Cancel Student Loans to Stimulate Economy? (buying, wage, banking, $30k)

[evilnewbie]

How is tuition expensive? My public university's tuition when I graduated was 4k a year... its now 6k which is the average cost of a public university... then you have those who seek to go to universities where there is a larger student population (as well as tuition costs)... but isn't that their own stupid choice? If you want to go to a private university... that's your choice... nobody twisted your arm to go there.... if you decide to go and major into something that is totally worthless... that's your choice too... what is not affordable about 6k a year tuition exactly? And bad loans aren't "simply written off" either.. when it is written off it is taken as a loss... which means the companies pay less tax then they would have... which means the government gets less money... which means they take it from you... so yeah, you end up paying for their bad debts still...

[mjohnson4381]

I think $6K a year is expensive. I guess it's a matter of opinion.

If you take books into consideration, that would add another $1K. And, if you're paying $6K for tuition, I'm assuming that you're a full time student. That probably means that either you don't have a job or you only work part-time. Working half-time for $9/hour would give you a total gross income of $9,360.

I don't know why I'm doing all this math. Maybe I'm bored.

[Huckleberry3911948]

how can rip off stimulate anything except maybe anger.

[sheenie2000]

Originally Posted by evilnewbie

How is tuition expensive? My public university's tuition when I graduated was 4k a year... its now 6k which is the average cost of a public university... then you have those who seek to go to universities where there is a larger student population (as well as tuition costs)... but isn't that their own stupid choice? If you want to go to a private university... that's your choice... nobody twisted your arm to go there...

I agree to a certain extent. But I know where I grew up there was no public university in my area except one and that was geared towards art degrees, not engineering degrees. I could have chosen a very expensive private school that was near home and not that great or live away from home. Then to live away from home is an added expense.

So sometimes people are limited in their choices depending on their major and/or where they live.

[acrylic]

After I graduate, I'll be left to pay off about $30K. All in student loans. Without student loans, I would not be able to go to college. I know it's a "good" debt though, that I'll be able to pay it back within a few years if I get the type of job that I'm hoping to.

[Woof Woof Woof!]

Originally Posted by mjohnson4381

I don't think any debts should ever be written off. If you make a promise to pay something, you should pay for it...or die trying. Being young or tricked isn't an excuse. Read the fine print.

Well, it's not about ethics. It's about the simple fact of how money and debt work. Unpaid debt ultimately has to be written off by the banks.

[trishguard]

Originally Posted by mjohnson4381

I don't think any debts should ever be written off. If you make a promise to pay something, you should pay for it...or die trying. Being young or tricked isn't an excuse. Read the fine print.

I do feel sympathy for students these days. Tuition is so expensive, even at a public university. It's ridiculous. And finishing requires some hard work and sacrifices, especially for working students or students with families. They should be able to focus on their studies without worrying about how they're going to pay for school...they have enough on their plate. I would love to see more efforts from the government to make college more affordable so more people won't ever have to take out loans to begin with.

I heard on the news recently that more and more colleges are setting up shop in a single building and foregoing a huge campus with dorms and tracks and football fields. All the students just commute to school every day. I think that's a great trend...the tuition at those schools is much lower than it is in traditional colleges.

Oh, and I did get a decent tax credit this year for the tuition I paid in 2008. That was appreciated.

So do the rest of us. That's life.

[evilnewbie]

Originally Posted by mjohnson4381

I think $6K a year is expensive. I guess it's a matter of opinion.

If you take books into consideration, that would add another $1K. And, if you're paying $6K for tuition, I'm assuming that you're a full time student. That probably means that either you don't have a job or you only work part-time. Working half-time for $9/hour would give you a total gross income of $9,360.
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I don't know why I'm doing all this math. Maybe I'm bored.

You do realize that I am talking about top notch public universities... you always have a choice of doing 2 years at a community college or even other cheaper universities... than there's vocational schools... $1k for books? What are you studying? I have never paid that much for books and I had to get special permission from my university and professor to take more than a full load of classes... Then there is the little matter of financial aid and grants... My parents didn't pay a dime of my education... and I racked up over 150k worth of educational debt... so to me, when you say $6k is too expensive... I can only laugh... not even close...

[mjohnson4381]

Originally Posted by evilnewbie

You do realize that I am talking about top notch public universities... you always have a choice of doing 2 years at a community college or even other cheaper universities... than there's vocational schools... $1k for books? What are you studying? I have never paid that much for books and I had to get special permission from my university and professor to take more than a full load of classes... Then there is the little matter of financial aid and grants... My parents didn't pay a dime of my education... and I racked up over 150k worth of educational debt... so to me, when you say $6k is too expensive... I can only laugh... not even close...

I spent over $1,000 in books last year and I only went part-time. I'm studying accounting. And they were all required books.

[mjohnson4381]

Originally Posted by evilnewbie

You do realize that I am talking about top notch public universities... you always have a choice of doing 2 years at a community college or even other cheaper universities... than there's vocational schools... $1k for books? What are you studying? I have never paid that much for books and I had to get special permission from my university and professor to take more than a full load of classes... Then there is the little matter of financial aid and grants... My parents didn't pay a dime of my education... and I racked up over 150k worth of educational debt... so to me, when you say $6k is too expensive... I can only laugh... not even close...

Also, it's kind of strange to me that you're saying that college isn't expensive, but then you say you have $150K in student loans. Most people consider $150K a lot of money.