand CS principles. Have been doing this a while; everyone who understands data structures and algorithms gets snapped up pretty quickly.

Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#256

Post by bdcravens »

RealityNow wrote: post #252
austenallred wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sure feels like a bubble to me. I don't know how many friends I have with six figures of student loans and no career, but it's a lot. Considering that those loans don't even go away with bankruptcy, it's waaaay too many. I've noticed that younger students are starting to realize how much risk there is in something like that and shy away when my generation didn't. Maybe it's that I grew up in a "striving" middle cl…

Except now there's a glut of aspiring junior engineers in the market. A friend of mine who graduated 1-2 years ago from a bootcamp told me his cohort's job placement rate after 3 months was 90% whereas this year it's less than 50% at the same school.

Perhaps they stopped hiring grads as TAs and counting it as a placement.

Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#257

Post by cstejerean »

crdb wrote: post #217
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This would be more convincing if McKinsey and GS were genuinely considered to be producing something of value. The reality is - more nuanced. Certainly there are many who consider both GS and McKinsey to be very bad things indeed, and not in any way a professional niche that high quality graduates should aspire to. Perhaps there may be more to "intrinsic quality" than an obsessive work ethic and social connections? M…

Ah, but I'm not saying that Ivy/Oxbridge grads make better employees all else being equal (in particular salary). I'm specifically saying that on a financial/job hunting basis, it makes more sense to pick a prestigious university and "useless" degree than a "useful" degree at a non-prestigious university, in aggregate. When you are on the other side, other variables come into play. For example, elite grads might be g…

I think there may be some hidden variables there. For example the kids of a VP at a large company may very well go to Oxford and study philosophy and then get a job at McKinsey, but how much of that was based on the family connections rather than anything to do with the philosophy curriculum at Oxford. And some of those kids get into the ivy schools because their parents went there or made large donations, so again it may have more to do with family and socio-econimic background rather than Ivy League education. If you don't come from the right background I'm not sure that studying philosophy at Oxford is the best move.

Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#258

Post by panzer_wyrm »

godtoldmetodoit wrote: post #76
rrggrr wrote: post #21

Keep in-mind this household debt is above and beyond each household's share of their municipal, county, state and federal debt. If you live in LA County, CA: - about $4,200 in State Debt. - roughly another $4,000 or in LA County debt. - $161,000 in federal debt. - $16,000 in credit card debt on average. - Car loan, home payment, etc. And on average your savings are minimal. Most importantly, if this isn't you, its st…

What economic growth policies could we enact that would result in 5-6% GDP growth? From my admittedly limited understanding, that seems to be quite the stretch.

You have to shrink the base to get high percentage growth - a war that is devastating have the effects of reducing labor and increase the need of labor to rebuild infrastructure so it gives a decade or two of rapid growth...

Aside from that - nuclear fusion, space travel and colonization are the only technologies that could possibly give this kind of sustained growth.

Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#259

Post by Teknoman117 »

djrogers wrote: post #237
Teknoman117 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went to one of the UC schools and left with $121k in debt ($100k borrowed plus the interest I couldn't pay off while working during school). Basically didn't qualify for any sort of scholarships or grants due to my parents making "enough money." Don't know where they get that figure from, as its not like my parents' could afford to write a check for $25k/yr just for my education (especially not with my sister enter…

Cautionary tale here for anyone entering college - take out student loans for 2x the cost of tuition (UC tuition is about 12,300) and you'll be paying for a looooong time. If you can, you're much better off limiting your student loans and working to pay for food/beer/rent etc. students who work through college generally manage to pull the same or higher GPAs anyway, so you're not going to hurt your career.

I would also add that for some of the campuses (I went to Merced), check out local housing and skip the "dorm life." The UC housing expenses in Merced were about 4 - 5 times what it cost to split a rental house in town. And these were large, new properties.

As far as taking out twice the tuition, it doesn't particularly help when the loan system "recommends" borrowing 2x the tuition and gives you a bunch of warnings if you try to borrow less. I ended up working the last two years I was there (also moved off campus).

Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#260

Post by downrightmike »

ryandrake wrote: post #233
diogenescynic wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>went to school in the mid 90s >but it was well understood that majoring in Underwater Basket Weaving The way you make such a condescending argument and blame the victim takes away any credibility in your comment. The issue is that tuition has ballooned since the 90s. Tuition is outpacing income/inflation and most else, so regardless of what school or major, the ROI is going down for most. Also, even if you went to a…

Sorry, bud. I also went back to school for another go after 2005, still focusing primarily on ROI. So I think I can say I'm well aware of and lived through both current and past student loan / tuition regimes. But please feel free to continue to attack the tone of my argument rather than the content.

Yes, but these are kids lacking your additional 20 years of experience. Congrats on your ROI, Other people are just looking to get out of dead ends, thinking the better (or any) school will provide that. Unfortunately we'll see the for-profit schools negatively affect the overall. Even so, a 11% default rate across the board is nothing to sneeze at. [1] https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/national-student-loan...
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