Why aremy student loans at 7% when others are paying 2-3-4 percent? (million, mortgage)

[Petunia 100]

Originally Posted by freemkt

??? ??? ???

How exactly did I avoid repaying the loans?

ALL of the principal and ALL of the accrued interest have been (re)paid.

The garnishment continues with no end in sight; they take my tax refunds and apply 80% to my loans (the rest disappears into some nebulous fee, although I have no idea what service I received for that fee).

Let me explain this huge, huge, HUGE mystery to you.


Person A makes a statement. Person B quotes that statement and replies. The reply is not directed to YOU.


Do you understand now?

[MDrenter223]

Wasn't education much cheaper 30 years ago?

Didn't a college degree on its own open doors 30 years ago?

How did you go to college and end up with no skills?

[mizzourah2006]

Originally Posted by MDrenter223

Wasn't education much cheaper 30 years ago?

Didn't a college degree on its own open doors 30 years ago?

How did you go to college and end up with no skills?

It only opens doors if you are willing to work.

FreeMrkt is better at complaining about everything in his life that hasn't worked out exactly how he expected.

I'm sure he was the prototypical college graduate with no experience holding out for a management job.

[freemkt]

Originally Posted by MDrenter223

Wasn't education much cheaper 30 years ago?

Didn't a college degree on its own open doors 30 years ago?

How did you go to college and end up with no skills?

??? ??? ???

Liberal arts degree + Carter recession + Rust Belt = career-related employment FAIL.

[freemkt]

Originally Posted by mizzourah2006

It only opens doors if you are willing to work.

FreeMrkt is better at complaining about everything in his life that hasn't worked out exactly how he expected.

I'm sure he was the prototypical college graduate with no experience holding out for a management job.

Ha, I took the first job i could get, at $4 per hour. By leaving school, I lost my on-campus student job.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by freemkt

??? ??? ???

Liberal arts degree + Carter recession + Rust Belt = career-related employment FAIL.

Same with me. I'm retiring in the next couple weeks with 31, almost 32, years.

In all that time you couldn't find something to take advantage of your degree? Even Dumb Rod who graduated from high school with me found something better than you've had.

[hensleya1]

Originally Posted by freemkt

??? ??? ???

Liberal arts degree + Carter recession + Rust Belt = career-related employment FAIL.

Political science degree + Obama recession + Rust Belt = career-related employment success here.

About 40% of what happens in your life is circumstance. Where you live, where you grew up, whether you have good or bad luck.

The other 60% is what you do with the hand you're dealt. Even a pair of fives can win a big pot.

[freemkt]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

Same with me. I'm retiring in the next couple weeks with 31, almost 32, years.

In all that time you couldn't find something to take advantage of your degree? Even Dumb Rod who graduated from high school with me found something better than you've had.

Without career-related experience, college degrees have a useful shelf life of about five years.

I thought that was a cliché until my job interviews fell off a cliff five years out from graduation.

Local economists in Portland have warned underemployed graduates that they should step up their efforts to get a career-related job, including relocating if necessary - because that five-year clock is ticking on them.

[carnivalday]

Originally Posted by freemkt

People earning $17,000 pay zero. Only once in my lifetime have I earned as much as $17,000 in a calendar year.

I have no marketable job skills, where would i hold gainful employment?

So those student loans were for what again? I believe that liberal arts degree fully qualifies you to work at McDonalds, or even Walmart.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by freemkt

Without career-related experience, college degrees have a useful shelf life of about five years.

I thought that was a cliché until my job interviews fell off a cliff five years out from graduation.

Local economists in Portland have warned underemployed graduates that they should step up their efforts to get a career-related job, including relocating if necessary - because that five-year clock is ticking on them.

I didn't start teaching until almost 10 years after graduation. None of my previous jobs in industry or the military were in any way related to my degree.