Forgive my student loan!

doorki

BOOTSTRAPS AMURIKA FREEDOM JESUS

This may not be the way to fix our ****ed up education system, but stop acting like it's not ****ed up because "I did it!"

first step to solving a problem is admitting it exists.
Proud to be Amerkin

42kgirl

It doesn't seem fair that I paid for my education and now you want me to help pay for yours? My kids paid for their educations with help from their employers. Why didn't you try that route? Sounds like poor planning to me.

Honestly, college is a lot more expensive now than it was whenever I assume that you went...unless you went back to school recently.

There is absolutely no way that I could afford to fully support myself financially and go to the school that I do without my job, my loans, my scholarship, and my grants. It just wouldn't be happening.

She's write. I went to school worked a part time job and walmart and a full time job at an insurance company. AND.. What do you now. I still Have 50,000 in school loans that I pay monthly. To be honest. I would much rather my tax money go to helping people pay for eduction than to help welfare who dont want to get out and work. I know there are some that cant. But if they can work they should be working.

I worked a full and part time job out of school to pay student loan debt and live and that was 20 years ago. Boo hoo. Pay your debt.

t costs WAY more to go to school now than it did 20 years ago... So I don't see what point you're trying to make with that comment?

The point is it wasn't easy 20 years ago and it's not easy now. I knew how much I would owe. So boo hoo. Pay your debt and quit whining about how hard it is.

sleepytexan

Borrow money, pay it back. People need to be more responsible. Why is ok to walk away from debt and start over again?

If you wonder why this country can't manage its debt, look to the rampant irresponsibility of its people. GIMME GIMME GIMME, I deserve it, I want it now.

I borrowed a helluva lot for college and grad school, and paid it all back -- last payment was the week before my 40th birthday. I was grateful that I received help to go to school; I don't think anyone owed me that, and I was happy to pay it back.

Ya, it was not always easy to pay it back, hard times happen. But you know what? If we learn to live within our means, we won't be up a creek on our obligations. Take a look back a few generations. Our grandparents were doing it right.

EDIT: for those who would argue that it costs more now than it did 20 years ago to go to school, duh. Please go back to school and borrow just a bit more so you can study economics.

honeysprinkles

I think it is ridiculous that we call people with a 4 year degree "educated"... back in the early 1900's when school was hard I think that was a good use of the term. Now anyone who shows up and puts in 1/8 of the effort required can get a degree.

I believe that is an extremely unfair assessment on your part, and it legitimately offends me, and I don't even have my college degree yet. There are millions of people who are astoundingly intelligent that never stepped foot inside a university and would be considered educated. You don't need overpriced classes taught by lethargic professors on tenure to be considered "educated."

^^^^^^ THANK YOU! I have worked my *kitten* off in school for the past 6 years! But I wouldn't have traded it for anything. I am walking across that stage in May knowing that I am WELL educated from attending a reputable college. You can't assume that everyone just goes to college and half *kitten* it and earns a degree. If you did that at my college, you wouldn't pass.

Agreed. I work my *kitten* off in school.

Wait till you get a job and half your co-workers with 4 year degrees and masters degrees don't know their head from their a** you learn really quick that it doesn't make someone educated!

College teaches you more than just your course of study, it also teaches you how to approach learning, how to prioritize and how to further educate yourself. While new graduates with a four year degree may not know as much in a given field as someone who entered the field directly after high school, their upside potential and learning curve are both substantially higher.

Sounds like the type of sales pitch that put a lot of kids 40k in student loan debt. Your company could give a crap about anything but results... and if they do you would be better off working at another company. As for the cultured angle... for 40k you could travel the world and learn a lot more than any book will teach you.

I'm assuming you never went to college...?
I dont' know how traveling the world is going to teach you to be a lawyer or a doctor or a teacher or an engineer...

Times are different now. My fiances dad is a supervisor at an insurance company. He makes $80,000 a year without a college degree. He's worked there for a long time and has moved his way up.

His mom went back to school and got a master's degree in business. She was recently hired at the same company and makes $40,000 a year.

I'm not saying that to show that college isn't important, if anything I'm saying the opposite. In the past, you could get a good job without a degree... Now it's hard to get a good job even WITH a degree.

TrishJimenez

i'm fine with paying back what i borrowed -- but the govt making 7.8% on loaning me money that never really existed in the first place... really? and dont get me started with sallie mae and their insane interest rates. i'm just glad i'm in a position to pay off my loans in the next... decade... unless interest rates keep going up.

I dont have a student loan. But I agree that the interest should not be so high, that is crazy. Maybe forgive the interest? Sounds good to me

doorki

i'm fine with paying back what i borrowed -- but the govt making 7.8% on loaning me money that never really existed in the first place... really? and dont get me started with sallie mae and their insane interest rates. i'm just glad i'm in a position to pay off my loans in the next... decade... unless interest rates keep going up.

I dont have a student loan. But I agree that the interest should not be so high, that is crazy. Maybe forgive the interest? Sounds good to me

There are actually bills working their way through to increase the interest.

sexforjaffacakes

i'm fine with paying back what i borrowed -- but the govt making 7.8% on loaning me money that never really existed in the first place... really? and dont get me started with sallie mae and their insane interest rates. i'm just glad i'm in a position to pay off my loans in the next... decade... unless interest rates keep going up.

I dont have a student loan. But I agree that the interest should not be so high, that is crazy. Maybe forgive the interest? Sounds good to me

There are actually bills working their way through to increase the interest.

that's crazy!
In the UK, the loans are provided by the government, and they're either interest free or it's like the minimum interest to keep up wuth inflation...

poncho33

I think it is ridiculous that we call people with a 4 year degree "educated"... back in the early 1900's when school was hard I think that was a good use of the term. Now anyone who shows up and puts in 1/8 of the effort required can get a degree.

I believe that is an extremely unfair assessment on your part, and it legitimately offends me, and I don't even have my college degree yet. There are millions of people who are astoundingly intelligent that never stepped foot inside a university and would be considered educated. You don't need overpriced classes taught by lethargic professors on tenure to be considered "educated."

^^^^^^ THANK YOU! I have worked my *kitten* off in school for the past 6 years! But I wouldn't have traded it for anything. I am walking across that stage in May knowing that I am WELL educated from attending a reputable college. You can't assume that everyone just goes to college and half *kitten* it and earns a degree. If you did that at my college, you wouldn't pass.

Agreed. I work my *kitten* off in school.

Wait till you get a job and half your co-workers with 4 year degrees and masters degrees don't know their head from their a** you learn really quick that it doesn't make someone educated!

College teaches you more than just your course of study, it also teaches you how to approach learning, how to prioritize and how to further educate yourself. While new graduates with a four year degree may not know as much in a given field as someone who entered the field directly after high school, their upside potential and learning curve are both substantially higher.

Sounds like the type of sales pitch that put a lot of kids 40k in student loan debt. Your company could give a crap about anything but results... and if they do you would be better off working at another company. As for the cultured angle... for 40k you could travel the world and learn a lot more than any book will teach you.

I'm assuming you never went to college...?
I dont' know how traveling the world is going to teach you to be a lawyer or a doctor or a teacher or an engineer...

Times are different now. My fiances dad is a supervisor at an insurance company. He makes $80,000 a year without a college degree. He's worked there for a long time and has moved his way up.

His mom went back to school and got a master's degree in business. She was recently hired at the same company and makes $40,000 a year.

I'm not saying that to show that college isn't important, if anything I'm saying the opposite. In the past, you could get a good job without a degree... Now it's hard to get a good job even WITH a degree.

I have a bachelors degree in business management from a private school up here in Minnesota, but I own a share of a remodeling business I started with my brother when I was 18. I didn't go to college until I was 25 and it was an accelerated adult program that took two years. I paid for it out of pocket as our company was doing really well at the time and I invested my money well.

Travelling the world will not teach you how to be a doctor or a lawyer, but neither will the 20k in liberal arts classes you have to take to get a degree.... colleges say you should take those classes to be cultured, I'd rather culture myself by traveling.. make sense?

Basically if you think a degree is worth the money than you should go for it and pay for it... if you don't then don't, it's a choice people make and they should have to live with the consequences.

doorki

i'm fine with paying back what i borrowed -- but the govt making 7.8% on loaning me money that never really existed in the first place... really? and dont get me started with sallie mae and their insane interest rates. i'm just glad i'm in a position to pay off my loans in the next... decade... unless interest rates keep going up.

I dont have a student loan. But I agree that the interest should not be so high, that is crazy. Maybe forgive the interest? Sounds good to me

There are actually bills working their way through to increase the interest.

that's crazy!
In the UK, the loans are provided by the government, and they're either interest free or it's like the minimum interest to keep up wuth inflation...

Well, actually, after more reading it is less that they are trying to double the rate and more that if the bill to lock the interest rate is not passed, it will double.

pudadough

You can also lock in interest rates on student loans so that it won't change. I consolidated mine and locked in at 4%.

honeysprinkles

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!

I worked my way through college to avoid taking on debt. You borrow money, you pay it back. You don't want that obligation, then don't take the money.

By the time I finished college I only owed $550.00. I worked my butt off to not be in debt.

And looking at the age listed on your profile (51), that explains a lot. Try graduating with only $550 in debt NOW. That's the price of ONE class at my school, and that's IF you have in-state tuition (which I do).

Take a class in Economics too while you are at it. No. Seriously.

30 years ago wages were far far lower then they are today. The cost of college 30 years ago was far less unattainable then it is today.

Yes, my Math class and lab we in state at a combined cost of 600$ (not including books and equipment) - but, 30 years ago when my mom went to a community college, her costs were much more - IF you take into account that she was only making 3.00/hour at her job, and her interest rats on her loans were MORE then they are today.

When I graduate, I will PROUDLY be debt free.

I wasn't able to take classes this semester because I couldn't afford it. So, I'm working extra overtime and odd jobs and babysitting friends kids to make extra money so that next semester I can.

It is entirely possible to graduate college with no debt.

The increase in tuition is not proportionate to the increase in wages.

"Here are three salient facts about tuition and fees. Over the last 30 years, the average sticker price at public and private American universities has accelerated upward. Since 1981 the list price level of tuition and fees has risen sixfold while the consumer price index has only increased two-and-a-half times. This fact is well-known, and it fuels much of the talk about a crisis in higher education"
http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/01/rising-cost-education-opinions-best-colleges-10-feldman-archibald_2.html

I make $7.85/hour, yet I pay no where near what your mom paid for college 30 years ago.

doorki

I think it is ridiculous that we call people with a 4 year degree "educated"... back in the early 1900's when school was hard I think that was a good use of the term. Now anyone who shows up and puts in 1/8 of the effort required can get a degree.

I believe that is an extremely unfair assessment on your part, and it legitimately offends me, and I don't even have my college degree yet. There are millions of people who are astoundingly intelligent that never stepped foot inside a university and would be considered educated. You don't need overpriced classes taught by lethargic professors on tenure to be considered "educated."

^^^^^^ THANK YOU! I have worked my *kitten* off in school for the past 6 years! But I wouldn't have traded it for anything. I am walking across that stage in May knowing that I am WELL educated from attending a reputable college. You can't assume that everyone just goes to college and half *kitten* it and earns a degree. If you did that at my college, you wouldn't pass.

Agreed. I work my *kitten* off in school.

Wait till you get a job and half your co-workers with 4 year degrees and masters degrees don't know their head from their a** you learn really quick that it doesn't make someone educated!

College teaches you more than just your course of study, it also teaches you how to approach learning, how to prioritize and how to further educate yourself. While new graduates with a four year degree may not know as much in a given field as someone who entered the field directly after high school, their upside potential and learning curve are both substantially higher.

Sounds like the type of sales pitch that put a lot of kids 40k in student loan debt. Your company could give a crap about anything but results... and if they do you would be better off working at another company. As for the cultured angle... for 40k you could travel the world and learn a lot more than any book will teach you.

I'm assuming you never went to college...?
I dont' know how traveling the world is going to teach you to be a lawyer or a doctor or a teacher or an engineer...

Times are different now. My fiances dad is a supervisor at an insurance company. He makes $80,000 a year without a college degree. He's worked there for a long time and has moved his way up.

His mom went back to school and got a master's degree in business. She was recently hired at the same company and makes $40,000 a year.

I'm not saying that to show that college isn't important, if anything I'm saying the opposite. In the past, you could get a good job without a degree... Now it's hard to get a good job even WITH a degree.

I have a bachelors degree in business management from a private school up here in Minnesota, but I own a share of a remodeling business I started with my brother when I was 18. I didn't go to college until I was 25 and it was an accelerated adult program that took two years. I paid for it out of pocket as our company was doing really well at the time and I invested my money well.

Travelling the world will not teach you how to be a doctor or a lawyer, but neither will the 20k in liberal arts classes you have to take to get a degree.... colleges say you should take those classes to be cultured, I'd rather culture myself by traveling.. make sense?

Basically if you think a degree is worth the money than you should go for it and pay for it... if you don't then don't, it's a choice people make and they should have to live with the consequences.

You are in rarefied air being that you had your own successful business when you started school. Most students don't have that. The Liberal Arts portion is partially to keep "culture" but philosophy is also part of the Liberal Arts and that teaches you how to think and get into arguments from multiple angles. That is pretty good stuff. While some of the Liberal Arts curriculum can be deemed "useless" there are other parts that can be quite useful.

AZKristi

My husband and I are living frugally and working hard so he can finish his degree with minimal debt. Why should my taxes pay for your poor choices? The reason many people are crushed by student loan debt is because they borrow more than they can ever hope to repay. Sounds like your bad...

honeysprinkles

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!

I worked my way through college to avoid taking on debt. You borrow money, you pay it back. You don't want that obligation, then don't take the money.

By the time I finished college I only owed $550.00. I worked my butt off to not be in debt.

And looking at the age listed on your profile (51), that explains a lot. Try graduating with only $550 in debt NOW. That's the price of ONE class at my school, and that's IF you have in-state tuition (which I do).

I think your age argument is a little silly. I paid 200 per credit 25 years ago or 600 per class. I just sucked it up and worked to minimize my debt. After rent, food, and school expenses I still ended with 15k owed.

Can you still pay $200/credit hour at that school? I would assume that rates have risen, but since I don't know where you went I can't say for sure.

lisacandoit1965

my daughter is graduating from a private college next month and will have about 30,000 in debt so for her I wish it would pass but then on the other hand what kind of responsibility is that teaching her too. She has been paying the interest on them so may not be as bad as I think.

honeysprinkles

I'm almost 27. Graduated in 2007. I'm a teacher (decidedly NOT high paying.)

I have about $25,000 left on my loans. My parents were not able to help me financially in college, but I worked and saved to get the things that loans couldn't pay for.

The thing is, even when I was 17 and still in high school, I realized I might have to take out loans to fund the full 4 year "college experience." I could have worked my way through 2 years of community college first and come out with no loans, but I CHOSE my path. Even then.

There are ways to get out of college debt free. The military (GI Bill), community college, etc. People who have this debt chose it at one point or another. If they didn't realize the financial implications of a traditional four year university going in, perhaps they weren't college material to begin with. This idea that you cannot do college without loans is a lie. My mom did it with a full time job, four kids, and a 4.0 GPA. And this was all after she turned 35. She then went back and got her Master's the same way, debt free. I don't want to hear people whine.

I will pay off all of my loans myself and not expect anyone else to do it. Hell, lots of people pay that much for a car they can only drive for ten years at best. Pay your loans and I'll pay mine.

I agree with you, and I am making a lot of the same choices (starting at a 4 year university, education major). I'm not arguing that someone should have to pay my loans back. I took them out knowing that I'd have to repay them.

pudadough

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!

I worked my way through college to avoid taking on debt. You borrow money, you pay it back. You don't want that obligation, then don't take the money.

By the time I finished college I only owed $550.00. I worked my butt off to not be in debt.

And looking at the age listed on your profile (51), that explains a lot. Try graduating with only $550 in debt NOW. That's the price of ONE class at my school, and that's IF you have in-state tuition (which I do).

I think your age argument is a little silly. I paid 200 per credit 25 years ago or 600 per class. I just sucked it up and worked to minimize my debt. After rent, food, and school expenses I still ended with 15k owed.

Can you still pay $200/credit hour at that school? I would assume that rates have risen, but since I don't know where you went I can't say for sure.

It's less than that at community colleges. Taking two years of community college and transferring later cuts debt drastically. Helps your final GPA in most cases, too.

pudadough

Whoops. Posted before I saw your reply about 4 years.

snewsome7

People need to understand that this is not a free write-off, welfare-based program. In order to receive forgiveness of the debt, borrowers must first make 10 years of regular payments before they are eligible for a forgiveness of the remaining amount. This bill doesn't increase taxes of affect any of you as taxpayers. Also, there are caps on the amounts that can be forgiven. But for some of us who could not earn doctoral level degrees without acquiring hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, we need help. At current interest rates, we will NEVER, EVER pay off those debts, no matter how hard we work, or how hard we try. Both public and private universities have an almost monopoly-like power over the educational market, and so while it would have been wonderful to get 10 years of post-graduate education (to the Ph.D.) without incurring mountains of debt, it just wasn't possible. Right now, we are on the 30-year repayment plan, and the interest alone ensures that we will die long before the debt is gone. And THEN it will be forgiven anyway. Do you have a problem with letting us get a gasp or two of air before we actually die? Especially when it won't affect your individual bottom lines in any way, why begrudge us a little help? Maybe you are anti-welfare programs. Guess what: SO AM I. I strongly disapprove of programs that give money to people who do very little to contribute to society or make any efforts to help themselves. But that is not the case here. This bill requires a decade of very hard work and effort before offering some relief.

If you haven't actually READ the bill, please don't jump in with scurrilous opinions on this board--you don't know what you're saying. There are all kinds of requirements and limitations on how much can be forgiven, how soon it can be forgiven, etc. And you won't even notice as a taxpayer that this is happening. It doesn't affect your taxpayer rate AT ALL. But we who are drowning will actually have hope. Is this really a problem for you?

Well said!

honeysprinkles

To everyone saying "Not everybody can work through college to pay off their debt and graduate without a lot." Why can't you?

Seriously, since I was old enough to legally work (and before), I've not been without a job for more than 3 months. I worked in high school. I worked in college. When I dropped out, I started paying the loans I had and still kept working. I'm back now, not deferring loans, still paying on back loans, working and paying what I'm accruing as well. How are you NOT ABLE to work and pay towards stuff while you're in college?

I've worked since high school. I work now. I also pay my rent, my electricity, my cable, my water bill, my car insurance, my gas, my phone bill and my groceries. I don't have any financial support from my parents. I chose to go to a 4 year state university. I rely on loans, grants, scholarships AND my job to pay for all of that. And it's a personal choice.

I don't expect anyone to pay my loans back, but I literally could not afford to do this completely on my own.