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US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

nytimes.com

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Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#381

Post by thatwebdude »

puranjay wrote: post #350
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…

Liberal arts grad here. Humanities education has almost completely absolved itself of any responsibility for helping its students build careers. I did not have a single lecture or discussion with any of my professors about how I could use my degree to get a job, what kind of careers I could pursue, and how to use my degree for anything outside of academia. Humanities education has become "education for education's sa…

> I did not have a single lecture or discussion with any of my professors about how I could use my degree to get a job, what kind of careers I could pursue, and how to use my degree for anything outside of academia.

I agree, this should be something more emphasized.

I also blame (to a degree) my K-12 career for not putting an emphasis on any courses related to budgeting or Home Economics.

Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#382

Post by [deleted] »

puranjay wrote: post #350
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…

Liberal arts grad here. Humanities education has almost completely absolved itself of any responsibility for helping its students build careers. I did not have a single lecture or discussion with any of my professors about how I could use my degree to get a job, what kind of careers I could pursue, and how to use my degree for anything outside of academia. Humanities education has become "education for education's sa…

[deleted]

Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#383

Post by hollander »

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…

How does the student loan system work? Isn't it that students pay back a percentage of their income? If that is the case, how can it become problematic?

Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#384

Post by nojvek »

martin_bech wrote: post #287
swimfar wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think his point was that he went to a college he could afford. It's true that not everyone can get scholarships to pay for their entire education. But no one has to pay $40k+/year in tuition to get a good education.

In Denmark everyone can get scholarships to pay for their entire education. That and they get a stipend for living expenses. Everyone gets this, young or old, rich or poor.

In a lot of other countries education is a lot cheaper

US has become a country where profit runs everything. What happens when a large percentage of youth don't get education and make enough to buy a house?

Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#385

Post by ceejayoz »

muninn_ wrote: post #359
ceejayoz wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Great university's for sure, but the large majority of universities (particularly those accessible to anybody) reside in the United States. There are 4,140 in the US. https://www.infoplease.com/us/higher-education/number-us-col... There are about 4,000 in Europe. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=URISERV:c...

Apologies, I meant to type "the large majority of great universities". Obviously there are more universities across the planet combined than there are in the United States.

I remain dubious of that updated claim. The UK alone has several Ivy-level institutions.

Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#386

Post by thatwebdude »

muninn_ wrote: post #95
austenallred wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes a hell of a lot of sense, to be honest. The problem in the US system is the government feels everyone has a "right" to an education, so it will underwrite an unlimited amount of loans regardless of what you do with them. That pumps the system so full of cash no one is quite sure what to do. They just keep raising prices and people keep coming, because what are you going to do, not go to college? Even after fund…

Why would this be any different than a right to, say, health care? Why even pay for k-12?

You do have a right to public K-12, and it's free (your taxes pay for it).

You can pay for private K-12, or "pay up" and move to a more expensive school district (read: taxes) which would theoretically give you a better education.

School districts have problems with people claiming grandparent's home addresses to attend a better school, and it happens across the country.

Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#387

Post by thatwebdude »

vkou wrote: post #142
koolba wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rationale is that you can't take away an education the way you can repo a house or car. That and something about doctors borrowing a couple hundred K, then declaring bankruptcy to discharge it after graduation.

And yet, nothing prevents me from maxing out my credit cards, and spending it all on whiskey and limousine rides... Or totaling my car (While only having liability insurance). Lenders charge a premium over the prime interest rate because of the risk that they will never get their money back. Student loans are backed by the federal government - there is zero risk for these lenders. They seem to be under the impression…

> Why on earth should 18 year olds be entering financial transactions over hundreds of thousands of dollars, where they, but not their counterparty, get to shoulder all the risk?

I'm a firm believer in maturing before entering a transaction like that. Maybe even "taking off a year" or working full-time for a bit to understand how "the real world" may work from what you understood it as at home (hint: it's much easier for some than others).

Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#388

Post by thatwebdude »

lz400 wrote: post #139
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…

I truly don't understand the USA sometimes. Don't you guys know that in Europe higher education is free? Well where I'm from there was a very low nominal cost but my father was a public servant so cost was waived, I literally studied CS for 0 cost. And these countries are able to afford it all! Magic! I don't understand how people in USA are not aware of this and literally rioting in the streets. At the very least sw…

I truly understand your argument, but I'm becoming more under the impression that degreed education isn't necessary to nearly as many people as we think it is.

Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#389

Post by thatwebdude »

Teknoman117 wrote: post #173
lz400 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I truly don't understand the USA sometimes. Don't you guys know that in Europe higher education is free? Well where I'm from there was a very low nominal cost but my father was a public servant so cost was waived, I literally studied CS for 0 cost. And these countries are able to afford it all! Magic! I don't understand how people in USA are not aware of this and literally rioting in the streets. At the very least sw…

I don't understand why the cost of higher education has gone up so much. My grandparents paid for college via a job they only held in the summer and my parents paid for college working part time during the school year and full time in the summer - both of those jobs paying a little better than minimum wage. Yet I'm looking at 5 years of debt with a tech industry salary. Having to paying for higher education wouldn't…

> Yet I'm looking at 5 years of debt with a tech industry salary.

And that's a pretty optimistic observable.

Re: US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

#390

Post by thatwebdude »

jellicle wrote: post #246
Teknoman117 wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why the cost of higher education has gone up so much. My grandparents paid for college via a job they only held in the summer and my parents paid for college working part time during the school year and full time in the summer - both of those jobs paying a little better than minimum wage. Yet I'm looking at 5 years of debt with a tech industry salary. Having to paying for higher education wouldn't…

Universities are doing price discrimination. They want to charge rich kids a lot, middle class kids something, and poor kids nothing. That requires a high sticker price for the tuition, plus discounts. It's hardly a perfect system but the basic idea is not unreasonable. And remember, if one pumps money into the system from the government side (which, IMHO, should happen) the counterintuitive result is that rich kids…

Possibly, but talent-based scholarships (supposedly) are not discriminative.
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