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The reality is that they're very few degrees worth getting into crazy debt over, and the ones that are are overpriced
No degree is worth the debt. I don't care how many people say its "good debt". Tell that to the millions of people who are struggling to find jobs and defaulting.
No degree is worth the debt. I don't care how many people say its "good debt". Tell that to the millions of people who are struggling to find jobs and defaulting.
No degree is worth the debt. I don't care how many people say its "good debt". Tell that to the millions of people who are struggling to find jobs and defaulting.
You are making it seem worse than it is. National unemployment rate for those with a Bachelor's or higher is only 3.7%. If you are white or asian, and a man, it's even less (3.5% range).
If you stop at an Associate's, the national unemployment rate is 5.4%.
If you drop out before getting any degree, it's 7.0%
If you never go to college, it's 7.5%.
If you drop out of HS, 11.0%. If you are black... 20.5%
Moral of the story: If you start college, FINISH! Not finishing college, of any kind, is almost no better than never going to college in the first place, so a waste of money and time.
6.7% national unemployment rate....really not as dire as you make it seem....especially since the historical is about 7%
My point is that we have over 1 TRILLION dollars in student loan debt and growing with very little relief for the borrower, while past due and defaults rise and that is a problem.
My point is that we have over 1 TRILLION dollars in student loan debt and growing with very little relief for the borrower, while past due and defaults rise and that is a problem.
It depends on what you mean. Students who came through the system in 2005-2011 got the worst of it, arguably, both on the borrowing side and the job opportunity side.
That's a sizable bubble of students, both b/c of the general enrollment growth trend from 1999-2011, and the subset who went back to school for lack of better alternative when the recession hit.
Some part of that group will likely never rebound. And that is a very real prospect.
While the experience of the last decade is a call for some reforms (healthy respect of borrowing, rather than rampant enthusiasm for 'a bachelor's at any price!'), we should acknowledge that some changes have been made. For example, Obama's push to improve the IBR program to 'Pay As You Earn' for new students arguably offers too much relief to borrowers, particularly in conjunction with the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
The default rate issue is trickier, since lots of people assume they know what it means. But the reality is that we don't, really. The common assumption is that people default because they can't afford to pay. And once upon a time, that was at least true to an extent. But with IBR/PAYE in place, the picture is more complex.
Under PAYE, for example, it doesn't matter how much one borrowed. If you're a single person making $25k per year, your monthly loan payment is $68, or about 3% of your gross income. If you default because you can't afford to make that payment (because you're spending 35% of your income on housing, e.g.), the issue isn't really the loan, it's everything else.
Student loans just make an easier punching bag right now - in part because for a decade everyone had great faith that higher education was a gold paved road and that there was no harm in borrowing whatever it took to travel it. As Matt Read said more succinctly, " To the extent that education was the preferred apolitical answer to economic struggle, an extended recession has suddenly cast college as the god that failed."
My point is that we have over 1 TRILLION dollars in student loan debt and growing with very little relief for the borrower, while past due and defaults rise and that is a problem.
So??? there are over 33 MILLION college students currently in school. Take that times 4 or so to cover the past 12 years or so of college students and the debt ratio is VERY small. The trillion dollar debt is more related to the number of students and not huge loan amounts per student... That actually averages out to roughly $2525.25 per student over the past 12 years...still look like a "big" number??
My point is that we have over 1 TRILLION dollars in student loan debt and growing with very little relief for the borrower, while past due and defaults rise and that is a problem.
Maybe but that does not remotely equate to this statement: "No degree is worth the debt"
Lets see my brother has an environmental engineering degree that he took on slightly over 50K of debt to get. His first year (two years ago) he got just under 60k. Every year he was in college he worked full time (probably why it took him 7 years instead of 5) and never made more than 30K. So his first year out, he more than doubled his salary and paid off nearly 1/4 of his debt while still raising his standard of living.
How is that degree not worth the debt?
My daughter will have about 20K when she is done, and has already been offered a spot at a great grad program and told she can work at their lab when she graduates. She can expect to start out a bit less than $50k. She should be able to pay off her debt in 5 -10 years without breaking a sweat, in a career should literally could not do without the degrees, and loves. So how is that not worth the debt?
It cost me $30k over 4 years for my accounting degree and I was able to graduate with no debt by working my way through school. Got a nice job to boot. I'm sorry, but I don't get people who come out of college with crushing debt. When I think of someone graduating with $100k in debt, the person I have in mind is the art or theater type living in lala land who goes to the expensive, private "art school" for an ego trip. Then after graduating and reality hits that you are only qualified to work at McDonald's while trying to service a mountain of debt, the tears start running. I have no sympathy.
You are putting too much of the blame in individuals.
College costs have risen far faster than the general rate of inflation. Aid to students has diminished just as fast. Add to that the fact that you need more and more education to get worse and worse job. It is a perfect storm for the rapacious student loan industry. If more students had a full range of alternatives, they wouldn't crush themselves under an avalanche of debt.
Maybe but that does not remotely equate to this statement: "No degree is worth the debt"
Lets see my brother has an environmental engineering degree that he took on slightly over 50K of debt to get. His first year (two years ago) he got just under 60k. Every year he was in college he worked full time (probably why it took him 7 years instead of 5) and never made more than 30K. So his first year out, he more than doubled his salary and paid off nearly 1/4 of his debt while still raising his standard of living.
How is that degree not worth the debt?
My daughter will have about 20K when she is done, and has already been offered a spot at a great grad program and told she can work at their lab when she graduates. She can expect to start out a bit less than $50k. She should be able to pay off her debt in 5 -10 years without breaking a sweat, in a career should literally could not do without the degrees, and loves. So how is that not worth the debt?
This is exactly the problem! Everyone assumes their situation(or someone close to them) worked out just fine so everyone else should be fine too.
1) Not everyone will be able to work full time, or maybe even part time, while in school.
2) Not everyone wants to wait 5-7 years to get a degree.
3) What your amount of debt is doesn't mean everyone else will be close to it.
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That actually averages out to roughly $2525.25 per student over the past 12 years...still look like a "big" number??
