Posted on 06/17/2019 11:13:11 AM PDT by Hojczyk
I have $235,000 of student debt. The first $120,000 came with a bachelor’s degree from my state school. Another $70,000 or so came with my master’s degree. The remainder is accrued interest.
I would have to begin devoting half of my income to debt payment if I cared to pay it off by 2042. I can’t do that because I make just under $4,000 per month. And that income is a fairly new development in my life. Why would I choose to pay down my debt if it meant I wouldn’t be able to afford basic living expenses?
My parents are in their 60s and 70s and will live the rest of their lives with my student debt. Likely so will I. Again – we won’t be alone.
Three million Americans over the age of 60 are paying off student debt. Approximately 40,000 of them are having Social Security or other government payments garnished.
College was supposed to be about getting ahead in life. But it’s become a driver of inequality.
It does not have to be this way.
Some economists say that forgiving student debt would boost GDP by $100 billion per year for ten years and add several million jobs to the economy. It would unlock the capacity of 44 million Americans to buy homes, launch small businesses, and retire with dignity.
Congress could pay for it by repealing the $1.5 trillion tax cut it passed in 2017. Primarily benefiting the wealthy and corporations, even Goldman Sachs says that whatever economic boost the tax cut brought with it has passed.
And to keep future generations from suffering under the burden of student debt, Congress could make public colleges, universities, and trade schools in the United States free.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
My son took out a student loan. He went to Iraq and saved every tax-free penny for a year to pay it.
“Forgive” student debt and you will make a fool of him. In fact, you’ll be using his tax dollars to pay someone else’s debt after he served in combat to pay his.
“You sound bitter”
Just calling out double standards. GOP was all for TARP bailing out the banks, with my tax money When middle class millennials get in debt, I see FR posts calling for “debtors prison”
I opposed the TARP bailouts of the Bush family friends, partly because it would spread the bailout mentality’s, and it has. And I am so glad I didn’t vote for Bush’s re-election - at a time he was considered a god by many on this site. His policies didn’t just bring us endless wars and open borders, they created a bailout entitlement mentality among Americans. Only catch is, only the rich get bailed out
Eh, because of the “student loan” scam and tuition fees ratcheting up well in excess of monetary inflation rates it’s not realistic to work through college, not in any meaningful sense of paying down debt. Those days are long gone. In my case I opted to go back in the military, it took a few years but I paid every bit of it back. I saw even then the university system was corrupted in some very, very sick ways.
I was pissing into a 60 mph wind and got all wet. Could the government send somebody over to dry me off?
Perhaps honor or integrity. Or maybe honoring your parents.
“...My parents are in their 60s and 70s and will live the rest of their lives with my student debt. Likely so will I. Again – we won’t be alone....Three million Americans over the age of 60 are paying off student debt. Approximately 40,000 of them are having Social Security or other government payments garnished. ......”
So why do parents co-sign loans for children's student debt without making them get good paying summer jobs or at least internships that pay a little, but provide for a better starting salary? What ever happened to financial aid that most universities have? I remember being a Teaching Assistant, I remember my wife working in the dorm cafeteria. I remember working weekend and summer jobs.
I guess it truly is an “entitled generation.” No need to figure out a good career. No need to work during school to pay off bills. No need to work during summers to save up for expenses. No need to honor your own debts and keep them away from your parents. How incredibly sad, especially the day after Father's day.
His problem will be others’ problem.
The federal government needs to make reforms no later than early August.
Co-signing by the school for all new money should be the highest priority.
Elizabeth Warren has a plan, a bad one, but it will be reality unless there’s bipartisan action.
People only lost homes that they couldn’t afford in the first place. The rest of world is not responsible for idiots. The government bailed out the banks because they forced them into that situation because of politically correct BS.
The government should “attach” the paycheck for the minimum payment due. If the smart a*s student doesn’t want to pay interest only for the rest of his life he can decide to be smart and pay more than the minimum.
As far as forgiving student debt, I’m all for it as long as the government first forgives all mortgage debt, then all credit card debt and then all personal loan debt, then student debt. At which time we might as well change our Country’s name from America to Venezuela.
I noticed he didn't say anything about his qualifications.
My daughter saw this deliberate misrepresentation of reality as a senior. She had a 3 hour social science requirement meet so she took first semester of freshman psychology. She said the Psych instructors were constantly selling a psych major to the students, claiming all sorts of high paying jobs out there for psych majors.
She got a BS in Chemistry & Physics. PhD now, married & works at a research lab.
My son in law as well.
And my daughter was a paramedic for several years before getting her masters. She still picks up a couple of shifts a month.
It is hard, nasty work.
Certainly, its not interning at the local CVS.
At some point, we run out of hills to defend. What then?
IOW, bitter; there have always been double standards. Your task is to be on the side that gets favorable treatment. Sorry if they didn't teach this in school - it's hidden from public sight for a reason: so losers never get a clue as to how the game is rigged.
GOP was all for TARP bailing out the banks, with my tax money.
Now, that's some funny she!t right there. Why is that so many are financially ignorant? First of all, if it wasn't for the Fed and large city banks financing our military's ability to defend the dollar, the dollar itself wouldn't be the global reserve currency. Without reserve status, the US wouldn't have the ability to rack up a $X trillion federal debt, nor be able to run $X billion annual budget deficits. Without those forms forms of (perpetual) financial/economic stimulus, you/me and everyone else would have neither jobs nor investments. Therefore, you wouldn't have two pennies to rub together much less pay taxes with "your" money. LOL
The TL;DR version: the Fed loans the USG $trillions, which is used to finance a significant part of the economy. The reminder is driven off the multiplier effect, so it's all just an illusion. Print money, spend money, tax money. Now you know the reason that at the end of the day, you end up with nothing (ie no savings). You started with nothing, your masters prime the hamster wheel, you run, and after 8-10 hours, your financial position is no different than if you didn't work at all.
“The government bailed out the banks because they forced them into that situation because of politically correct BS.”
So you supported the bank bailouts. Ok, got it
“Seems like a trade school was a better idea.”
Yep. My younger son went to a community college and studied welding and machining. Cheap education. At 30 years old, he’s grossing about $60,000 per year and was just promoted to shop super/lead man, whatever. Not much, but he’s debt-free. If he wanted to back to college and get an engineering degree, I’d gladly support him. Liberal arts, no way.
“My parents cosigned my loans because we’re first-generation immigrants. Moving to the U.S. was about giving me a chance to live my best life. College was a critical component and we couldn’t afford it any other way. The only reason they can afford those $600 monthly payments now is because they paid off their 30-year mortgage just a few years ago.
My parents are in their 60s and 70s and will live the rest of their lives with my student debt. Likely so will I. Again – we won’t be alone.”
Oh, cry me a river. Someone who just must get a Master’s degree sounds proud and stupid to me. My older son had a 4-year merit scholarship to engineering school. Did OK until he went to Iraq with the Marine Reserves after 2 years and got killed. One could say he was proud and stupid, but it wasn’t self-serving.
My wife is a first-generation immigrant. We struggled after we came back from my Peace Corps tour in Thailand with little to no money. Had to change careers on the fly and work for a living.
The family in question seems to have fallen into the trap of easy credit for education expenses. Scandalous.
there have always been double standards“
You’re right there. I happen to believe in calling them out
“Just calling out double standards. GOP was all for TARP bailing out the banks, with my tax money”
It’s time to trim back the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation too. The time to do it is now.
Had enough money to climb Mt Kilimanjaro, walk around the MidEast, get an MA (but not a Masters, or addition to the Masters?), .... But can’t pay his debts.
College did this person no favors. No wonder they have so much debt.. They’re as dumb as a stump. And what the hell are they doing outside of medicine or law that cost so much money?
There are ways to drive down student costs, but tuition elimination is not one of them. The government needs to cease involvement in a college education, and these colleges have to operate entirely on their own merit. No grants, subsidies, or bailouts. Your school has to bring in students on its own.
If assistance is to be provided for anything, it should be class materials and not the classes themselves. That was the part that made it difficult to me; paying for the books and materials after paying for the classes.
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