31–38 of 38 posts
Idea: make universities fund the loans. Then they have an incentive to monitor student progress and make sure the student graduates and has a reasonable plan to make money to pay back the loan. If they make a lot of bad loans, they'll need to fire some of their cushy Dean and Assistant Dean jobs.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 a…
A Bachelor's in biology doesn't earn you much either!
I found myself in that same situation, with the same degree, and decided it wasnt worth taking on debt for a graduate degree (nor spending the 2-3 years it would have taken). Problem is, while the potential jobs for someone with an advanced degree are better, there are even less of them, and the competition is tough.
Education is free in many countries. Tax money goes direct to university places and subsidisation...
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
The true villainy is the impossible situations a young Spanish or Italian adult is thrown into knowing there is no career prospects for them in their society and that they'll end up living in their parents house till their mid 30s
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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%.…
"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…
As for the 60K she paid, the gov. gets their money either way. If you don't pay they will simply garnish your wages, take your tax refunds, and put lien on your property.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
From an economic opportunities perspective I'd much rather be a young American than a young European from any country but Germany. The true villainy is the impossible situations a young Spanish or Italian adult is thrown into knowing there is no career prospects for them in their society and that they'll end up living in their parents house till their mid 30s