Live data from Hacker News

Nearly 5M Americans in Default on Student Loans

wsj.com

61–70 of 146 posts

Re: Nearly 5M Americans in Default on Student Loans

#61
post #7

Although by inclination what I want to do is rant about the iniquity of this kind of robo-debt in education, instead what I am thinking right now, is this: how does this compare overall to the rate of default in debt for other purposes? how does it compare to car loan debt? mortgage debt? I ask, because debt is the same, except in as much as student debt is in principle seeking a path to be able to repay it. The asse…

The overwhelming majority of student loan debt is government backed and eligible for some kind of income based repayment plan. There are four different kinds, but the most common two use a formula of 10% of income after 150% of the poverty level for the relevant household size. It is entirely possible to have a required payment of $0, before even getting into forbearance or deferral. Car loans and mortgage loans are…

It's almost as if the soul-crushing predatory bureaucracy and the ego crippling process of begging for forgiveness on something that should be a right has created cognitive dissonance in large numbers of people, and hence "irrational" behavior.

Re: Nearly 5M Americans in Default on Student Loans

#62
This did not happen by chance. The answer isn't hard to arrive at--simply ask why college is so expensive compared to the 1990s, and why states cannot afford to offset these costs anymore. America is selling out its future by convincing young people that they should go into debt to pay for "the college experience".

But why does "the college experience" need to include superfluous staff and wasteful resources? Follow the money.

Re: Nearly 5M Americans in Default on Student Loans

#63
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you hate the liberal arts? Their importance in college was really emphasized after World War II, as many of the leading Nazis were seen as non-intellectuals without moral restraints developed by the study of history, philosophy, theology, etc. Liberal Arts should be cheap you’re right, but it also should be required.

A big problem with liberal arts currently is it is burgeoning with new fields of study that are truly political movements masquerading as scholarship -- where liberal arts should only be motivated by the search for truth. So in a sense, the liberal arts aren't the liberal arts anymore.

The humanities are inherently political. This isn't an argument for their annihilation, it's an argument for their diversification.

Re: Nearly 5M Americans in Default on Student Loans

#64
post #31

There is a simple and equitable solution, which is to transfer the debt to the universities where they studied.

It's strange how an old-timey concept like a "money back guarantee" gets looked at as though it were full-blown communism these days...

Re: Nearly 5M Americans in Default on Student Loans

#65
post #62

This did not happen by chance. The answer isn't hard to arrive at--simply ask why college is so expensive compared to the 1990s, and why states cannot afford to offset these costs anymore. America is selling out its future by convincing young people that they should go into debt to pay for "the college experience". But why does "the college experience" need to include superfluous staff and wasteful resources? Follow…

and the constant drumbeat that you must attend a $60k/year private school or your life is ruined. instead of a state college or better yet a 2 year community college + 2 year state. very cheap

Re: Nearly 5M Americans in Default on Student Loans

#66
post #16

This is ruining America's future. That's 5M people who can't even qualify for a car loan now. The penalties for default are punishing. Even bankruptcy isn't a realistic option. This is ruinous for these people. They'll be in their mid-30s or early 40s before they can pay off. Starting that late to build a nest egg, they'll never recover. There's going to be an entire generation that has no secure retirement plans. It…

but it's so easy to not opt in for a student loan you can't pay off.

Re: Nearly 5M Americans in Default on Student Loans

#67
post #45

Tuition, especially at private colleges, is totally out of control. But class sizes are up, not down. And the number of full professors is not growing. So where is the money going? To an explosive growth of administrative staff. My alma mater has almost one employee per student . There are many dozens of administrative departments, each with multiple deans and assistant deans and staff, and sometimes subdivisions eac…

What's the reason for that. I know administrative staff like that that are getting paid, but what would the current one decide to hire more staff? Unless there was some benefit the staff would prefer to keep the money for themselves rather than hire more people.

Americans colleges expect you to fully insert yourself into college life, and for you to fully insert them into your life.

It's like having a parent, except you have to pay them.

They expect everyone to live on campus - so they have to play landlord, mayor, community organizer and mediator, mom and dad, chef and waiter, stadium and opera house, convenience store and urgent care clinic...

Now, which of these do you think are among a college's core competencies? Which of these services are provided in a cost-efficient manner?

Re: Nearly 5M Americans in Default on Student Loans

#68
post #65
post #62

This did not happen by chance. The answer isn't hard to arrive at--simply ask why college is so expensive compared to the 1990s, and why states cannot afford to offset these costs anymore. America is selling out its future by convincing young people that they should go into debt to pay for "the college experience". But why does "the college experience" need to include superfluous staff and wasteful resources? Follow…

and the constant drumbeat that you must attend a $60k/year private school or your life is ruined. instead of a state college or better yet a 2 year community college + 2 year state. very cheap

[deleted]

Re: Nearly 5M Americans in Default on Student Loans

#69
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

good point. some debts follow you around for life. And after: my dad always said tax was a gamble, and he decided to ignore the final-demand letters which we found in his office after he died. In one sense, he "won" the bet. In another, viewing him as the tuple {himself, his estate} he didn't...

Tax isn't a self serving sociopathic "gamble" it's what allows you to go to school and drive on roads and use the internet. Don't dodge it as part of some insane game you were taught.

I should point out that he had an accountant, who almost certainly dealt with most of this, and that as for others in the UK, income tax is taken at source, PAYG. The letters were the adjustment, not the totality of his tax debt. He was an academic, and understood very well the socialized benefits of the tax which propped up the tertiary education system he worked in.
Post reply on HN