Student debt now affects a staggering number of elderly Americans

Washington Post ^ | 01/17/2017 | By Abha Bhattarai

[SeekAndFind]

[peggybac]

I know someone whose SS check is being garnished because of her 40 something’s student loan.

[Squantos]

AUTODIDACT POLYMATH ..... FREE except for painful sudden stop lessons learned.

[Ciexyz]

Will those young people turn around and take care of their elders in the future when they have good jobs - we all must be wise in how much debt we take on.

[cmj328]

Funding SJW’s by skipping doctor’s appointments.

[cmj328]

Funding SJW’s by skipping doctor’s appointments.

[Read Write Repeat]

Stop with the interest and let people pay the principal.

[central_va]

IF Trump can get the economy going again and get SCOTUS to overturn Griggs v. Duke Power Co. The USA may have chance.

In the late 1970's the in-state tuition per semester that I paid was $500.00/semester. That same school now charges $5,000/semester. It is out of hand. Minimum wage war $2.65/hr in 1978. Now it is $7.25. Something is way wrong.

[Dilbert San Diego]

What? Don’t follow. People are scheduled to pay both principal and interest. They can pay additional principal if they so desire.

[JennysCool]

Wizened Americans supporting their progeny in learning how to hate their country, wear cool hipster garb, occasionally show up for class, do yoga with their “partner” and “backpack” somewhere trendy. Money well spent, suckers!

[Read Write Repeat]

Yeah, they’re defaulting on that... so make them pay the principal.

Don’t look at me, I hate how the FSL jacked up tuition rates mid-undergrad.

[MattinNJ]

I went to Rutgers but didn’t stay on campus in the mid 80s. Less than a $ 1,000.00 a semester. I painted a couple of apartments on weekwnds in August and December (big moving months) and paid cash duting registration. Did the same in law school although that was a heavier lift. The last year of law school I had a bit of a rough go and my knucklehead budy told me to just borrow the last semester. Can’t remember a damn thing from that semester except to never go in debt and pay cash or don’t buy it. Served me well.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

They should have told their snowflakes to get scholarships or go into plumbing or some such, I guess.

This. Will. Not. End. Well.

PING!

[Auntie Mame]

So many people today do not know how to manage money.

1. NEVER cosign on any loan, ever. It’s a recipe for disaster. There’s always another way.

2. NEVER, ever pay off someone’s maxed-out credit cards for them. I’ve done this three times and EVERY SINGLE TIME the person immediately charged them back up to where they were before I helped them out. I will say the people I did this for paid me back over a very lengthy time, but looking back, I did not help them. They would have been far better off if they’d had to figure it out for themselves.

I’ve had two friends who, when I suggested, to get a better handle on their finances, they quit using credit cards and only use cash replied, “But if I have cash I just spend it.” Well, duh. I don’t know what they think they’re spending when they’re using their credit cards.

These people who let their parents and grandparents take out loans for their college and then leave them saddled and in need because of those loans..... I don’t know how they live with themselves. I’d be working three jobs and doing everything in my power to pay them back.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Got that right. I’d still be living in a room in my friend’s house and shoveling most of my money to Mom if she did that for me.

[Gene Eric]

The cost of college education is unnecessarily high especially when it concerns the universities that rape the minds of the enrollees.

[PAR35]

The $Billions in university endowments to buy down the interest.

[Huntress]

I do debtor-creditor, bankruptcy and tax law, and I always advise my clients to never, ever cosign anyone else’s student loan, even that of your spouse. Student loan debt is worse than any other debt, even taxes. Tax debt can sometimes be discharged in bankruptcy and eventually expires in any case. Student loan debt is nondischargeable and it will follow you to the grave. Any accrued interest is typically compounded yearly, so if you can’t make the full interest payments, your balance grows. If you must borrow to pay for a family member’s schooling, get a bank loan.

[Red Badger]

How does that happen? Cosigned loans?......

[MacMattico]

A private college cost about $250,000 and state schools $100,000 for an undergraduate education. Nobody wants to put any blame on the schools themselves but I do. Their costs have far outpaced inflation. That being said it's all too easy to borrow. A student can only borrow $30,000 total in federal student loans, a parent— as long as they have a decent credit score and regardless of income— can borrow the rest in federal plus loans. This is a huge financial bubble just waiting to burst. Add to that the fact that many 50+ year olds that found themselves out of work or underemployed went back to school and are taking out huge loans. I have worked with people in their 50’s taking out huge loans to finance undergrad degrees in Women's Studies, I have no idea what their plan is when they graduate at 56 with such a degree and $100,000 in debt.