Thank you very much! NOT... I was the first person to ever go to college in my family. I had already served 6 years in the Marine Corps and came in before the GI Bill (it was called VEAP and it sucked). So yes I went to college and truthfully couldn't afford it with a wife, two kids and a pile of bills from 3 PCS moves in 6 years as a junior enlisted serviceman. With your thinking my family tree would still be stuck at the high school level.
And to jump on the bandwagon I have been repaying my student loan since 1994 and have yet to pay it off. Sitting at 9% interest rate and my ineligibility to refinance at a lower rate because it has already been consolidated down from 12% back in the day under Sallie Mae. So I think at last calculation I have paid my original loan back twice already. Who is to blame for it taking so long to pay off? Me! As a newly commissioned officer I made more money then anyone in my wife's or my family. When death and illness hit I was the person they called. When relatives fell on hard times due to injury or death I tried to help. Dave Ramsey would say I have my wife and kids to worry about so my other family fend for themselves. I wasn't raised that way so, for example, I bought my MIL a car when FIL died of cancer and left her with nothing. Among other things in life like deployments it was hard to ever get ahead of that student loan. My point of rambling? People need to shut the hell up and payback what they signed on the dotted line for. Your debt so you pay it back (period exclamation point). Sorry Vit you have my empathy.
I just want to add a note, I personally won't qualify for the PSLF. You have to work 10 years for a 503(C) organization and make 10 years of payments while working under such organization to qualify. Most doctor groups are private entities that contract to hospitals and do their own coding/billing; therefore they do not qualify. I will end up paying back every dollar that I borrow at a ratio of 3:1 or greater depending on where the economy is in the next 10 years... It will take me minimum of 15 years to be debt free of student loans (age 45) which consists of paying 15% of my income to loans.
NPR had a piece on this last week while I was driving to the deer lease. People were calling in all like "I HAS THESE REALLY COOL DEGREES AND A JOB THAT PAYS WHAT A MICKEY D'S MANAGER MAKES AND REALLYDICULOUS PAYMENTS AND NOW I'M AFRAID TO HAVE BABIES."
It was like the first 10 minutes of Idiocracy. All these highly educated people calling in saying they've ran the numbers and can't afford to have kids because of their student loan debt. I weep for humanity.
Ridge, we must be in tune today... I just made an Idiocracy reference in 1Shotts WallyWorld thread.
Ridge, we must be in tune today... I just made an Idiocracy reference in 1Shotts WallyWorld thread.
Wonder Twin powers ACTIVATE!
Form of... a big 'ol biotch slap
I used a Dr. as an example. Not to single out a profession. The couple of people that posted about going to medical school seem to at least accept the load burden. I am not hear to argue about the cost of school. I just dont understand why anyone would think hey I agreed to the terms of this loan, I got what I wanted, now I dont want to uphold my agreement.
There are many other ways to pay for college of all levels other than loans. One of the best options is to join the military. Even after college you can join the military and they have student loan repayment programs. For those in the medical field spend the first few years in the military pay off plenty of loans with no overhead for your practice. That is one option. But I know the military is for everyone else.
There is also the if you cant afford it dont go approach. Studies have also shown that with a couple of exceptions it does not matter what school you attend for most degrees. So lets say you want a teaching degree do you really need to spend $30k a year at TU or could you attend TCC then NSU for well under $10k a year? Do you have to take 18hrs per semester and have no time to work? Or could you take 9hrs and work? Do you really need to live on campus or can you live at home?
There are many things you can do to trim the amount of debt. The generation now entering college is a bad combination of generation now and generation entitlement.
There are many other ways to pay for college of all levels other than loans. One of the best options is to join the military. Even after college you can join the military and they have student loan repayment programs. For those in the medical field spend the first few years in the military pay off plenty of loans with no overhead for your practice. That is one option. But I know the military is for everyone else.
There is also the if you cant afford it dont go approach. Studies have also shown that with a couple of exceptions it does not matter what school you attend for most degrees. So lets say you want a teaching degree do you really need to spend $30k a year at TU or could you attend TCC then NSU for well under $10k a year? Do you have to take 18hrs per semester and have no time to work? Or could you take 9hrs and work? Do you really need to live on campus or can you live at home?
There are many things you can do to trim the amount of debt. The generation now entering college is a bad combination of generation now and generation entitlement.
This.
And this.
Tuition increases dramatically like clockwork every year because of one reason: people will get the loans for it regardless of whether or not they can afford it. The college sees the $$$, and they get the $$$ regardless of whether or not you pay your loan. The college assumes ZERO risk on your education - only the rewards of the agreement that you sign. Perhaps the colleges themselves should be responsible for providing student loans, or at least they should assume some level of risk since their financial aid office likely advised you to take out the loans to pay for school.
Maybe then, colleges might exercise a certain level of responsibility by taking a vested interest in the product that they are providing to you. As it is right now, it doesn't matter if funding from other sources (i.e. the state) gets cut or if enrollment drops - income is guaranteed to increase through tuition. If the tuition can't get approved, then course-specific fees are assessed.
Another question people need to ask themselves is if they even need to go to college for what they want to do. I'm not saying that people should not go to college, but in many cases college isn't really a requirement - even if the job description in the advertisement specifically calls for it.
There are some serious problems with higher education that are eventually going to cause a major contraction in the number of people attending. I see people majoring in hospitality management, sociology etc. and cannot understand what they are thinking. The answer is that they are not thinking - society tells them the college degree is the key to success and they are unable to understand enough basic math to know the debt burden they are assuming. The public education system aims to get everyone into college and that is a mistake.
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