Warren and student loan debt help? (Boston: low income, coupons, condo)

[bostongymjunkie]

There are a number of ways of getting your loans paid if you are willing to serve the public.

https://studentaid.gov/articles/stud...n-forgiveness/


I think the reason they keep going up is because 1) universities know that a large segment of the young population needs (or believes they need) a college degree to succeed and 2) the colleges know that the cash cow which is the US Government will provide low interest loans, thereby enabling these students to get loans. Part of the problem is that they make it so easy, that young irresponsible college students (many without proper parenting) max out on the loans even when not needed. Couple that with the strong temptation to access quick easy funds for various living expenses with the attitude that they will pay it back "someday." It could almost be categorized as predatory lending, because a kid is essentially under a form of duress to take the loans if they need the education. Except in this case its the school that is upping the tuition and bringing in more and more students to get that guaranteed tax money, for lousy indoctrination...er education. I'm not a proponent of blanket college debt erasure programs, but something needs to be done to address this problem and soon. Many of these schools have billions in endowments and they are all tax exempt. Some Boston area colleges are frequently delinquent on their PILOT.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by bostongymjunkie

There are a number of ways of getting your loans paid if you are willing to serve the public.

https://studentaid.gov/articles/stud...n-forgiveness/


I think the reason they keep going up is because 1) they know a large segment of the population needs to have a degree and 2) the colleges know that the cash cow which is the US Government will provide low interest loans, thereby enabling these students to get loans. Part of the problem is that they make it so easy, that young irresponsible college students (many without proper parenting) max out on the loans even when not needed. It could almost be categorized as predatory lending, because a kid is essentially under a form of duress to take the loans if they need the education.

Exactly! That's why I said basic personal finance should be taught to all high school kids, since many apparently don't get it at home. Also why we saw janitors making $32K/year taking out $300K mortgages in the 2000s. What could go wrong there?

[BostonMike7]

I took a look at what tuition at my college costs and it ballooned from $25k/year to $60k/year in less than 20 years, all while watching the school build brand new dorms and other facilities designed at attracting students. They also continued to solicit me for more money every few months. I graduated with over $50k in loans ($71k in today’s money) and made sacrifices to pay that off in my mid 20s. I worked a lot of OT when I was in the trades specifically to pay off my loans.

My issue with loan forgiveness is that it enables behavior. For the people taking out the loans it gives them an out for their bad financial decisions. For the schools, it gives them a reason to keep inflating tuition because Uncle Sam will ultimately subsidize them with loan forgiveness.

I’d stop short at saying education costs need to be regulated. The market should dictate what schools need to charge. The issue is all this low-interest loans (or loan forgiveness) almost incentivizes the schools to continue to raise tuition.

[msRB311]

I think it needs to be looked at closer as to why a degree is needed for basically any job that requires being an in office. Why...

I also agree on the unfairness thing. I mentioned it's not fair to people who DID pay their loans, but it's also unfair to the people chose not to go to college because of the costs...they must now be like, well dang I could have gone all along and had my loan paid for by the guberment. It's just not a fair scenario and it seems more unfair that it's to be paid for by tax payers.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I think it needs to be looked at closer as to why a degree is needed for basically any job that requires being an in office. Why...

I also agree on the unfairness thing. I mentioned it's not fair to people who DID pay their loans, but it's also unfair to the people chose not to go to college because of the costs...they must now be like, well dang I could have gone all along and had my loan paid for by the guberment. It's just not a fair scenario.

The answer to that is there are too many people with degrees. We got played hard by the student loan industry. They should not be rewarded by any means.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by massnative71

The answer to that is there are too many people with degrees. We got played hard by the student loan industry. They should not be rewarded by any means.

I think that is part of it...but companies rarely will look at someone without a degree. A tech start up i worked for in cambridge a few years ago wanted to try and be more diverse by hiring people who didn't have degrees...never happened. I'm sure many people who don't have degrees dont bother applying for certain jobs anyways thinking they dont have a chance. I guess they're right because in the overly educated city of Boston they dont. And don't get me wrong...i'd rather live in an educated place than an uneducated one but the need for multiple degrees and what they cost has just become crazy.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I think that is part of it...but companies rarely will look at someone without a degree. A tech start up i worked for in cambridge a few years ago wanted to try and be more diverse by hiring people who didn't have degrees...never happened. I'm sure many people who don't have degrees dont bother applying for certain jobs anyways thinking they dont have a chance. I guess they're right because in the overly educated city of Boston they dont. And don't get me wrong...i'd rather live in an educated place than an uneducated one but the need for multiple degrees and what they cost has just become crazy.

Well that's the thing. If there are so many people who have degrees, there is no sense to look beyond them. It might be just a piece of paper, but when all else is equal it will be the tie breaker.

[OtterTrees]

[quote=bostongymjunkie;60432959]There are a number of ways of getting your loans paid if you are willing to serve the public.

https://studentaid.gov/articles/stud...n-forgiveness/

Nope. Only about 1% of people who applied got the forgiveness. The changed and made up new rules along the way. No one should count on PSLF.

Student loan forgiveness would mostly help women and minorities. A lot of lawyers, doctors, nurse have student loan debt that is pretty overwhelming. I had no debt from undergrad because my parent paid for it. And, I worked full time during grad school and paid off any loand because I was able to stay in that same good job. But, I don't begrudge other people a windfall. They can put that money into the economy as consumers. I would rather the loan forgiveness than all the money that went to already failing and mismanaged businesses from the stimulus packages.

[r_p]

Better to erase the interest. Just buy all loans up to some fixed amount (e.g., $50k) and tell folks to only pay principal as some fixed percentage of paycheck over time.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by r_p

Better to erase the interest. Just buy all loans up to some fixed amount (e.g., $50k) and tell folks to only pay principal as some fixed percentage of paycheck over time.

Want to do that with my mortgage as well?