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U.S. Citizens Now Hold About $1.3 Trillion in Student Loan Debt

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Re: U.S. Citizens Now Hold About $1.3 Trillion in Student Loan Debt

#451

Post by Fargren »

exclusiv wrote: post #449
Fargren wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because self-actualization is a human need and for a lot of people education is a means for that. Because some of us enjoy creating things that are of value to others. Because life is more than survival, basically.

You may be right on some, but if it was a good idea you would have said most.

Are we talking about UBI, or about education? Because if it's UBI, what I mentioned was just one of the mechanisms by which it could work. But I honestly don't know if it would. I suspect it would, but we can't know without more research and tests. Human behaviour is too complex to model a priori.

Re: U.S. Citizens Now Hold About $1.3 Trillion in Student Loan Debt

#452

Post by School-Cotton »

throwaway729 wrote: post #437
School-Cotton wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't be arrested for not paying debts. You could probably still visit the US as long as you didn't intend to work there.

In principle. In practice, renouncing US citizenship is the sort of thing that gets you put on a "make their life hell if they want to come here" list.

Why would you need to renounce citizenship?

Re: U.S. Citizens Now Hold About $1.3 Trillion in Student Loan Debt

#453

Post by School-Cotton »

ryuker16 wrote: post #417
School-Cotton wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

General education requirements in American universities serves the purpose of getting people up to the level of academic high school students in Europe or Asia. We could get rid of it, but we'd have to fix high schools first. This would likely require admitting that a focus on academic subjects isn't appropriate for everyone. In many European countries, a majority of students go to trade-oriented secondary schools an…

No, because European and Asian schools also have these general ed requirements. Asian colleges have a fairly deserved reputation for being easy. The real answer is tradition and the reason it's not going away is money and because a 2 year degree in the USA is considered a lesser degree called an associates.

European universities absoulutely do not have these requirements. Unless we're talking about two completely different things.

Re: U.S. Citizens Now Hold About $1.3 Trillion in Student Loan Debt

#454

Post by ska »

wonder_er wrote: post #343
ska wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they wanted to actually compete, they would lower prices. Thats what attracts buyers. That is a dangerously oversimplified view of how markets work. Buyers are attracted by a broad range of factors, only one of which is price.

> That is a dangerously oversimplified view of how markets work. Because university is so expensive, we're told that more things matter than just price. Buyers are obviously attracted to more than low prices, but some buyers are highly price-sensitive. So, we should let them find something that works for them.

There already is a huge range in the cost of university, so what you are describing should already be in effect. Do you have evidence to the contrary?

(FWIW I also think that it is too expensive for various reasons, but also that it is too naive to consider only price here)

Re: U.S. Citizens Now Hold About $1.3 Trillion in Student Loan Debt

#455

Post by rhizome »

skwosh wrote: post #139
rhizome wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"true" art is antithetical to capitalism Absolutely not, especially now when the mechanisms of compensation have been democratized so well. Beyond that, Andy Warhol (et al) would be amused to learn that real art and capitalism were conceptual enemies. NB: I'm assuming you're using "antithetical" to mean that their successes are inversely proportional.

Not inversely proportional, just somewhat orthogonal, reflecting a (largely) different set of priorities. Plus I'm not sure that the "mechanisms of compensation have been democratized so well", as you claim. (Which is to say it's all still largely driven by major label interests [1] [2].) [1] http://pitchfork.com/features/article/8993-the-cloud/ [2] http://www.newyorker.com/culture/sasha-frere-jones/if-you-ca...

Dribbble, DeviantArt, Bandcamp, ebooks...the list goes on.

Re: U.S. Citizens Now Hold About $1.3 Trillion in Student Loan Debt

#456

Post by bjovulf »

talmand wrote: post #320
tombo2008 wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"That sounds like a very nice world to live in. It also doesn't sound much like our world. It's certainly not how any country on Earth operates." We've had a system not a million miles different from the one described in Ireland since the 70's/80's. There are grants for school uniforms and books for those that cant afford them, the cost of a college degree is not exorbitant and is again covered by a grant for those t…

That is in no way even close to the imagined situation that the response you are quoting is referring to.

In Denmark students have since 1970 and actually dating back to the 50's had the right to SU (Statens Uddannelsesstøtte = government support programmes) in form of government grants and government subsidized loans for any students studying on a government approved list of mostly government subsidized secondary and higher education. Hope that triggers some anti-big gov't folks over there.

Re: U.S. Citizens Now Hold About $1.3 Trillion in Student Loan Debt

#457

Post by marklyon »

andromeduck wrote: post #119
marklyon wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even just reducing the interest rate can have a significant impact. I cut my rate from just over 7% to 4.71% and slightly increased my payment, moving my final payment from July 2, 2038 to December 1, 2025 (ignoring any additional payments I make) [1]. Just doing that made attacking my massive loan balance much more manageable. I don't expect (or want, actually) for my education to be free. I knew I was racking up de…

Jesus! Just how big is your student loan?! I mean I paid for all my living and education expenses with loans too but I'm not sure I would if it would take 20+ years to pay off

Over 100k. Law school wasn't cheap.
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