I am going to re-read this article every time I get guilt trip vibes from certain quarters about refusing to finance a northeastern private school education for our DS. On paper we could afford to do it.
We have worked hard to educate our sons away from this mind-set.
How did this guy think his college bills were getting paid?
Sorry…holes in the story.
And this signing of loans would have taken place over multiple years, he didn’t just make this mistake ONE time…me made it multiple times.
I can understand that if he attended a large flagship where it probably is “assembly line” signing in the FA office (back then)…no personal touch at all. But this was Conn College…you’d think that the FA employee would have said “something”…even if just, “here’s your Sallie Mae loan, sign here. Who is co-signing? Grandma? Will she be sending in her signature?”
See that’s what doesn’t make sense. Did the parents quietly talk to the FA office ahead of time and say, “hey, don’t say a word about Sallie Mae or co-signer. His grandma will be signing and we’ll make sure she sends in the documents.”
I do believe that he really didn’t know until after his masters degree. He seems to dedicated to his parents to wrongly throw them under the bus.
I just don’t understand why he’s not more annoyed at his parents. They literally went 4-6 years w/o mentioning those Sallie Mae loans existence. The absence of that info is what encouraged him to borrow, rather than work his way thru grad school.
Did Conn College meet full need in 2003-2007? I think so.
If so…why didn’t the parents either contribute to this education…OR insist that he attend a less expensive college if they didn’t want to contribute?
Sorry…choices choices.
^^^ Sounds like the parents come from a family where only “elite” schools are worthwhile. The story given, is that the parents had a couple of setbacks…a fire (home insurance??)…and dad’s unemployment bouts. So, either the impact was exaggerated to the son to explain their personal lack of contribution. Who knows…the house fire may have been an excuse to upgrade beyond insurance, and then the family couldn’t contribute.
If I remember correctly, Conn College had a reputation of preferential pkging (even if it promises to meet need). Maybe older sibling had better stats and got a better pkg, and this one got a worse pkg.
He says this country needs to offer free public education. But would that have prevented him from doing what he did? He could have gone to a public school for far less money and he chose not to because of his “expectations” of attending a private school. And he ignored very wise advice about how to fund his master’s degree.
He says his parents were stressed and embarrassed to admit they couldn’t afford his school. While I feel for them, as parents, it was their responsibility to lay the financial cards on the table rather than taking out more loans.
Just because a schools says “don’t worry, we’ll make the money work” doesn’t mean it will work for each individual situation. I’m sorry that his parents and grandmother gave poor guidance and landed him in this hole. I agree that college costs are outrageous. But demanding something for free is not the answer. If schools like Conn College cost too much, don’t go. If they lose enough students, they’ll lower costs. If there are enough people willing to pay, then they’ll stay elite and expensive. The government does make money too readily available, and they are finally starting to tighten that. But as long as banks are willing to do private loans, no one can stop people from making bad choices.
Didn’t the student ever look at his bursars account? My kids did. That would have clearly stated that money was being paid via a Sallie Mae loan disbursed to the school. Did the student ever receive a refund for overpayment? Did he ever question that if he did?
And like I said…you don’t take out a $100,000 Sallie Mae loan all at once…because college doesn’t cost that much. This student would have signed these loan documents more than once.
A horrible choice…but it is one…he could simply not pay on these loans…and the responsibility for repayment would shift to his cosigner…his grandma.
He was an undergrad starting in 2003…maybe CC didn’t use online much for billing? I don’t know. I still think that the parents were more secretive and cunning than just not telling him about the loans. They had to have privately coordinated with the school to have granny’s forms submitted AND NOT MENTIONED to the son when he was signing his.
His parents certainly wouldn’t be forthcoming about all that was done to coordinate the repetitive deceptions, including intercepting and hiding annual statements from Sallie Mae and possibly from CC.
We know two students who began at Conn in 2004, and the bursars account info was online then. My kid started college in 2003 and his accounts were all online from the get go (different school).
Frankly, since scholarships and parents money were paying for my kids’ expenses, I doubt that they ever looked at the Bursur’s Account online. I had access to their portals just for that purpose.
I can understand that a child who thinks everything has been paid, not looking at the Bursur’s Acct on their portal. I’m not saying that is right, it’s just some people are less involved that way. Maybe because my kids went to private K-12, they were just used to parents dealing with the $ aspects and never gave any of it much thought. Not saying that’s right… lol
That article is a good example of the culture of victimology that is quite common today. “I am not responsible for the decisions that I made.”
I haven’t read all the comments, and I imagine this has been repeatedly said, but, how do you take out $200,000 in loans without knowing about it? Boggles the mind.
Excellent point @InigoMontoya.
OK…I read the whole article. Sorry to say…but the folks at fault here are this family…first in line the oarents, second in line the grandmother (who cosigned) and third in line this student who knew his family had financial issues. Where did he think the money was coming from to pay his $40,000 a year bills at Conn College? A money tree?
Even back in 2003, the Direct Loans were not signed in the financial aid office. The student did entrance counseling and signed a master promissory note…online…using their FAFSA PIN. I know this…because my own kid did it…same year, 2003.
Shame on this family for living beyond its means. The family knew that this college was it within their financial means, but still sent the kid there. You have to wonder how they got grandma to cosign the loans.
This is a not a story about college costs and college loans. This is about an irresponsible family who didn’t encourage their own kid to live within his means.
Sure…there are expensive colleges out there. Some (like Conn) meet full need as the define it. Guess this family didn’t HAVE financial need…this kid didn’t get a free ride.
Families need to make choices in terms of college. And the first tick mark should be “can we pay for this school?”. It should not be "gee…we will get grandma to cosign for $100,000 in private loans…because we don’t want to, aren’t approved to do so…or whatever.
Sorry…but I think the buck stops with the family on this one…and that includes this student.
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Where did he think the money was coming from to pay his $40,000 a year bills at Conn College? A money tree?
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He likely believed that his parents were paying for the “parent share”. The whole “house fire/job loss” is likely the excuse he was told LATER after discovering the loans.
I believe that the parents, with Granny’s help, conspired. Think about it…Granny went 4+ years NEVER mentioning to her grandson ANYTHING about these loans she was cosigning??? If so, then that means the parents purposely told her to not tell him. This all started in 2003 when Granny was in her 70s.
I also think that there was some conspiracy or coordination with the FA office. Maybe those loans weren’t signed in the FA office. Maybe granny and someone else signed his name and sent them to the FA office.
I highly doubt that 4 times, this student got a FA officer at a small LAC who never mentioned the words “sallie mae” when he was signing. I think the parents were involved with some serious shenanigans.
The financial aid office likely DID mention Sallie Mae. And there is no question that the loan amount was written ON the loan documents. It was the student’s responsibility, along with his family, to make sure he understood what he was signing. The family didn’t do this…at all. They just glossed over it.
And now this student is pointing the finger at college costs, and loans and the like.
He needs to have a serious discussion with his parents about this. This starts with them.
And then there is that lesson “never sign anything without reading it first”. Anything. Ok. I can see how maybe the first time around, a 17 year old with stars in their eyes about a private college might not read and understand a loan document. But what about the subsequent three years?
My kids don’t follow their accounts very closely. She dropped a class last fall after the bill was paid in full, and, since Bright Futures pays by the credit, she owed money. I told her to watch for it on her account, but she received a notice that she had a balance and freaked out. Oh, she wasn’t going to get to register! Oh, what was this bill for? Oh Oh OH. I reminded her that it was for dropping a class (seems backward to owe for dropping a class, but that’s how it is) and then she remembered that I’d told her to expect a bill.
My other child is a space cadet and never has any idea what she’s borrowed, what it costs, when bills are due. She’s getting better about following up on things, but she still doesn’t understand the whole picture. However, two years in and she’s borrowed about $3000, not $200k, so I think she’ll be okay.
I am not clear that hearing the words Sallie Mae would have meant anything to this student. Sounds clueless. Sadly also seems common for people to sign stuff without reading it. He trusted his parents and financial aid office is my guess, and couldn’t be bothered to worry about the details.
His parents…they were the first in line…then grandma. The financial aid office didn’t twist anyone’s arm into signing for a loan. The family has to initiate this loan application.
Disgraceful that they did this without thinking about the future AND telling their kid he was on the hook for $100,000 in loans.
And…where are the parents now? Are they offering to help this kid with the loan repayment for loans they actually encouraged?
I’m still not convinced that the parents didn’t manipulate this in a way that fooled this student. He obviously didn’t carry Granny’s signed loan papers, so how did those get to the office each year?
I’m not saying that the student is 100% innocent, but I do think that his parents were disgraceful in how they manipulated this whole thing to fool him. ,
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My kids don’t follow their accounts very closely. She dropped a class last fall after the bill was paid in full, and, since Bright Futures pays by the credit, she owed money. I told her to watch for it on her account, but she received a notice that she had a balance and freaked out. Oh, she wasn’t going to get to register! Oh, what was this bill for? Oh Oh OH. I reminded her that it was for dropping a class (seems backward to owe for dropping a class, but that’s how it is) and then she remembered that I’d told her to expect a bill.
My other child is a space cadet and never has any idea what she’s borrowed, what it costs, when bills are due. She’s getting better about following up on things, but she still doesn’t understand the whole picture. However, two years in and she’s borrowed about $3000, not $200k, so I think she’ll be okay.
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This is more common than what some here may realize. Many kids don’t pay attention to the finances…even if they should.