Just throwing it out there, but according to the summary she had 95k in debt from her undergrad degree. I just checked my local public university’s estimated cost of attendance for resident undergrad, which came out to 109k for four years.
edit-not including fees, apparently.
How was she penalized for going to grad school internationally?
They give you some kind of deferment on payments if you go to grad school, but there has to be a special code for the grad school punched into the creditor’s system. The system only had codes for (expensive) American grad schools and none for the (much cheaper) overseas schools.
I paid my own way thru college (both undergraduate and grad school) as an adult while working full time, raising a family and traveling frequently. Like my son, my first go at college was a disaster and it took me almost 10 years before I was ready to try again and succeed. I am hoping my son finds his own path to life but there are no guarantees.
The big point though is not every child has the maturity to succeed at college when they are 18 or 19 or 22 (or 39 even). Having the albatross of heavy debt just makes it so much worse.
Kids should be allowed to make mistakes and experiment on their own timeline without being burdened for decades for having the temerity to try different paths before figuring out their passions.
Right. I had done some mental math for that as well, and even though 2 years weren’t at the $60k rate, 95k isn’t too bad of a principal balance at the end of the day, all things considered.
The last bad loan, she had other options available to her. And although it sounds like her father knew the implications of the terms, she herself signed on the dotted line without fully understanding.
It took me a long time to learn this lesson, and how to react appropriately. But this is one situation where you get on the phone and be an asshole to someone until they fucking fix it. But not too big of an asshole. There’s an art to it.
I agree, but few people learn that lesson before age 25 and many never learn it.
Oh yeah. I was in my mid-30’s before I got there. And what put me there was my aging father putting his credit card number into popup windows.
Last time this happened, they let my dad keep the garbage watch they sent him, after a full refund.
I was appreciating my student loans today. I am grateful to have had access to the money I needed to borrow in order to complete my education.
Students today do not have the options I had, and they deserve to every bit as much as I did. Maybe as much as you did too?
I just wanted to say that if this is in fact true - and it seems like it is! Then this is an utter disgrace. Honestly… how can people who strive for education and to get ahead be targeted and exploited and totally crushed like this? People really need to join together and expose such corruption and exploitation, makes me sick.
Isn’t it funny how people of modest means have all these conditions and cutoffs to receive help, yet the super rich are somehow still eligible for aid no matter how much they make?
That wisdom was a lot more applicable 50 years ago. Few people could afford secondary education, and thus few businesses expected it.
Now, with a university degree being a near requirement for entry into the middle class, young people are between a rock (no degree - difficult long term prospects for the rest of one life) and a hard place (loans that are inordinately difficult to pay off, especially at the beginning of one’s career).
A more sensible approach (barring the truly sensible approach of realizing that secondary education now fulfills the role that a high-school education used to play and making it free), might be to limit student loans to amounts akin to a State university. It would deny the non-wealthy the opportunity to go to a private university, but would help cap just how deep many students sink themselves.
Do college students not understand interest and compounding?
There are some complexities with student loans, and generally when you’re applying to schools you’re 17. I absolutely did not understand interest and compounding at 17. Not even close.
I had never taken out a loan and it wasn’t part of any of my education. No one in my family had gone to college before. The entire process of high school was drilling into my head that I needed to go to college to be successful, with absolutely zero preparation for the logistics of actually getting through it financially.
Toss in for-profit schools that will in some cases completely lie to you about job availability/placement and your ability to repay… and it’s not too hard to imagine how young people fall into these pitfalls. I was lucky (and worked really hard) and have paid back all my loans, but a LOT of people who graduated alongside me during the recession still have $70k of loans in default following them around.
The author went to a private university, even went for masters after that, then accrued 60k (edit, i thought it was 200k) debt. In the article, the parents were even against this idea and rightly so. Her so-called “working class” family had more common sense than she did, but apparently lacked enough respect to help her out by taking advice. The author even complains about her familly refusing to pay for her exorbitant school. Jesus christ on a stick - entitlement enough? Yes, loans are evil, but this person is an idiot.
She went for expesive education, failed to get a job that can allow her to pay her debt (in all honesty, it ain’t much for someone with graduate degree - what did she major in, english?). She could’ve gone for cheaper public university, major in something that’ll actually make money without killing herself, and pay off whatever little debt she had.
Why are people talking as if her rights were trampled? Is it because she’s white?
I found that a glaring omission as well for how detailed the rest of the narrative was. The actual school I get for privacy reasons, but not what she studied.
Yes, I think the real problem is bank not choosing who to finance because they know people can’t default. If this ridiculous rule didn’t exist, banks will not lend that much money to irresponsible “inconvenienced millionaires” like the author.
You clearly have no idea what union pipe fitters make per hour as journeymen. You would skip university if you did.
@summanulla: OMFG, that’s obscene.
@tlwest: Hi, I’d like to introduce you to my local “state college” - University of Michigan. If you’re not familiar, let’s just say it’s untenably expensive for intown students.
Idiocy aside, I’m speaking from the standpoint of paying off my own loans. I Went to a public university with in state tuition but did go for the masters. Even working for the University to get tuition reduction, I managed to work up a decent tab.
Now I’m looking at how much I’m going to have to put away for my daughter so she doesn’t have so much to deal with.
Tuition is way up making what you have to save high and long term loans hurt the ability to save properly for your kids.
Sure it’s a necessary pain. But I’m just up for discussing how it got this way and really wondering how necessary each part of it is.
No, I decided that I didn’t want to take on that debt, and didn’t want to burden my parents with that debt either. I joined the U.S. Air Force instead. I am currently a Principal Software Engineer at a major medical device company with a six-figure salary and no college degree. I did this through a lot of hard work and am largely self-taught. While my friends were having beer parties, I was reading, coding, and studying. Anything taught in college can be learned on your own, you then have to build up a sufficient portfolio to demonstrate to prospective employers that you are just as capable and knowledgeable as someone who went to college.
Regarding your other faulty assumptions, I graduated high school in the top 10 percent of my class as a member of the National Honor Society, and think Trump is an idiot (and don’t consider Hillary a much better choice).
I worked my ass off to be successful without getting into debt. It can be done. Anyone getting a loan (of any sort) goes in with their eyes open. If the deal sucks, don’t take it. If students stopped taking out loans with high rates, the system would start to change. As long as the lenders are still making money, they have no incentive to change. Likewise, if students stopped going to outrageously expensive colleges, tuition would start to drop. Borrowing too much money at high interest rates to go to expensive colleges just perpetuates the problem.
Why should people be allowed to borrow money and not pay it back? Bankruptcy is inherently unfair to lenders.
Would you loan $50K or more to someone with no job and no credit history? How about if you knew they could simply file bankruptcy and not pay you back?
