Obama wants tax payers to pay for stundent loans

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Student loan debt will still be owed even after a bankruptcy... its one of the debts that you can't get rid of.
Yup, you literally have to die for the loan to be dismissed. There is no other way.

I recently visited my old college campus.
Since I left there, there's 2 new dorms, a new library, a remodeled student center, and a few neighboring housing became offices/property of the school.
When I went, tuition was $365 per credit hour
Today, it's 634 per credit hour.

so, in 15 years, it's doubled.
I graduated in 2008. I don't even recognize my old campus. In my opinion, they took a large chunk of it's character away. The off-campus Greek row was taken through eminent domain, 100 year old houses leveled, to make room for a Holiday Inn, a Barnes & Noble, and a pre-fab dorm. That was just one direction. They have literally been using eminent domain to expand every edge of the campus. Now I hear they have a medical school too. Is it any wonder that when I started it was about $12k a year (including room and board), and now that number is nearly double that?
I agree with letting the loans be re-financed. Apparently that was just shot down by the R's.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/senate-republicans-block-student-loan-142945982.html
stupid move IMO and it's party BS on both sides as usual here...

Low interest is a good thing. 3% is a good figure IMO... basically floats it at inflation levels.

Honestly, if I had student loan debt higher than 5%, I'd put it on a credit card and move the balance every 12-18 months when the intro 0% wore off
I refinanced before I was even out of grad school. But consolidated is a more correct word. At the time I just needed to lower the payment because it was more than I was making every month. I still feel bad complaining, my student loans are enough to buy a mediocre car, not a house. And I have my Masters.
 
Seems the only way to come out of higher ed these days without crippling debt is to have other people pay for it.

1. Military
2. Rich parents
3. Academic/Sports Scholarships

My debt isnt terrible, actually probably a lot better than most people. I graduated in 2008, and i currently pay ~$200/mo with ~$11,000 left to pay. currently making about $70,000/yr with my job. so my situation is very manageable, but I was lucky. One of my mother's work benefits was that they paid 50% of her children's tuition as long as they remained full-time, and at the same time, I exploited a sort of loop-hole that allowed me in-state tuition (in-state for the college) for 80% of my undergrad time. this reduced my cost for tuition, and hence loans, by probably 60-70%. I actually gained most of my debt on my last year when i was paying out-of-state, and my mother's 50% work benefit wasnt paying (i went to school for 5 years, they only paid for 4). I also worked part time the whole time i was in college to pay for books/food/whatever. So i was fortunate to be in the position I was. I did receive a couple small scholarships early on from my grades and SAT scores, but they were short lived. still helped a bit. If I could go back, I would have went after more scholarships, and kept my grades up a bit higher to reduce the costs even more. I didnt even know what was available.

I have co-workers, who went to expensive private schools, making the same salary as me, that have 5x or more debt. that's just crazy. I cant even imagine being in that position, let alone the amount of debt kids are coming into the market now have.
 
Student loan debt will still be owed even after a bankruptcy... its one of the debts that you can't get rid of.

I don't disagree with you that education has become a business.
But how is that the government's fault when there are exactly 0 federal colleges (outside of military)?

Colleges are STATE or PRIVATE.

Perhaps then, loans should not be made at the federal level at all. they should be done so at the state level for state schools and private sector for private schools.

Costs are ridiculous because every school keeps trying to expand, upgrade, add new stuff, etc to remain competitive.

I recently visited my old college campus.
Since I left there, there's 2 new dorms, a new library, a remodeled student center, and a few neighboring housing became offices/property of the school.
When I went, tuition was $365 per credit hour
Today, it's 634 per credit hour.

so, in 15 years, it's doubled.

but so has everything else, and then some.

gas was 99 cents, now its $4.
min wage was $4+, now its $8+
a new civic was 11 grand.. now 22
books were 100-150... now 200-300



So, please, tell me what exactly I'm missing besides inflation?

I never said it was the federal governments fault that education costs are raising, but it probably is one way or other. I used the UCs as an example. And in my mind I dont really separate federal government vs state government for most things. Mostly because if the state is in trouble, likely the federal government is going to come bail them out. also, i have friends and families that work for both and it seems like theyre so closely tied, its really hard to separate them unless you wanna really pick hairs.

And lastly, B, my example may not be everywhere else, but where do you see something costing 10% more year over year? I used an inflation calculator that estimated $300 in 1975 should be $1332, not $15,000.

either way, i feel like this is a bubble that is going to implode and im going with it.....
 
I didnt continue education after high school. Not that it would have put me under for very long, but I went a different route that has worked well. Having made the choice to not go to school, the idea of paying for someone elses schooling bothers me. I know people who have gone to school and not been able to find work in their area of study. But, some of them have gone out and got any job they could find. I feel for them. I also know people who have decide to "wait" for a job to come up. Most of the latter spent their time freeloading off someone else. I have no sympathy for them. None at all. Basically, in the examples Ive seen, people who deserve help are helping themselves. Its the others who milk the system that fuck everyone else.
 
There are ways to keep your debt low without rich parents, scholarships, athletics, etc.

It's called planning and saving. I started refereeing soccer and saving money when I was ~13. By the age of 16 I had two jobs: one at Albertson's as a courtesy clerk and one at a shop that restored classic Fords. I then moved up to Pepsi and began working nearly full time as I started taking classes at a community college.

This whole time I had been adding 100$+ per week to a mutual fund. Paid cash for my courses at a community college, then transferred and sold my car. Paid cash for my first semester at the university ($13k out of pocket) and most of my second year of school. During the second semester of my second year I was granted in-state tuition (simple but tedious process) which helped significantly.

I've had to take some loans to allow for living expenses, etc. but I will graduate in May 2015 (BS:ME) with less than $15k in debt. Should start out making 40-50k TOPS.

Cliffs: if you want it bad enough, you'll make it happen. Not saying there isn't a problem here, but if you're creative enough you won't have to sit around and wait for the gubmint to come up with another half-assed band-aid.
 
What kind of engineer field are you? My company pays more for entry level engineers.
 
Not saying you won't, but what if you don't get that 40-50k job? if you're stuck working at the grocery store for 4 years, what happens?
 
My debt was around $40,000 when I graduated. I was able to supplement a bit of it while in college by working full time and taking advantage of $2,000 a year reimbursement from work while going to school. Once I graduated I made it my priority to pay off that loan. Took me about 3 years.
 
What kind of engineer field are you? My company pays more for entry level engineers.
I'm studying Mechanical. That figure may be a bit conservative, maybe not. I won't know until I land a job I suppose.
Not saying you won't, but what if you don't get that 40-50k job? if you're stuck working at the grocery store for 4 years, what happens?
I have acquired a skillset that allows me to be productive just about anywhere. I could fall back to a job in a machine shop, drafting, etc. - something fairly closely related to my experience in school. Or I could hop on over to the oil fields and whore that out while it lasts. None of these options are things I WANT to do. But if I had to make ends meet I could, and still comfortably pay off my student debt.
 
ill agree and say undergrad is definitely doable in terms of paying for itself via scholarships and working. now graduate or professional school is a whole 'nother ball game.
 
I'd say a ME should make 50k MIN at entry level.

I'm an AE and started entry level 52k + guaranteed OT, 5 years ago. they start the newcomers even higher now.

but don't put all your eggs in one basket. best bet is to try to work an internship and try to get a job out of it at graduation time. when i graduated, it took me a year to find a job, and i was stuck working at Geek Squad until I found a real job. I was able to get a forbearance on my loans for that year though since my income was pretty low.
 
See, I have no experience coming into graduation. I'll be volunteering at a commercial HVAC company in Utah at the end of the summer, but other than that all I have is projects.

I do have an in with GE, trying to see if I can make that work for me and get into the Edison Engineering Development program after graduating.

I'm not too worried. My GPA has been steadily rising and I am doing things outside of school to make myself more appealing on paper.
 
Dam....didn't realize student loans/debt was so bad.... i went to Community College paid for by my Dad, only got an Associates Degree in Computer Science.....Got into State College but never went due to the fact that my Dad was NOT going to pay for that. Ended up temping in the mail room of an Insurance company. They liked what they saw and hired me as a Workers Compensation Claims Assistant for 3-4 years making $27,500 until 2006 where I became a Claims Adjuster at $39,500, and between 2006-2013 i had a bunch of increases up until 2013 $75,000.

I always wonder where i would be if i got my BA in Computer Science. Would i be an IT Director making $175k or just a It Analyst making pretty much what I make now.

I make pretty good money(now $80,000) , with no student loans to pay back and i actually like my job(not necessarily my company or some co-workers).

I think a Claims Adjuster or Insurance P&C field is the most under rated job in the world in terms of what you get paid. In terms of high level jobs, Supervisors 80-90k, Claims Managers, 100-140k, Risk Managers 120-150k, Loss control 100k - 120k, Major Case Unit Adjusters 80-100k. In terms of Mid level, Senior Adjusters 70-90k, Season adjusters 60-70k, Underwriters 70-100k, Sr Under Writers, 100-120k,

All this with very little education background needed. Maybe some designations needed which will be paid for by your company like your SCLA, ARM, AIC, CPCU.

Just something to think about.
 
Computer Science is a BS degree, at least here it is.

I can tell you your job would be in demand and you could have your pick of the litter making 150k+ as a developer.

As for post grad, I was looking at getting my MBA and found Saint Marys offers an executive program for $50,000. Still considering it..
 
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