Posted on 05/06/2018 10:57:14 PM PDT by Wally_Kalbacken
Here’s a nickel,Rick....call somebody who cares!
The rational solution (there is only one) is to make student loans dischargeable by bankruptcy.
The universities have been promising a value they knew that they weren’t delivering for many decades.
After rip-off taxes, over-priced medical insurance, and inflation, it isn’t. My salary is a little more than 55K. I live a very basic life.
On paper, I am making the most ever but it sure as heck doesn’t go far.
At least no student loans or CCs. I have a few living expenses and only one outstanding arrangement with a relative to pay back a loan that should be wrapped up later this year.
He jus need a new Soc.
BTW, I graduated in 1976 with a BS in Engineering, and no debt. I have paid off my house, and retired early. Not rich, but doing OK.
The student loan debt problem was one created by a combination of corrupt politicians and greedy educators.
A partial solution would be to start taxing the multi-billion dollar endowment funds that the big money universities are sitting on. Use that to buy down the debt.
Then change the bankruptcy laws to let the debt, but not the principal, be discharged in a 7 or 13.
Not rich, but doing OK.
Did exactly the same.
Enjoying life now.
Then I tried for that Loan forgiveness because I was teaching in an inner city middle school in downtown L.A., and let me tell you, I was providing one hell of a social service, working with some of those kids. But due to a technicality, I also didn't qualify.
But in the end, I retrenched, and paid off all my debt. I made my last student loan payment in March, and 14 years after graduating, finally finished it off. It was a burden that I still don't feel quite free of. Like I have residual pressure still lingering in my chest. But it's gone, and once I've built up my savings to a respectable level, I think I'll finally breathe free again.
Clarence Thomas took a type of loan that required a long payout. He was actually an Associate Justice on SCOTUS and still paying student loans.
That said, I also believe that taking student loans for most degrees is pretty foolish.
On the flip side, one of my kids graduates Saturday with a aerospace engineering degree. He has about $15,000 in loans and owes us about $10,000. He had some decent scholarships and his college job actually had education reimbursement. He should be at a high enough income level that the loans can be paid off quickly.
I’m one of those weird Dave Ramsey sort of people. We rarely had any debt besides our house. We just took out a car loan simply because the interest payment is far less than the revenue we’re making on the investments. Plus, the engineer should be making our car payments for us
Another issue is students borrowing the money and mis-spending it.
Borrowing to go on Spring Break trips. The 1/5 of students borrowing on student loans to buy Bitcoin.
Hitler 2.0 is going to get elected in this country on a promise to forgive student loans.
Just sayin’.
Your case illustrates needed reforms in the student loan business. Obviously, you pursued—and completed—a demanding degree with high value in the marketplace. Yet, you paid the same interest rates as future barristas earning worthless degrees in gender studies, sociology, and art history.
My proposal is to cut—or even eliminate—interest on student loans being used to fund degrees in high-demand fields, assuming the student maintains at least a 3.0 GPA (I’d be willing to go a bit lower for fields like Double-E). And, I’d also be willing to forgive the balance after a specified number of years for engineers working for firms that hold government contractors, or those employed with federal agencies.
At the other end of the spectrum, I’d charge interest (at used car loan/bad credit score rates) to students using loans to finance worthless degrees. Yes, you can still get that diploma in women’s studies, but you’ll be paying 15-25% interest. So, you can keep paying for your mistake for years to come after graduation. And who knows? Living in mom and dad’s basement into your 50s might inspire you to go back to school and learn a new skill like plumbing, HVAC repair or being an electrician, something that will help you get a real job and actually contribute to society—other than that scintillating thesis on “Queer Traditions in Sub-Saharan Africa.”
Graduate from college and have no understanding of money, debt, work, Christianity, the Truth.
“Hitler 2.0 is going to get elected in this country on a promise to forgive student loans.”
That will be in 2020. A top concern for the younger generations is their student loans.
Can you say looooser! I paid my loans off...
Tallini has my sympathy, in a way. He is hooked by a system which exploits human misery and desperation to gain government money, at his expense.
Here's how it works - register on an online job search site, and you will immediately be bombarded with e-mails and phone calls requesting information from you. No jobs are offered, they really want to know how much student debt you have. Their objective is to sign you up for "classes which will improve your resume".
Many "Loooosers" will sign up, they need a job and think this might get them one.
In the end, the looooser is no closer to employment, but the college gets a pile of money from Uncle Sugar which he is responsible for paying back. The job search site gets money too, from sale of his info to the college I suppose.
Sad thing is that at 61, Mr. Tallini probably still won't get a job offer, the debt will get tacked on his coffin, and the taxpayers will have to cover it.
What law firm is going to hire an associate in his 30s?
“The biggest reason Tallini’s student loan debt increased so much is because of his extended periods of nonpayment...”
“Nonpayment”? Isn’t that like...not paying back money that you owe? Money you agreed to pay?
I have no sympathy for this deadbeat.
Our kids, two years apart, applied for college “aid”. As a result of the FAFSA application process, we discovered we were too white and financially successful to get anything but loans. Reading the fine print, we realized the interest rate plus upfront fee would be in the 8-9% range. This was at a time you could get a no money down 30-yr mortgage in the range of 3-3.5%. I said no way.
Wound up putting all of their college expenses on our USAir card...paying it off each month...paid zero interest or fees...stuck the college with the Visa fees...and got a ton of airmiles.
I like your method of variable interest rates depending on degree. STEM studies should get a very low rate.
How so? What are the prospects of a lawyer in his late 30s/early 40s with zero job experience in a difficult market?
Let's put it this way, he didn't have to wear shades.
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