Posted on 03/24/2012 6:55:44 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Whatever happened to the American dream of going to college, landing a great job and living happily ever after? College is supposed to be about getting off to a great start, but it’s a financial noose that threatens to kill our young and everybody else too. The U.S. has the dubious distinction of now having more than $1 trillion in outstanding student loan debt.
The crisis has the full attention of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which in a recent blog , presented its sobering findings.
“Unlike other consumer credit products, student debt keeps growing at a steady clip. Students borrowed $117 billion in just federal student loans last year. And students continue to borrow private student loans, which lack the income-based repayment and deferment options of federal student loans. If current trends continue, there will be consequences not just for young people, but for all of us,” wrote CFPB’s student loan ombudsman Rohit Chophra.
Worse still, he writes, according to data from the Department of Education, federal student loan debt isn’t growing just with new originations — with so many borrowers unable to keep up with interest payments, debt is growing even for many who have left school. Too much debt means too much risk for a generation of young people, many of whom are struggling in today’s economy.
What’s the impact? Excessive student debt slows a recovery still trying to find its sea legs. Study after study has shown that young people are delaying the traditional rite of passage of launching out on their own and starting families. With so much debt, on average about $26,000 for undergrads, and many unemployed or underemployed, they are running back home, instead of looking for their first apartment or home.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
BOHICA.....here comes another bailout.
FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304450004577279662086752488.html
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Here’s how New York Fed economists describe them: “Of the 37 million borrowers who have outstanding student loan balances as of third-quarter 2011, 14.4 percent, or about 5.4 million borrowers, have at least one past due student loan account.” That adds up to past-due balances of about $85 billion, or roughly 10% of total student loans, which is about the same past-due rate for other types of household debt such as mortgages, credit cards and auto loans.
Not bad, taxpayers might conclude, considering the government is handing out student loans regardless of credit history or ability to repay. But the researchers dug deeper.
“Does this mean that the prospects for student loan delinquencies are similar to those for the household debt in general, and thus no special attention is warranted?” asks the New York Fed. “Unfortunately, this is not the case—some special accounting used for student loans, not applicable to other types of consumer debt, makes it likely that the delinquency rates for student loans are understated.”
Are they ever. After correcting for this “special accounting,” says the Fed study, “We find that 27 percent of the borrowers have past due balances, while the adjusted proportion of outstanding student loan balances that is delinquent is 21 percent—much higher than the unadjusted rates of 14.4 percent and 10 percent, respectively.”
THE CFPB puts out a blog that supports the Occupoopers’ position (student loan bailout). I’m shocked! /sarc
Didn’t 0bama promise to forgive some of the loans? You know, for votes?
There is a proposal to forgive loans that are ten years or older in Congress, but it hasn’t been voted on yet.
When I went to college you either went on the GI bill, WW2 & Korea, or you worked to pay for it.
If you can’t pay for it don’t borrow the money!!!
Leave the law as is where you can’t wipe out the debt with bankruptcy!!
Push easy money into housing loans and you get a real-estate bubble.
Push easy money into college loans and you get a college expense bubble.
Push easy money into healthcare and you get a medicare expense bubble.
The goverment can’t resist, and the voters who elect them will never learn. We must forever banish the federal government from the free market.
Care to put that chart right up against the total compensation for public employees? I betcha that it’ll be just about the same, when including all employee compensation, including more than a month of paid vacation each year, gold plated health benefits, and a retirement program that would be the envy of any hard working self employed person.
More interesting would be to add in one for employees of non-profits. Pretty close to the same end result, but the rise is concentrated in the last decade.
It’s just all embezzlement of ‘free’ money.
Excellent chart. Bill Ayers and his ilk have gotten 400% plus pay raises to help destroy the country. Three generations of idiots with government given “rights” have demonstrated that a lot of people have lots of degrees but no education.
problem is that college tuition fees have outpaced inflation for a long time. These kids don’t have the voice and experience to tell us but they ARE drowning in this and our debt including SS and having to take care of us in our old age.
Add that 53 milliion of their peers have been killed off by their mothers and d-—head absentee
They won’t recognize their enemy and they don’t see a friend in the Republican Party. They write off Newt as an old geyser. He should align himself with them. He could. He’s had a lot of education.
This guy (you know who) is seeking a way to get votes and that’s what the discussion is about.
Just ‘cause we don’t like it doesn’t mean it won’t work.
1100 per year it cost me to get an excellent education at a state school. Used the GI B for a second valuable degree.
Newt, if you are reading this, take heed.
These kids are in serious trupble and they need help or they’ll get into despair.
But could we take a look at
d-—head absentee fathers/boys taking advantage of this sick situation=sick mis informed girls
But could we take a look at . . . No idea. The editing option is my friend Must remember.
Thanks for the chart, SeekAndFind.
There are several ironies in this proposed bail out for student loans:
* Most of those taking out student loans are middle class or upper class, since the poor got federal grants or scholarships. Now the poor or less educated get to bail out middle class college educated people.
* The government has been increasingly tying federal service to student loan forgiveness. Shall we see a broad “forgiveness” of this unbankruptable debt in return for virtual federal slavery?
* Student loan forgiveness means loans for education will dry up for future students.
I had an athletic scholarship, a campus job and I still had to borrow money. I will say I paid it all back tho. Probably puts me in a minority.
Since the government nationalized the student loan industry last year, this isn't going to happen. It's just another government program that will continue to be funded regardless of whether it makes sense to do so or not.
On the other hand, the schools will jack up their prices to ensure that every student that comes through their doors will end up with a student loan that equals the maximum amount the student is allowed to borrow. As you have pointed out, since it's a government loan, the student can't get out from under it unless the student bows to the will of the federal government and takes certain jobs, gets certified as 100% disabled (by the same government), or dies. These loans are NOT bankrupt-able.
In other words, college educated individuals (virtually all of whom are in the middle class) are now rooked into 20 years or more of paying an undocumented tax ... the interest on the loan. Or, if they do default on the loan, the government gets to keep their income tax refunds as well an any other over-payments they may make to the federal coffers.
I hadn't thought of this until the other day because we generally concentrate on the 20% or so who default on the loan. But the other 80% are stuck paying interest (albeit a low interest rate) on a loan to the government for many, many years. How much is the government profiting off this?
In any other industry, I would think that there would be a RICO investigation warranted.
The loans are overwhelmingly just income transfers to the left. Outside of math, science, and engineering, the typical college degree today has little or no real value.
We have two kids in school. The boy tells me everybody max out their student loans and most believe they won’t ever pay it back. He wanted to apply and I wouldn’t let him. We pay a monthly bill to tuition management, averages $1400/month/ kid; so we are paying right under 3 gran/month to keep the kids in school. At least I have a clear conscious about the kid’s future and know we ain’t takers. Driving old vehicles, doing without doesn’t bother none; but I’d sure hate to feel like I somehow helped bankrupt student loans. Anybody can afford the kid’s college, just priorities.
Student loans were designed for only one purpose...and that was not to help students to go to college who couldn’t afford it.
Listen carefully...it was to guarantee unlimited income for the colleges...period! Nothing more.
IMHO.....the student loan thingy is right up there with the mortgage fraud mess.....and while nobody forced anybody to sign any papers, the product being sold and the potential returns were conveniently obfuscated.
The student loan thingy is morally worse as the government has colluded to prevent discharge In bankruptcy, thereby creating an indentured servant class that has not been seen in this country since the 17th and 18th centuries.
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