Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Student loan debt is becoming a rampant problem in this country. Student loan debt equals nearly $1 trillion and it is monopolized by 10 student loan corporations. There is more student loan debt than credit card debt and is rapidly approaching residential mortgage debt.
An analyst for the student loan industry even admitted that by 2020, they predict that the problem of student loan debt will have a very noticeable negative impact on the US economy.
People in their 20s and 30s cannot buy houses, save for retirement, or even start businesses without significant hardship due to student loans.
Part of the problem is the high cost of undergradate and graduate education. The other part of the problem is high interest rates, even for government loans.
Another problem is unfairness in the student loan system. It has been stripped of all consumer protections, even discharge in bankruptcy. The corporations that run the racket have no reason to change unfair business practices since they are fully protected.
It is not uncommon for people to owe $100,000 or even $200,000 at the age of 25 or 30 at 8.5% or 12% interest rates. Think undergrad, grad school, etc. Currently only 40% of student loans are in active repayment.
It is not uncommon for people to default on these loans. 20% of the loans made in 1995 are in default and student loan burdens then were much lower than 2005- 2010.
There are stories of people owing $500,000 due to defaulting, penalties, and interest fees. They cannot get rid of this debt in bankruptcy and they have had everything they owned seized, their bank accounts seized, and wages garnished. There is very little recourse one has because there are no consumer protections.
Most other countries make interest free or very low interest loans. The interest charges have made young Americans unable to spend money to jumpstart this economy. Normally the young jumpstart the economy. But today, this is no longer possible.
While ostensibly the money will be repaid eventually, forgiving a portion of this debt will give more people more money to spend they would not pay on interest (i.e. unborrowed or unrealized money).
What are possible solutions to this problem?
Ah.......................... all the gifts to society from liberalism. Another example of good intentions gone wrong.
1. "Demand" via the student loan program has driven up tuition rates. College is available to EVERYONE.
2. The liberal mantra of "pursuing one's dreams" has led a generation of college graduates to pursue worthless degrees, which have little or any chance of landing one a job after graduation. Such degrees used to be the playground of the very rich. Now even the middle class and poor can "afford" to pursue worthless degrees.
3. NAFTA and China most favored nation trade policies (a gift of the Clinton administration) has destroyed our manufacturing base. Did you ever think that those nice white collar service jobs just might depend on a healthy and vibrant manufacturing sector? Of course not!
4. The notion that trade occupations (such as electrician, plumber, ect...) are not for OUR children and are not important. What the hell? I would offer that many of those in trade occupations are better suited and marketable for today's job market.
5. High corporate taxes have driven jobs from our shores. The US has very high corporate taxes, courtesy of liberals, which has made establishment and maintenance of buisness in the US less favorable.
6. High degree of federal regulations has driven business from our shores. The EPA prinicipally, as well as federal trade regulations, has made buisness in foreign nations more palatable. This, of course, is comforting to those who are unemployed, as eventually they will return to employment at much lower wages in much worse working conditions.
Ahhh.................................. what a tangled web we weave. Perhaps the liberal "do gooders" should extract themselves from active intervention in the marketplace, as they have done enough damage already. If active intervention was the solution to prosperity, the USSR would have ruled the world. Maybe the libs can read a little history and spare us all more misery.
Actually a debt owed is not a debt owed. If that were the case, no one would have bankruptcy. If that were the case, a hundred million Americans couldn't go to bankruptcy courts to erase their debts.
Ah.......................... all the gifts to society from liberalism. Another example of good intentions gone wrong.
1. "Demand" via the student loan program has driven up tuition rates. College is available to EVERYONE.
2. The liberal mantra of "pursuing one's dreams" has led a generation of college graduates to pursue worthless degrees, which have little or any chance of landing one a job after graduation. Such degrees used to be the playground of the very rich. Now even the middle class and poor can "afford" to pursue worthless degrees.
3. NAFTA and China most favored nation trade policies (a gift of the Clinton administration) has destroyed our manufacturing base. Did you ever think that those nice white collar service jobs just might depend on a healthy and vibrant manufacturing sector? Of course not!
4. The notion that trade occupations (such as electrician, plumber, ect...) are not for OUR children and are not important. What the hell? I would offer that many of those in trade occupations are better suited and marketable for today's job market.
5. High corporate taxes have driven jobs from our shores. The US has very high corporate taxes, courtesy of liberals, which has made establishment and maintenance of buisness in the US less favorable.
6. High degree of federal regulations has driven business from our shores. The EPA prinicipally, as well as federal trade regulations, has made buisness in foreign nations more palatable. This, of course, is comforting to those who are unemployed, as eventually they will return to employment at much lower wages in much worse working conditions.
Ahhh.................................. what a tangled web we weave. Perhaps the liberal "do gooders" should extract themselves from active intervention in the marketplace, as they have done enough damage already. If active intervention was the solution to prosperity, the USSR would have ruled the world. Maybe the libs can read a little history and spare us all more misery.
A report just came out, I need to find it later, that corporations here all compiled together received more subsidies than what they paid in taxes. So we actually paid them, not the government, our taxes.
There is no way that someone can now have a part time job that pays all the expenses associated with college.
.
That is not true. It's been done many times.
If you can't make the loan payments, don't do the loan.
Student loans should be no different than any other loan. Students choose to make a loan. Then they choose to live beyond their means and not pay the loan. That is stealing.
Actually a debt owed is not a debt owed. If that were the case, no one would have bankruptcy. If that were the case, a hundred million Americans couldn't go to bankruptcy courts to erase their debts.
A hundred million Americans do not go bankrupt.
A debt owed is morally owed. If you choose to not repay it, you are stealing from somebody. You are a thief.
If you can't make the loan payments, don't do the loan.
Student loans should be no different than any other loan. Students choose to make a loan. Then they choose to live beyond their means and not pay the loan. That is stealing.
There are few big challenges right now with the student loan crisis:
1. New grads are unable to find gainful employment (regardless of major)
2. Recent grads are having trouble finding gainful employment and/or making ends meet
3. The cost of living is very high for low income earners in metro areas with more employment opportunity
4. Debts (and college costs are increasing rapidly.)
5. Virtually every job requires a college degree
I finished college 10 years ago. At the state school, costs were about $20k/year with housing and tuition. Tuition was about $12500 per year. Today the tuition is about $15K per year at the same school. A friend of mine, who finished college a year ago, had his tuition increase by 40% during his 4 year matriculation. With these trends, it is very difficult to even plan for tuition costs over your 4-5 year tenure, and schools are making it difficult for you to finish in a timely manner with reduced course availability and crowded classrooms.
I find it troubling that many posters assume working part time is stil an effective way to fund your education. Let's do the math. Pretend that a working college student has a job paying $10/hr.
They would be able to work approximately 1000 hours in a year. (10 full time weeks during the summer, and 15 hours per week during the semester.)
After taxes, best case scenario they'll have $8500 to put towards college expenses. Pretend tuition is $12,500 over a year. $4000 in tuition is left to pay after using all income for school expenses. The student will spend at least $600 for books and another $200 for basic materials. Let's assume this hypothetical student can live for free and have zero living expenses. This student is $25000 in debt at the end of 4 years. If they can actually finish in four years. It is more likely it will take 5 years. so that debt is closer to $30000.
I left college with about $26000 in debt, I am down to $18K now, but I had some rough times during the first couple of years after college. I am hoping to pay this off by 2013. I have friends who have much bigger debts and are struggling to pay things off. A have a friend who declared bankruptcy and has $70k in student loan debt. She works in a low paying industry and the cost of living is very high here. She has a full time job and works another 25-30 hours in a part time job to pay for her bills and loans. There is really no path for her to pay of the debt, and she works 7 days per week between all of the jobs. Unfortunately she isn't able to save much for an emergency fund or retirement and he is in his 30s. Why should students be saddled with such a heavy burden so early on.
There is a huge misconception on the boards that your choice of study impacts your job. There are only a handfule of majors with a direct path to jobs: engineering, some sciences, perhaps math and finance. Everything else is a crapshoot. Very few [insert liberal arts major here] actually expect to get a job in that field. Right now it is very difficult for social science and liberal arts majors o find any job. Especially without connections and experience. Older 20s somethings are settling for lower level jobs to get experience and income.
Today's model isn't sustainable and wil have a huge impact ont he future health of the country.
A debt owed is morally owed. If you choose to not repay it, you are stealing from somebody. You are a thief.
Debtor's prisons were abolished some time ago. You are only a thief if you borrowed money based on fraud with no intent to pay it back. Otherwise you are just in breach of contract...not criminal but civil.
This is the risk banks take when they loan money. If the bank makes a bad loan, banks problem. Banks have been making bad loans over the last 10 years and we rewarded them. They will continue to make bad loans if there is no such thing as bad loans...we bail them out.
in-state tuition in texas is set by the state legislature at 50 bucks per credit hour. 25 years ago it was less than 1/10 as much, but $50 is still quite a bargain, especially for a place like UT.
not that long ago it was possible to put oneself thru 8 years of university with a combination of work/ assistantships/ fellowships/ scholarships and emerge with no debt at all, if you were willing to eat beans and ramen noodles and pretty much live like a peon. that's probably not possible in very many situations any more.
in-state tuition in texas is set by the state legislature at 50 bucks per credit hour. 25 years ago it was less than 1/10 as much, but $50 is still quite a bargain, especially for a place like UT.
not that long ago it was possible to put oneself thru 8 years of university with a combination of work/ assistantships/ fellowships/ scholarships and emerge with no debt at all, if you were willing to eat beans and ramen noodles and pretty much live like a peon. that's probably not possible in very many situations any more.
Can you explain what you mean by 50/hr at UT? Collegeboard.com lists UT as costing 9418/year for in state tuition. That is a lot higher than $50/credit hr.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
