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jgoose71

Student Loan debt on the rise again

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I am not doubting your numbers, but there is a huge difference between $200k debt (alleged by the original post) and a $30K job and $90K debt and a $28K job.

just sayin'

can you pay off $90K? yes you can. People buy houses and cars and they pay them off too. I have no idea what the interest rates are or the typically term as I went to 3 years of college, but never had a student loan.

But my tuition was nothing like it is today either.

All the more reason for subsidized education. Educate your people and in one generation, you will solve many of the problems you have in any society.

too bad politicians typically only look as far as the next 4 years.

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I am not doubting your numbers, but there is a huge difference between $200k debt (alleged by the original post) and a $30K job and $90K debt and a $28K job.

just sayin'

can you pay off $90K? yes you can. People buy houses and cars and they pay them off too. I have no idea what the interest rates are or the typically term as I went to 3 years of college, but never had a student loan.



You may be out of touch, then. I didn't have any when I graduated either. But this year student loan debt passed total American credit card debt.

90k is a lot...young graduates can't afford to buy a home, how can they afford the same level of debt with a typically higher rate of interest?

It's not difficult math. Look at any private liberal arts school charging 40-50k per year. Even with the typical reductions from list price, the average is still in the 20s. The job market for 22yos with sociology degrees is not good right now. And the prices for public schools have been going up rapidly as the state support is now a fraction of what it used to be.

The extreme cases of debt I've heard come from those who attend the trade mill for profit schools...basically the scammers that take advantage of the less bright, promising great job prospects and charging a small fortune. This industry feeds off the loan guarantees. ITT, University of Phoenix, et all.

The other extremely high debt scenarios stem from those who got their BA, let the interest clock start, and then went back for a masters. And haven't been making any payments. The interest quickly catches up with the principle.

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OK I agree with some of that. Why would anyone go to a private liberal arts program for $40-50K per year when community/state colleges are available at far lower prices.?

Somewhere along the line, they must be thinking that they are getting a better education which = better pay, or they are already stinking rich, whatever. Even wealthy Americans take out student loans, most of the time because the terms of the loans are (sometimes) better than the returns they get on their money

I do not disagree with the arguments. The best way to lower those tuition prices? Stop going to the colleges that charge too much.

BUT, I still do not have an answer for ANY example of someone being $200K in debt with a $30K job. The only person i have ever met that has a $200K college debt is an ER doctor who will be able to pay it off. Yes it hurts, but they will be able to pay it off. And they are making far more than $30K.

job markets are bad for everyone, hence the social uprising we see around the country. tea-party or not. right wing or not, economics or not, if this country does not start taking care of its PEOPLE, instead of corporations, then we will likely (eventually) see a French Revolution event.

easing student debt is one way to do that.

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OK I agree with some of that. Why would anyone go to a private liberal arts program for $40-50K per year when community/state colleges are available at far lower prices.?



Lots of reasons, some better than others
1- capacity - the public schools can't take everyone. Despite growing population, we're not seeing many new universities. The University of California was designed for the top 12.5% of state grads, but can't admit nearly that many and due to budget concerns is now shifting some admit slots to out of staters who pay a higher rate.

2- class size - do you want a lecture size of 1000 students? You need to be a bit more self reliant in such an environment

3- class availability - some students take 5-6 years to graduate at public schools due to delays in getting into necessary classes. At Cal, nearly all my friends took Biology 1B before 1A due to this sort of problem. This was a class every would be premed student had to take.

4- Prestige - once you get past the upper crust of public schools, the glamor is gone. That said, the same is really true of private schools as well. The ranking system fostered by USN&WR biased towards private schools due to larger endowments.

5- Emotional ties, be it a football team or the parents' alumni. Parents certainly have irrational preferences, and 17 yo kids are even worse.

6- Terrible financial training. High schools do not train well, or at all generally, on personal finance. There really isn't an understanding of what this debt means, and very lofty ideas about how much money will be earned out of school. (this could be sold by the school, or merely fantasized by the student)

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BUT, I still do not have an answer for ANY example of someone being $200K in debt with a $30K job. The only person i have ever met that has a $200K college debt is an ER doctor who will be able to pay it off. Yes it hurts, but they will be able to pay it off. And they are making far more than $30K.

sociology degree, unknown salary.
http://gawker.com/5696300/what-200000-in-student-debt-looks-like

32k salary.
http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/i-have-student-loans-that-total-over-200k-and-i-on-66664.html

unknown job, but may be excluded from bar due to debts.
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/forums/student-loans/244182-student-loans-paid-off-through-insurance.html

Without even trying hard, I found those. I do think 200k is an outlier value, but 100k is trivial to find and hardly less devastating.

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Listed "Tuition" at a private university is rather like the sticker price on a car. Almost no-one pays it due to various discount (aka "scholarships") offered.

No-one is forced against their will to go to college, or to select an expensive one if they choose to go.

To those who rail against high tuition costs - do the American thing, start your own higher-ed business, hire cheap faculty and go into competition. If you can do it on the cheap and supply a good product, you will make your fortune and, I hope, pay your taxes without whining.
...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

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