Posted on 07/09/2021 8:24:00 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,
Financially Hobbled for Life
Unable to discharge debts in bankruptcy, students with useless degrees, especially master's degrees are Financially Hobbled for Life.
Recent film program graduates of Columbia University who took out federal student loans had a median debt of $181,000. Yet two years after earning their master’s degrees, half of the borrowers were making less than $30,000 a year.
The university is among the world’s most prestigious schools, and its $11.3 billion endowment ranks it the nation’s eighth wealthiest private school.
Lured by the aura of degrees from top-flight institutions, many master’s students at universities across the U.S. took on debt beyond what their pay would support, the Journal analysis of federal data on borrowers found. At Columbia, such students graduated from programs including history, social work and architecture.
Undergraduate students for years have faced ballooning loan balances. But now it is graduate students who are accruing the most onerous debt loads. Unlike undergraduate loans, the federal Grad Plus loan program has no fixed limit on how much grad students can borrow—money that can be used for tuition, fees and living expenses.
Panic Attack
“There’s always those 2 a.m. panic attacks where you’re thinking, ‘How the hell am I ever going to pay this off?’ ” said 29-year-old Zack Morrison, of New Jersey, who earned a Master of Fine Arts in film from Columbia in 2018 and praised the quality of the program. His graduate school loan balance now stands at nearly $300,000, including accrued interest. He has been earning between $30,000 and $50,000 a year from work as a Hollywood assistant and such side gigs as commercial video production and photography.
“We were told by the establishment our whole lives this was the way to jump social classes,” said Matt Black of an Ivy League education. Instead, he said he feels such goals as marriage, children and owning a home are out of reach.
Grant Bromley, 28, accumulated $115,000 in federal loans while getting his Master of Arts in film and media studies at Columbia. Mr. Bromley earns around $16 an hour and can’t afford to pay down his loan balance, which is $156,000, including undergraduate debt and interest. “It’s a number so large that it doesn’t necessarily feel real,” he said.
Highly selective universities have benefited from free-flowing federal loan money, and with demand for spots far exceeding supply, the schools have been able to raise tuition largely unchecked. The power of legacy branding lets prestigious universities say, in effect, that their degrees are worth whatever they charge.
Who's Offering Useless Master's Degrees?
The answer is the same as who's offering useless degrees in general: They all do.
Where the heck is someone with a master's degree in stagecraft, art, history, political science, photography, English, foreign language, culinary arts, etc., etc., etc., supposed to get a job that will pay the bills?
A few will get lucky, the rest will be financially hobbled for life.
Dear President Biden, You Need an Education, Starting With the Meaning of "Free"
I had no idea the above article was coming out today. Yet, I mentioned an aspect of it yesterday in Dear President Biden, You Need an Education, Starting With the Meaning of "Free"
George W. Bush signed the "Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005" making student debt uncancellable in bankruptcy. Guess what happend?
Biden's solution of course is a "free" money student debt forgiveness program.
Student debt is not dischargeable in bankruptcy so the cost of programs soared along with the willingness of universities to promote useless degrees for the masses.
Administrators and teachers who make more when enrolments rise piled on. And of course the unions piled on encouragements in need of money to support ridiculous pensions.
With the money pouring in, the salaries of football coaches and administrators soared.
Don't forget mainstream media parroting the need for everyone to get a degree with no mention ever that most degrees are worthless.
Endowments
Columbia University compares its endowment program to that of other bigger schools. Donate, donate, donate is the mantral.
Don't Donate a Penny!
Endowment money is not for students, it's a slush fund for administrators, coaches, and their pension plans.
Solutions
Biden's Free Education Program
Instead of doing anything that makes any sense, Biden's proposes "free education" as does Elizabeth Warren and Progressives in general.
The problem is "free" someone is paying for the building, the teachers, the coaches, the staff, the administrators, and the pension plans.
Make it "free" and there is no limit on any of the above.
"Free" is the typical proposal, but "free" is never the solution in practice.
Mish
Do all of those things before going to a "school".
“Stupid is supposed to hurt.” Lurker’s Granddad.
L
Academic financial complex…
I know the feeling. My Masters Degree in Medieval Plumbing has yet to pay off.
Need to teach risk reward and financial analysis in high school...or at least smart parents should.
Some can barely pay the interest on their loans. Our colleges and universities have become institutions of indoctrination and indentured servitude.
I’ve been looking high and low for someone who can design a vomitorium for me. Interested?
RE: So, it works for some people.
OK, out of a hundred students of FILM SCHOOL, how many end up like your housemate?
What’s the first thing a graduate with a B.A. in Ethnic Studies says their first day on the job?
“Would you like to super size that order?”
This is a good thing! Used to be that 3rd Grade was the cutoff for stupid people. Then it became 12th. Now, with close to no standards, it’s the ‘degrees’ in narcissism!
College students need to do their own due diligence. But a good part of the blame must be assigned to their lying advisors.
Consider an 18-year-old college kid. He likes movies. But more than that. He has an interest in how movies reflect society, and they shape society. So he meets with an advisor in the film department. It’s that advisor’s job to get students to take film classes. So he’ll flat-out lie to the kid. He’ll tell the kid about all the “opportunities” available to a person with a degree in film.
Next thing you know, the kid has a worthless degree, and is deeply in debt.
Is there a solution? Yes. Make colleges co-sign loans. Of course, that will never happen.
*************
The federal government. All that is needed to get a good paying, secure job is liberal political connections. No other qualifications necessary.
One thing more useless then a high school career guidance counselor - a college career guidance counselor ( or your college major advisor !).
“His graduate school loan balance now stands at nearly $300,000,”
What was he thinking?
Any useless degrees, especially master’s degrees are Financially Hobbling for Life.
They should be labeled as IUD’s, aka Instant Unemployment Degrees!
What a racket. This needs to end.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.