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I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began

nytimes.com

11–20 of 38 posts

Re: I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began

#11
post #4

I think student loans should be 0% interest forever.

There needs to be a meaningful repayment schedule, though. Otherwise I can run up the debt and never pay it back, thus making it free. Accumulating interest at least keeps you “interested” in paying back sooner than later.

Re: I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began

#12
post #4

I think student loans should be 0% interest forever.

then all student loans would be be via the government, as why would any financial institution loan the money at 0% even more so now, with the level of default that high?

Is that possible, certainly, is there enough will from the people of the U.S. to make it a priority to pay an increase in taxes, no.

I think people should be responsible with their choices and that these sort of debts should require a class be taken before you have access to this level of debt.

Re: I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began

#13
post #6
post #4

I 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.

Zero risk isn’t zero cost. Banks pay interest to depositors, pay for loan servicing, have staff and marketing costs, etc.

0% would just be another handout to those least entitled to deserve one. The average college graduate will make roughly double the lifetime earnings of a high school graduate. Why should high school graduates pay more in taxes to make college loans cheaper for their bosses?

Re: I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began

#14
post #12
post #4

I think student loans should be 0% interest forever.

then all student loans would be be via the government, as why would any financial institution loan the money at 0% even more so now, with the level of default that high? Is that possible, certainly, is there enough will from the people of the U.S. to make it a priority to pay an increase in taxes, no. I think people should be responsible with their choices and that these sort of debts should require a class be taken…

There could be a case made for educated people paying more taxes over the years, so in that respect there could be some "externalities" to support a zero interest rate.

That and the fact that large institutions are paying very little to borrow money nowadays.

So maybe there is an argument for a "wholesale" interest rate.

I thought it is also impossible to default on student loans.

Re: I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began

#15
post #12
post #4

I think student loans should be 0% interest forever.

then all student loans would be be via the government, as why would any financial institution loan the money at 0% even more so now, with the level of default that high? Is that possible, certainly, is there enough will from the people of the U.S. to make it a priority to pay an increase in taxes, no. I think people should be responsible with their choices and that these sort of debts should require a class be taken…

>then all student loans would be be via the government

They already are effectively.

Private student loans are for the difference between what the government will loan out at for the tuition/cost of living costs. The government doesn't guarantee them. The problem is you can't discharge private student loans in bankruptcy. So they are personal loans that get special treatment.

Re: I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began

#16
post #4

I think student loans should be 0% interest forever.

There needs to be a meaningful repayment schedule, though. Otherwise I can run up the debt and never pay it back, thus making it free. Accumulating interest at least keeps you “interested” in paying back sooner than later.

I'm sure the IRS can figure out a way to keep people interested. We already get a deduction for interest so I'm sure they can incentivize repayment.

Re: I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began

#17
post #7
post #6

Earlier 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%.

Just run the program through the IRS.

Re: I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began

#18

LOL, 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…

This article is about COVID relief to Federal student loans repayment and interest rates. Her FFELP loans are effectively Federal even though they are owned by a private company because they are guaranteed by the Federal government. These are not private student loans though they are currently owned by a private company. So she can consolidate her way out of the situation I believe and then take advantage of the 0%.

She's asking for basic fairness for govt backed loans nothing more.

Re: I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began

#19
post #2

I'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…

But sometimes that’s life when you are young. Making bad choices after bad choices. This is a predatory system. My soft European brain can’t even compute how such villainy is not only allowed but also the status quo

Re: I’ve Spent $60k to Pay Back Student Loans and Owe More Than Before I Began

#20

"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…

Still, the odds of the college bet became way too bad for too many degrees. I mean we are talking about a STEM subject (biology) and a masters in a subject that is directly related to a job (journalism), also with the added benefit of it being science journalism which needs people with her knowledge of sciences (biology). So, yes, it appears that there is a sense of responsibility that she should have (and she has it, she paid of 60k). But the more urgent question is structural: college does not pay off anymore (anecdata about CS etc. notwithstanding) and that has a lot to do with the jobs market but also that college inflation rose a multiple times that of general inflation in the last 30 years. We can blame individuals all we want (and feel good about it from afar) but that doesn't solve the structural problems.
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