After coming across an article the other day talking about 30 distraught college grads (sorry don't have the link), who have tens and even hundreds of thousands worth of student loans, it brought the reoccurring thought back to my head:
Why the hell do we let kids borrow 10's and 100's of thousands of unsecured dollars for a largely worthless education?
www.debt.org
Stats according to this source: Total student loan debt - $1.4 trillion, $2,800 accrued every second, average student graduates with $37,000 in debt
This isn't an argument for wether school is worth it or not.
Some people need a college education for their career path. What I'm thinking about here is the idea that it's necessary to go to school, whatever the burden or cost.
It seems like everyone and their mother (Literally) carries student loan debt. Even some of the people on this forum carry student loan debt, from a time when you were a fresh faced 18 year old who thought an art degree was a good choice.
Let's talk about that too. About the letting 18 year old children take on tens of thousands worth of debt per year.
When I was 19, I went to go buy a new car from the dealer for ~$35k (Yes, poor decision). I was making $36k/year at the time. When I was in that finance office, they laughed and said there was no way I was getting approved for this loan on my own. I needed a cosigner. I wasn't making enough and didnt have a high enough credit score
I later stepped back and thought about that. The bank wouldn't loan me money for a car, which is a physical good that has an inherent marketplace value, albeit one that depreciates, but the point is that in the event of me not paying, and them repossessing the vehicle, they would be able to recoup some of their money from a fire sale of the car, and probably sue me for the remainder of the loan in the mean time. They would get out scot free.
But you can get a loan for double, or triple that amount, if you spend it on education with no guarantee of finding a job in that field. Without a credit score, or even employment! There is no physical asset to repossess, Nothing to sell to recoup the cost of the loan. You can never bankrupt it, and you'll most likely be paying on that loan for a decade minimum, if you make the minimum payment.
I'm 24 right now, So I see a lot of my friends and people around me accumulate all this debt, get thrown into the real world and panic. All of the sudden they really understand that it wasn't just numbers on a screen, it's $600 a month coming out of their checking for the next 10 years.
Heck, most of the people I work with at my job at a RESTAURANT have a college degree and student loans.
So why the heck do we do this to our selves as a society? Better yet, why don't the grown adults who are sending their kids off to a 4 year university say "Hey, maybe taking on $30,000 a year in debt so our kid can get a $40,000 a year job ISN'T such a great idea""Maybe he's better off staying with us and going to community college, and not blowing $15,000 a year on room and board"
I'm not one thats big on conspiracy theories, but I can't help but wonder if this is all apart of a system to control the population. There isn't much time to have an existential crisis when you're eye ball deep in debt. Plus, the government gets a nice steady income of tax dollars from the masses.
Again, this isn't an argument for wether school is right or wrong. It's an argument for common sense and staying out of crippling debt.
What's a possible way out of this? I don't see people doing much about this problem. Most people are aware that taking $100k in loans to get a $40k/year job is a bad deal, but few seem to do anything about it. Shoot, it's even become a meme!
Why the hell do we let kids borrow 10's and 100's of thousands of unsecured dollars for a largely worthless education?
Student Loan Resources: Financial Aid & Loan Debt Management
Student loans account for over $1 trillion in debt in America. Learn to acquire, manage, pay back different types of financial aid and other student debts.
www.debt.org
Stats according to this source: Total student loan debt - $1.4 trillion, $2,800 accrued every second, average student graduates with $37,000 in debt
This isn't an argument for wether school is worth it or not.
Some people need a college education for their career path. What I'm thinking about here is the idea that it's necessary to go to school, whatever the burden or cost.
It seems like everyone and their mother (Literally) carries student loan debt. Even some of the people on this forum carry student loan debt, from a time when you were a fresh faced 18 year old who thought an art degree was a good choice.
Let's talk about that too. About the letting 18 year old children take on tens of thousands worth of debt per year.
When I was 19, I went to go buy a new car from the dealer for ~$35k (Yes, poor decision). I was making $36k/year at the time. When I was in that finance office, they laughed and said there was no way I was getting approved for this loan on my own. I needed a cosigner. I wasn't making enough and didnt have a high enough credit score
I later stepped back and thought about that. The bank wouldn't loan me money for a car, which is a physical good that has an inherent marketplace value, albeit one that depreciates, but the point is that in the event of me not paying, and them repossessing the vehicle, they would be able to recoup some of their money from a fire sale of the car, and probably sue me for the remainder of the loan in the mean time. They would get out scot free.
But you can get a loan for double, or triple that amount, if you spend it on education with no guarantee of finding a job in that field. Without a credit score, or even employment! There is no physical asset to repossess, Nothing to sell to recoup the cost of the loan. You can never bankrupt it, and you'll most likely be paying on that loan for a decade minimum, if you make the minimum payment.
I'm 24 right now, So I see a lot of my friends and people around me accumulate all this debt, get thrown into the real world and panic. All of the sudden they really understand that it wasn't just numbers on a screen, it's $600 a month coming out of their checking for the next 10 years.
Heck, most of the people I work with at my job at a RESTAURANT have a college degree and student loans.
So why the heck do we do this to our selves as a society? Better yet, why don't the grown adults who are sending their kids off to a 4 year university say "Hey, maybe taking on $30,000 a year in debt so our kid can get a $40,000 a year job ISN'T such a great idea""Maybe he's better off staying with us and going to community college, and not blowing $15,000 a year on room and board"
I'm not one thats big on conspiracy theories, but I can't help but wonder if this is all apart of a system to control the population. There isn't much time to have an existential crisis when you're eye ball deep in debt. Plus, the government gets a nice steady income of tax dollars from the masses.
Again, this isn't an argument for wether school is right or wrong. It's an argument for common sense and staying out of crippling debt.
What's a possible way out of this? I don't see people doing much about this problem. Most people are aware that taking $100k in loans to get a $40k/year job is a bad deal, but few seem to do anything about it. Shoot, it's even become a meme!
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