Student debt crisis watch: pay $18,000 of your $24,000 loan, owe $24,000

Which is basically any country.

There are lots of grants available for trade schools. Do a quick search online and you’ll see. Community colleges also offer trade programs. From there it’s a matter of networking and getting hired as an apprentice. There are many, many job opportunities in the trades. The older guys are retiring and there aren’t enough young people to replace them. All the best to your son in his search!

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Cost of attendance for my alma mater, in terms of the school costs on its own, were maybe $20-25k/yr? The higher end is closer to what I had when I was living in a dorm, after my first semester I got an apartment. I went to the cheapest uni in my state.

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In practice, hardship is “undue” only if there’s no chance that the lender will ever recover the money. It’s more about keeping collection agents from harassing hospice patients than anything else - and even then, an aggressive lender will argue to the judge that, “well, he might recover!”

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As a phd in a non-STEM field, I also agree. History (or literature, sociology, art, cultural studies, writing, etc) matters.

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It’s not possible to declare bankruptcy because of student loans in the US.

The interest rates and origination fees, which are based partly on the probability of default, are the mechanisms that make the arrangement “fair” to the lenders. A loan that cannot be discharged in bankruptcy should have a much lower interest rate and lower fees for that reason alone, but that’s not the case. Hmm.

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Funny, I have heard the argument that STEM degrees are inherently worth more because they drive our economy.

I have heard this from staunch libertarians, who strangely have no undergrad degree and work as sales people or managers.

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My friend in SF used to do this at city college with PE classes. I’ve looked into it in my state but classes are 2-3x as expensive as in CA, and not worth it to me any longer.

And I think that College of Marin recently adopted policy where you can’t take the same course multiple times. I’m not sure how widespread that is now.

Yes, when they made private student loans undischargable in bankruptcy during the W Bush administration there should’ve been some more substantial, offsetting concession for borrowers but here we are…

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Happened to my friend with ALS. Kept calling to see if he could pay anything. Can’t tell if they were just stupid or evil or both.

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The Big House is about 100 years old. UM invents excuses to spend money on it every couple years. Then again, you should see the new track and field facility that football paid for. It’s pretty nice.

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These are not my numbers. Here’s the cost estimate directly from CU Boulder’s bursar website:

Tuition cost is only half the picture. If we’re talking about the true cost of college, you must factor in housing, meals, books and fees.

Even with community or vocational schools, you have to live somewhere and you have to eat. Yes, you can keep these costs down somewhat but most schools require 1st year students to live on campus.

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That’s all well and good for learning the basics of electricity and such but it hardly qualifies one to get an entry level apprentice job. Again, one has to be very lucky or already know someone in the field who will hire you and let you learn on the job. Scale that out to millions of kids and obviously it’s not a viable option.

Even a cursory search shows just about every job requires minimum 1-2 years experience in the field. Some want 4 years experience just to be an apprentice for $15/hr.

Community college programs do exist but they also require tuition, fees, books, etc (albeit less than university or for-profit vocational schools) - not to mention if you’re already working the time commitment can be tough. Chances are you’re working some crappy part-time service or waitress job with constantly shifting schedules and odd hours. Even night/weekend classes can be a real challenge.

It also requires at least 18 months to get some type of dubious “certificate” and there’s often little to no help landing an actual job afterwards. (yes - we tried this route already).

https://www.monster.com/jobs/q-electrician-apprentice-jobs.aspx

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I think we can all see what a population that undervalues the humanities is like. It’s not pretty. The economy isn’t the only means of measuring value, and anyone who tells you different is an ideologue.

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Not if they extradite you. Make sure it doesn’t have an extradition treaty.

Huh? Defaulting is not a crime. Extradition requires a crime. Are you OK friend?

The amount I save in interest via my student loans far offsets the cost of classes. One nice thing in CA is there are many community college districts that all keep separate registrars. I only still have my six month grace period so I can enroll and then drop before the refund deadline. I’m surprised the loan agencies haven’t gone after. Woot for optional loans. woot

Well. Not yet, anyway.

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That’s what I get for slowly paying down my loans like a chump.