<p>The problem is that there are some people out there who are now hitting the quarter million mark and more in terms of loans owed due to interest. Heck, it’s worse than a mortgage these days, since the rates for those are far lower. Th effects of compound interest are deadly. There comes a point when the loan is just not payable under these conditions. </p>
<p>My oldest son is quite intrepid when it comes to getting work. He had jobs when there was every reason under the sun for him not to have any. And he would have them in plural and well paying. He was working for a failed retailer who tagged him as the hatchet man. He was sent to areas to close down the stores. Worst than the George Clooney charactor in that movie where his job is to fire people, a movie DS could not watch through and he is not a sensitive soul. His experiences as the guy who turned out the lights in many a depressed town still haunt him. And he, the guy who always can find a job, could not find anything else in those areas. He looked and there was simply nothing there. He had thought about staying in one city as there were some high education opportunities available, some folks he liked and a very nice place to live. But no jobs. Nothing. And it has to be arid for him to find nothing. None of these areas are small towns either. A first hand look at some of the areas hit hardest with the poor economy can really be frightening.</p>
<p>I am discussing this specific situation on this thread cpt. I would love to have a larger discussion of the whole issue but then it will get too political for this forum. The system is broken. Our whole system is teetering on the brink. Of course it will affect me and everyone else. All the easy credit and debt and irresponsible spending that has been going on is this country for decades affects every one of us. What is even more upsetting to me is how it is going to continue to affect my children and their children. </p>
<p>I am trying to limit my comments to the specific story mentioned in this thread and share some personal experience with how these situations can come about even when people do have good information. That is all. Not everyone who gets into this kind if debt is some clueless dope who had no idea what they were getting into. I am sorry this kid is saddled with this debt but again he made choices and now he has to pay. It isn’t tough luck you are right. Luck had nothing to do with the fix he is in. I have no idea how he made such poor choices but he did. Now he has to pay. We all have to pay. Many of us are tired of paying over and over again for the same thing. Irresponsible behavior should not be rewarded. Responsible behavior should be encouraged. This isn’t that complicated. What it takes is people being willing to say no, we can’t afford that and we aren’t going to borrow more than we can repay. If course this is a huge systemic problem and this one story is a tiny piece of it. </p>
<p>I really don’t think I have anything else to add to this particular thread.</p>
<p>Some kids shouldn’t go to college because various reasons but no politician is going to say no to more educated people…if he wants to keep HIS job.</p>
<p>It’s scary to think that he’s 41 and just finished paying off his loans. I wouldn’t be able to sleep nights. I went to a juco for two years, then a state school and graduated with no debt.</p>
<p>College costs what it costs largely because money to pay for college is so easy to obtain. There is no political will to change the system. The WSJ article focuses principally on the proposed legislation to require information about majors and potential salaries be provided to potential students. As many have pointed out, that information is readily available in a general form, or is common sense as pointed out in the article, to wit, a fine arts major is probably not going to make a lot of money. This is not the problem.</p>
<p>Bay’s suggestion upthread to lower interest rates, extend the loan, and help these students get a job might work. We keep hearing about “investing” in infrastructure, so maybe these “government jobs” can get some of that student labor. Probably a lot of manual labor, but if your smart enough to get into Goucher, then maybe you can learn how to operate a shovel. Provide a cot and food and pay them $15K a year until the loan is paid off (or they get a better job).</p>
<p>At the same time, allow the discharge of all future student loans. That should stop this problem - period. There may be a period of readjustment for colleges.</p>
<p>I did not read every post, but the debt is crippling. However, how can anyone think that a political science degree from a dinky LAC that is not too competitive will be worth that kind of debt? </p>
<p>To me, discharging the debt is a really bad idea. It certainly will make kids like mine who chose no debt with a lower ranked school think about why they took the practical route when they could have taken on debt and then had it taken over by the govt(I know that this is currently not happening).</p>
<p>This type of story should also serve as a warning to those who are trying to decide if the dream is worth it. It seems as though the stories come out every year about this time.</p>
<p>And as far as working for the govt, there is a freeze on now.</p>
<p>Loras College in Dubuque, IA has taken a radical stance on college costs. They are going to match the cost of state colleges in four states for qualified students (Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, & Minnesota). Talk about trend setting!</p>
<p>The problem with extending the repayment period for all loans is that it will increase families’ borrowing abilities and lead to increased borrowing. We need a muti-pronged approach but one way to hold down costs is prepaid tuition plans. These plans give states an incentive to hold down costs and encourage families to save.</p>
<p>“The amount of money the central bank parceled out was surprising even to Gary H. Stern, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis from 1985 to 2009, who says he “wasn’t aware of the magnitude.” It dwarfed the Treasury Department’s better-known $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Add up guarantees and lending limits, and the Fed had committed $7.77 trillion as of March 2009 to rescuing the financial system, more than half the value of everything produced in the U.S. that year.” </p>
<p>And there were/are no guarantees that the banks will ever pay it back. Why do we expect more of 20 year olds than we do of bankers? (oh, I know the answer - that’s just rhetorical…)</p>
<p>However, Loras’ freshman admission profile indicates that it is not really competing against the state flagships for students. The GPA and test scores of admitted freshmen seem to be more like those of those states’ directional or branch campus schools than the flagships.</p>
<p>Seton Hall did something similar, matching Rutgers’ in-state price for freshmen with an ACT of 27 and class rank of top 10%.</p>
<p>Wage data is available all over the internet—if the kid isn’t smart enough to look it up on his own vs having to have it spoon fed from his college I say he deserves what he got. Do you really know anyone that can’t understand that $100,000 debt for an undergraduate degree, ANY UG degree is a bad idea??</p>
<p>We have some friends who’s DD was adamant about attending a certain college and majoring in anthropology. She ended up with close to $100,000 in loans. They did co-sign and know they were taking a chance but did so with the clear understanding that they would NOT pay off any of those loans. She did gradate in 4 years and got a job in her field within a couple months of graduation but she is now learning her lesson as expenses are very tight.</p>
<p>As for Loras–smart marketing plan. If they can get those top students to attend, their stats will look a lot better in short order. Their freshman class isn’t all that far off the mark for the flagship in Iowa–ACT scores of 21-26 vs 22-28. The average net price for this school is below the flagship at all income levels except the 110,000+ and even then only $1000 more. Not a bad deal really. Their net cost is WELL below MN and WI flagship costs.</p>
<p>Wasn’t that long ago that Obama finished up on his college loans. Sometimes it does pay off to take them. People do win the lottery too.</p>
<p>Maybe schools like Goucher should take in their unemployed grads that owe more than they can begin to pay and give them jobs to pay off the loans. Or some sort of listing as to which schools are generating these students that are in loan trouble. Right now the loan info for schools is very limited because it only counts the student loans processed by the school. Most all schools are within the same ranges when you look. The report that is going to be put together on colleges should also list those schools with the most loan deadbeats.</p>