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For the record, I am not indifferent to the plight of students with loads of student loans. I myself had $80,000 in student loans that I paid off in 6 years via an extraordinary opportunity overseas. (True story) So, I understand the pain.
You've never been stuck in low-paid work, have you?
You're usage of the word "extraordinary" amounts to an implicit admission that such opportunities are not normal or common - then they'd be just ordinary, not extraordinary. Having established that they are not normal, how is your ability to pay your loans off of any relevance to the majority of graduates?
I have several friends who have done nothing but work to pay loans for the last few years. Imagine if they were able to buy a nice car? Or a house? Or luxury items? The economy, and country, would be much better off.
This is what often gets lost in this all too frequent argument. Instead of those hundreds of dollars of payments from that person going into the economy at large, it's being filtered back to one very narrow, government subsidized, segment. I'm frankly shocked that more conservatives aren't moving against this system.
This is what often gets lost in this all too frequent argument. Instead of those hundreds of dollars of payments from that person going into the economy at large, it's being filtered back to one very narrow, government subsidized, segment. I'm frankly shocked that more conservatives aren't moving against this system.
Exactly. You also have people like Aero, who is obviously in a high paying field, and has never had to struggle, who think they are the rule. In reality, they are the exception. It is great for him to be able to pay off 80k in 6 years, but for most people right out of college, that just isn't possible. The problem, from my view anyways, isn't the amount of debt, but the fact that nowadays it may not even be worth it. Why take on 50k of debt to make 30k a year?
I know many students in community colleges that got scholarships to good universites including Cornell as indicated by the prior poster. There are many students that go to community colleges for lack of any other ideas but those who apply themselves can get into pretty decent schools and with a scholarship.
Great way to save money and get and get a decent education rather than pay $40K a year.
I've taught up and down the east coast, along with universities throughout the rest of the nation. My experience with community colleges is that students get little or no exposure to actual college level work. They read textbooks and take exams just like in high school. They don't spend much time dissecting academic papers, proposing arguments, and participating in academic research. I'm sure community colleges with a college level education, but they must be very limited.
In fact, in the state of NY, community college instructors often do not have PhDs. This means that they may not have produced any peer-reviewed contribution to the field they are teaching in. How could they possibly teach students to contribute to academia if they haven't done it themselves? We need to stop dumbing down college education.
Lots of students come from broken families and don't have the help of mom and dad for anything. So with the intention of getting ahead and making a better life for themselves, they end up in massive amounts of debt. The alternative is working low paying dead end service industry jobs and never breaking the 30-40,000K a year potential earning.
We shouldn't demonize them, they are the demographic who want to work but due to circumstances and cost of living get trapped into a cycle of just paying down loans. Imagine if we bailed out the folks who are working but can't spend because all their money goes towards interest payments and mountains of debt. We would see a boost in the economy and we would all benefit.
I think you make a valid point. The problem is broken families.
If you can't afford it (or your parents can't) it's absolutely possible to get a 4 year college degree without emerging with $$$ in loans.
Going away to school for 4 years is not a necessity. You could do two years at a community college (VERY affordable) and then transfer to a local 4 year - or then move away to complete your last 2 years.
AP credits in high school can also give you class credit. Lots of schools/states offer dual credit classes - I know some kids who have graduated high school and have almost completed an associates degree.
Kids with top GPAs/test scores/ECs can get lots of aid at the nation's top privates - most of them will meet all of a student's demonstrated financial aid without loans.
Kids with lesser GPAs/test scores/ECs can "undershoot" and still receive LOTS of merit aid from schools.
And not everyone is built to get a 4 year degree. There are LOTS of opportunities in traditional blue collar careers that earn good salaries. People need to stop turning up their noses at them - especially when there are several fields that are hurting (or will be soon) for qualified employees.
If someone is stupid enough to exit with a 4 year liberal arts degree, no concrete career plan and tens of thousands of dollars in loans that they can't pay for, they deserve to live like paupers. Stupid is as stupid does.
Do you even know what liberal arts entail. Who does the writing and research. Who knows the history of our country and the world. These are pretty brilliant people. Honestly, I think people who think like you are stupid.
Why not just file for bankruptcy after you finish college.
While bankruptcy sounds like an easy process, it is not. If you have collateralized loan such as a car loan, you can typically say goodbye to your car (or whatever the collateral is).
And then, after bankruptcy, you're still stuck with your student loans. Most college graduates are not in such scenarios that would benefit from bankruptcy.
While bankruptcy sounds like an easy process, it is not. If you have collateralized loan such as a car loan, you can typically say goodbye to your car (or whatever the collateral is).
And then, after bankruptcy, you're still stuck with your student loans. Most college graduates are not in such scenarios that would benefit from bankruptcy.
Are you unaware that you have 10 years to pay the student loans?
That is 10 years from the day after the last day of the last deferment.
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