News, Senior citizens continue to bear burden of student loans. (pension, social security)
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The burden of paying for college is wreaking havoc on the finances of an unexpected demographic: senior citizens.
New research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that Americans 60 and older still owe about $36 billion in student loans, providing a rare window into the dynamics of student debt.
The burden of paying for college is wreaking havoc on the finances of an unexpected demographic: senior citizens.
New research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that Americans 60 and older still owe about $36 billion in student loans, providing a rare window into the dynamics of student debt.
Student loans are the biggest scam going. The S will hit the F soon on this debacle. There is no reason in the world why post-high-school education for a decent paying career should cost so much and financially cripple so many people. It is simplistic to say "they shoulda gone to junior college or trade school." The American dream brainwashed two generations (so far) of people, pressuring them into college educations of which many will prove useless in spite of all that schoolwork and debt.
New England Girl is dead on target. You learn as you get older that our society is full of lies and liars, people who deceive you for their own purposes and to further their careers and put more money in their pockets. They exist in all walks of life, and you have to be very careful in making decisions, because you can end up getting used by these people. Let the buyer beware.
In my own case, I was looking for something different to do with my life in my mid-30's. Our church leadership was regularly crying that there was a terrible shortage of pastors coming in the near future. So, I packed up my family and headed off to the seminary for 4 years of study. Fortunately, my wife worked and we had some savings so we didn't have to go into debt. Others were not so fortunate. At the end of my second year, the graduating class had 32 students out of about 170 with no calls/no jobs. Fortunately, eventually they all got calls, but I learned then that I'd been lied to. No shortage. And at least once a year, they still beat this dead horse about a "shortage of pastors", even though most years, there are not enough calls, but they use it to drum up students to keep enough students in the school to fund the school the school. So you see, the lies can come from almost anywhere. Many men, and some of my friends, have suffered because of these lies.
Very discouraging. I try to minimize my dealings with the financial services industry as much as possible -- always pay cash and avoid loans and credit cards, keep away from brokers and too-big-to-fail banks, etc. The financial services industry has become poisonous and parasitic to the American people.
Student loans are the biggest scam going. The S will hit the F soon on this debacle. There is no reason in the world why post-high-school education for a decent paying career should cost so much and financially cripple so many people. It is simplistic to say "they shoulda gone to junior college or trade school." The American dream brainwashed two generations (so far) of people, pressuring them into college educations of which many will prove useless in spite of all that schoolwork and debt.
No, the real problem has much more to do with colleges and universities jacking up their tuition at a rate 4x that of inflation for the past four decades. This is particularly true in the case of private institutions.
Thirty years ago, I could work and still pay the tuition at my private college with very little help from my parents. That would be an absolute impossibility today. My own daughter is a junior now. And while our household income exceeds $200K, there's no way we're going to pull the trigger on an annual outlay of $50,000 to put her through a private college, once living expenses are factored in. That's the equivalent of a nice BMW a year. And we have two sons who will need to be put through college as well.
Yet, for a long time, colleges looked on student loans as a vehicle to get people to pay exorbitant tuitions. In short, the 'Easy Monthly Payments!' kind of bait-and-switch. Well, the chickens are coming home to roost now. So it's public universities for my children, which remain a relatively good value.
One of the first things I did when my wife and I married was to pay off her student loans. Thankfully, I had none. I find the amount of debt people graduate with nowadays to be usurious and think it borders on criminal. Of course, at my age, I recall when education in other than ivy league and other private colleges and universities was reasonable, as were books and living expenses.
I certainly don't envy today's students, especially as many are hard-pressed to find decent and major-relevant employment upon graduation.
The real solution to all this, by the way, is for parents to stand up and say to the admissions officer, "$40,000 a year tuition? For a sociology degree? You are smoking crack." If we all did this, I'll bet the farm that colleges would be figuring out a way to lower costs pronto.
One of the first things I did when my wife and I married was to pay off her student loans. Thankfully, I had none. I find the amount of debt people graduate with nowadays to be usurious and think it borders on criminal. Of course, at my age, I recall when education in other than ivy league and other private colleges and universities was reasonable, as were books and living expenses.
I certainly don't envy today's students, especially as many are hard-pressed to find decent and major-relevant employment upon graduation.
See, I disagree with this statement. The interest rates on student loans are quite reasonable and banks actually tend to lose money on this kind of lending.
No, the real bandits here are the colleges themselves. They've gotten away with murder for decades and the public is now beginning to say, "No more."
Remember high schools and their administrators get judged on the percentage of their graduates that go on to college especially directly to four year schools. That drives the tab up.
Many low income people fall for the ad and take out a loan they will never be able to repay and that drives up the tab.
Many in their 50's have had to go back to school for retraining and that drives up the tab.
The affluent are often able to pay without borrowing and they are highly sought out by schools for that reason. They don't need school based aid based on need. If you have a highly talented child and they want to go to a highly competitive college and you can't afford to pay, that drives up the cost.
If you are a state university and you want to compete with the wealthy highly competitive expensive schools you need to have what they have and that drives up the cost.
For profit schools are just that for profit and they drive up the cost.
If you are a public university and you wish the affluent and bright to come to your school you need to offer the perks that the affluent private school offers. In many cases the cost is driven up as schools compete for the best students. In other cases the cost is just driven up because many schools are for profit and they run them that way.
Just imagine we give loans of say 20K to someone with no job. No job history. No credit history and no real assets. Hmmmmmm!
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