<p>^^They are “public” but not “state” schools. PA’s system is kind of weird. Penn State and Pitt (the two most “desired” publics) are considered “state-related” and have accordingly higher price tags.</p>
<p>^mom2 they are “state affliated” …they take less state money so they can hike up tuition. Our only true 'state schools" in PA are Tier 4s</p>
<p>Cross post with Keil</p>
<p>*
One family on this Cc forum actually looked at there 5 kids coming into college age and moved south where the state schools are much cheaper. Not an option for all but really, what a great idea.*</p>
<p>Some don’t even need to move here to the south…If scores are high enough, some southern schools will give generous scholarships. Some OOS students come here because it’s cheaper than their in-state choices.</p>
<p>^^like me :D</p>
<p>First of all I am very upset at the thought that my hard earned tax dollars might be used to bail out college loans for irresponsible individuals. I didn’t take out loans to go to some high end school. I went to a state school that was affordable for my parents and myself. When my older brother wanted to go to a school more expensive than my parents could afford he got an NROTC scholarship.</p>
<p>Second, I think government should immediately implement restrictions on how much student loan debt one family can take out and if it isn’t enough for the child to attend their “dream” school than they need to scale down their choices.</p>
<p>Third, too many students goof off in high school and earlier on, minimizing their options for merit aid. Let them get out and work their way through school. Others have - they can do it too. What a novel idea - actually work hard in high school and earn scholarships.</p>
<p>Fourth, we tell everyone they can go to college, even though they are not strong students. Our society needs to get real about this and show more respect for the trades. Any master plumber or electrician makes more money than I, a high school teacher with a Master’s, do.</p>
<p>Our society is so messed up with irresponsible and or greedy (as in the bailouts for big business) people who expect others to be responsible for their mistakes.</p>
<p>
Those schools don’t exist anymore…they have been replaced by community colleges</p>
<p>One person mentioned that a college graduate with a lot of student loan debt became severely and chronically ill.</p>
<p>If someone becomes severely ill (fully disabled), then the loan could be forgiven by an insurance policy that is purchased “with” the loan. There already is a similar policy if the person dies.</p>
<p>If the disability is temporary, then the policy would make the payments during the disability.</p>
<p>However, if healthy individuals could have debt forgiveness after 10 years of only paying 10% of income, then we would have massive increases in college expenses. </p>
<p>Also, what would be the incentive for a second wage earner in the marriage to be professionally employed? They might as well work at a less stressful and low-paying job and have their loan forgiven after 10 years.</p>
<p>*^^like me *</p>
<p>I hope…and I hope you’re given the big scholarship, too (tuition, room, laptop, and that $8k a year stipend!!! )</p>
<p>mom2 I’m pretty sure I’d pee myself if that happened. It would finally mean I wouldn’t have to worry about paying off undergrad for the rest of my life</p>
<p>Many years ago I worked with an Illinois governor who proposed a loan system whereby the amount of one’s loan payment varied with income. During periods of unemployment, payments were suspended. It made sense to me and is the change most likely to be made.</p>
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<p>For a disability policy to pay out, wouldn’t you need to be employed first? I don’t know in that case if the person was working for a time before the illness began. It never even occured to me that one should try to get disability insurance (no job) while a student. Is that possible? If so, why isn’t this suggested with each financial aid offer than includes loans?</p>
<p>I hope that happens too, rocket!</p>
<p>This college game is all about putting yourself in a position to have a number of good choices. It sounds like you have done that :)</p>
<p>Thanks sax! I understand the anger over loan forgiveness…I’d be angry too if I had played by the rules…but we do need to get the prices down</p>
<p>mom2 I’m pretty sure I’d pee myself if that happened. It would finally mean I wouldn’t have to worry about paying off undergrad for the rest of my life</p>
<p>I’d be so happy for you, I’d probably do the same! BTW…did they give any indication when those scholarships are awarded? I’ve always wondered…</p>
<hr>
<p>Many years ago I worked with an Illinois governor who proposed a loan system whereby the amount of one’s loan payment varied with income. During periods of unemployment, payments were suspended. It made sense to me and is the change most likely to be made.</p>
<p>While that may have some pluses, it also has a downside. Students who know that they are pursuing careers in lowish paying areas would have no incentive not to borrow excessive amounts. There would also be little incentive for a mom with small children to work because too much income would go to daycare and loan payments. It would be easier just to not work and have loan payments suspended for several years.</p>
<p>For a disability policy to pay out, wouldn’t you need to be employed first? I don’t know in that case if the person was working for a time before the illness began. It never even occured to me that one should try to get disability insurance (no job) while a student. Is that possible? If so, why isn’t this suggested with each financial aid offer than includes loans?</p>
<p>What I’m talking about is a policy that is part of the loan. If I understand student loans, there already is an included policy for debt forgiveness in case of death. If a student became disabled before ever beginning to work, the policy would come into play. There could be something like requiring the signature of 2 doctors or something like that to discourage fraud.</p>
<p>*
Second, I think government should immediately implement restrictions on how much student loan debt one family can take out and if it isn’t enough for the child to attend their “dream” school than they need to scale down their choices.*</p>
<p>I don’t support restrictions on what families can borrow, but I would support restrictions on what students can borrow. Sallie Mae has recently changed its private student loan policies to include interest payments while the student is in college, but they still allow huge loans without co-signers.</p>
<p>I agree that the student loan system needs to be seriously revamped. The students who take on heavy loan debt to finance their undergrad educations will be facing not just a financial crisis, but a tsunami, in coming years. </p>
<p>Case in point: I had as an employee a young woman who recently graduated from an Ivy and had taken out tens of thousands of loan debt. She entered college planning to eventually go to med school but decided that pre-med was not for her. So now, she is having a difficult time finding a well-paying job in this economy with her bachelor’s, is burdened with a great deal of debt and is questioning whether her Ivy education was worth it. Stories like this really break my heart.</p>
<p>Son plans on attending medical school so I sure hope they don’t cap student loans. Loans are the only way he could attend medical school.</p>
<p>Loans for professional degrees are another story. The capping that is being discussed here is for undergrad.</p>
<p>However, even Stafford med school loans are capped at $224k. That includes any Staffords taken as undergrads, which is why we didn’t have our sons take any loans out as undergrads. We wanted them to have the max available for med/law/whatever for professional school. We will help them with professional school, but the cost of private med school can be over $300k.</p>
<p>That said…anyone who will be taking BIG loans out for professional school really needs to limit their undergrad loans. Otherwise, they could easily end up with unaffordable debt.</p>
<p>In the same way that easy mortgage money artificially increased the price of housing, easy student loans have allowed colleges to increase their prices way beyond anything warranted by inflation. And with the same result, the borrower ends up with something not worth what they owe on it. Another reason to reform the student loan system.</p>