I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began
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Re: I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began
#2I'm sorry I take issue with these articles written from the perspective of they are a victim. They took $78k in loans to get a degree whose prospective returns were abysmal.
They made the choice to defer resolving their debts, and let the interest be added to principal while not making payments.
I'm not saying that the system doesn't do everything it should to help people understand. But the contracts they sign for the money spell it out.
I went through the same, it took me several more years to complete my education than it could have, but living on borrowed money, at the rates that were offered were foolish.
I know my view on this is likely different from most, but reading this article most of what I see is a person, making bad choice after bad choice and then somehow surprised when they are worse off than before.
I feel for the person, as I do for so many that took that route, but it wasn't like they didn't have everything they needed to realize this was a series bad choices.
Re: I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began
#3"When I finished school in 2007 — with an undergraduate degree in biology and a master’s in science journalism — I owed $78,060 in federal loans."
According to [1] the current avg salary for a journalist is approx. $41K. Assuming some inflation since the author graduated the author accrued 2 to 3 times her expected yearly salary in debt to get her 'dream job'. I think the root of her problem was she had no education in financial literacy, took the terrible advice of 'follow your dream' and now expects those bad choices not to continue to bite her. College is bet and she made a bad one. I don't think this is a good argument for debt relief, but its a great argument for promoting financial literacy and directing young adults to accrue only what debt they can reasonally pay back with their chosen profession. If your dream job pays nothing and is uber expensive to attain then maybe you shouldn't follow that dream or accept you are making a bad financial decision in the first place.
1. https://www.salary.com/research/salary/recruiting/journalist...
Re: I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began
#4I think student loans should be 0% interest forever.
Re: I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began
#5LOL, I half-expected commenters to rail on how unfair student debt is, and how debt forgiveness would solve problems like this (which it would, but create new ones for generations to come), but I was surprised and pleased that there are others like me who are taking what I think is a more common sense approach.
Parents and educators should be teaching young people fiscal responsibility from a young age, so among other things, they don't get caught in debt traps, and they understand the evil of "minimum payments".
Fortunately, the author is only 38, and has the opportunity to change her financial situation. Not an easy task, not without a lot of sacrifices and discipline, but hey, that's what I'd call real adulting.
Re: I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began
#6I think student loans should be 0% interest forever.
I think something like this might be a more reasonable approach than forgiving student loan debt completely. There is little risk to banks servicing federally backed student loans, so interest rates should reflect that. There is a cost to servicing the loan, and banks should be compensated for that, but I don't think student loans should be a large government backed profit center for banks.
Re: I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began
#7I think student loans should be 0% interest forever.
I think something like this might be a more reasonable approach than forgiving student loan debt completely. There is little risk to banks servicing federally backed student loans, so interest rates should reflect that. There is a cost to servicing the loan, and banks should be compensated for that, but I don't think student loans should be a large government backed profit center for banks.
Yeah... I would even be fine if the govt covered the cost of servicing the loan to keep the interest at 0%.
Re: I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began
#8LOL, I half-expected commenters to rail on how unfair student debt is, and how debt forgiveness would solve problems like this (which it would, but create new ones for generations to come), but I was surprised and pleased that there are others like me who are taking what I think is a more common sense approach. Parents and educators should be teaching young people fiscal responsibility from a young age, so among othe…
The fact that the author wrote this article, journalist going to journo, without recognizing her own culpability in the sitution indicates to me that she really hasn't learned anything which would allow her to 'right the ship'. If anything she is doubling down on the habits that caused her trouble in the first place. If she were a bit wiser she would have written an article advocating for bankruptcy regulations to be reformed to allow the discharging of student loan debt as once was allowed. (the change in this policy was another gem from the George W. administration). Then she could say she's willing to accept the hit of bankruptcy to clear the slate to turn her financial life around. Instead her plea is 'give me money, no questions asked, because I make poor choices and I'm not willing to accept it'.
Re: I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think something like this might be a more reasonable approach than forgiving student loan debt completely. There is little risk to banks servicing federally backed student loans, so interest rates should reflect that. There is a cost to servicing the loan, and banks should be compensated for that, but I don't think student loans should be a large government backed profit center for banks.
Yeah... I would even be fine if the govt covered the cost of servicing the loan to keep the interest at 0%.
The federal government used to subsidize the interest on some student loans. Isn't this effectively making the interest rate 0%.
Re: I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began
#10I'm sorry I take issue with these articles written from the perspective of they are a victim. They took $78k in loans to get a degree whose prospective returns were abysmal. They made the choice to defer resolving their debts, and let the interest be added to principal while not making payments. I'm not saying that the system doesn't do everything it should to help people understand. But the contracts they sign for t…
It seems heartless to agree but also level-headed. A bachelor’s in biology can only be obtained if you have quantitative reasoning, and understand compound growth and the fundamental insecurity of the natural world, so this seems especially egregious. If they were reporting on their own life as a journalist, what agency do they give themselves in making their own choices?
Why borrow at least 1.5 years’ gross salary and start their adult life with such debt? I as a taxpayer helped loan them that money, I’d like it back at some point.