Americans Know Nothings When It Comes To College Loan Debt.

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WhatInThe

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Americans apparently are know nothings when it comes to student loan debt. Don't seem to understand how interest works or the consequences for not paying back a loan.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...know-almost-nothing-about-their-college-loans

Not surprised because colleges sell the experience or a career-not the reality outside the classroom.

The first lesson of college & taking out a loan should be that the agreement or paper work is called a contract in which one is obligated to pay back they money they borrowed off of someone else.
 

Yeah, they must not teach many "real world" financial skills in our Politically Correct schools, anymore. Perhaps these silly kids think they can take out a PayDay loan to pay off their debts. Then, half the courses offered in these universities are not going to give these graduates a foundation for much more than a minimum wage job. One of the few sensible things I've heard Obama say in recent years is his push for more Community Colleges, which teach Real World skills....and don't put a student 10's of thousands in debt.
 
My daughter in law graduates from law school this May. Like America, university education is expensive in Canada. In spite of working while in university, and during the summers, she is heavily in debt. No doubt, in time that will be resolved, but it is

appalling to do this to some of our best and brightest, all in the name of Institutionalised greed. My son, who has finished his university education, pays over four hundred dollars a month toward paying off his debt. I don't believe a lawyer is an unworldly career, and my son in management,

certainly earns far more than minimum wage. No silly immaturity going on here. I find the constant bashing of the millenial generation tedious, but then, so often this is the pattern. The arrogant old berate the foolish young, have done so since far

before Socrates despaired of the next generation. Sometimes, I despair of my generation, and the one before me. How did so many of us become so intolerant and smug? Certainly, we are old enough to know better, apparently immaturity, and a sense

of entitlement are not limited to any one age group.
 

Shalimar said:
How did so many of us become so intolerant and smug?
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Probably because when we were that age an education didn't cost anywhere near what it costs now, and it's not all relative as some seem to believe. The cost of an education is way out of control, but most older people just don't get it.

A good for instance is that when I started (community) college, a semester's tuition for a class was $12/hr and most classes were either three or four hours. I carried a 12-hour course load, and my books and lab fees were a little less than $100 so not quite $250/semester...about three weeks' pay.

I don't know any kids now who make the kind of money in a month that would cover tuition, fees and books for a semester, and that doesn't cover living costs if the student doesn't live close enough to a community college to commute, never mind living costs once they transfer to a four-year school. Then there's graduate school...

Student loans? It's all about the lenders. They're in business to make money, and they do. How many of us at age 18, just starting college, understood all there was to know about lending and borrowing? The lenders can make it sound like ein Stueck Kuchen/kein Problem, and kids (and their parents!) believe them because they want an education.
 
Shalimar said:
My daughter in law graduates from law school this May. Like America, university education is expensive in Canada. In spite of working while in university, and during the summers, she is heavily in debt. No doubt, in time that will be resolved, but it is

appalling to do this to some of our best and brightest, all in the name of Institutionalised greed. My son, who has finished his university education, pays over four hundred dollars a month toward paying off his debt. I don't believe a lawyer is an unworldly career, and my son in management,

certainly earns far more than minimum wage. No silly immaturity going on here. I find the constant bashing of the millenial generation tedious, but then, so often this is the pattern. The arrogant old berate the foolish young, have done so since far

before Socrates despaired of the next generation. Sometimes, I despair of my generation, and the one before me. How did so many of us become so intolerant and smug? Certainly, we are old enough to know better, apparently immaturity, and a sense

of entitlement are not limited to any one age group.
Click to expand...

Your children sound like exceptions, not the rule, especially compared to many elsewhere. There is more cavalier towards debt and/or money now a days. Paying back a debt has much less priority than it used to be. Especially in a day and age of aggressive consumerism where one can hire a lawyer or negotiator to get them out of that debt although a lot of it is disguising debt with consolidation of the loan payments into one. Part of the problem with that aggressive consumerism is that it allows people who normally wouldn't be able to afford something to buy it with debt. High interest rate debt at that. Even though these car companies advertise 0-2% financing I heard the average auto loan falls around 11-14%. Same could be said for many credit cards or other things one pays on credit or over time. Easy credit creates inflation which creates higher prices and frivolous spending and more debt. Throw in an instant gratification society this scenario will play out much more often.
 
WhatInThe said:
Your children sound like exceptions, not the rule, especially compared to many elsewhere. There is more cavalier towards debt and/or money now a days. Paying back a debt has much less priority than it used to be. Especially in a day and age of aggressive consumerism where one can hire a lawyer or negotiator to get them out of that debt although a lot of it is disguising debt with consolidation of the loan payments into one. Part of the problem with that aggressive consumerism is that it allows people who normally wouldn't be able to afford something to buy it with debt. High interest rate debt at that. Even though these car companies advertise 0-2% financing I heard the average auto loan falls around 11-14%. Same could be said for many credit cards or other things one pays on credit or over time. Easy credit creates inflation which creates higher prices and frivolous spending and more debt. Throw in an instant gratification society this scenario will play out much more often.
Click to expand...

We are becoming a Nation based upon Debt. Just in the past couple of days, our National Debt surpassed 19 trillion dollars. Over 30% of retirees are still making mortgage payments. The average household credit card debt is nearly $6,000. People are taking out 72 month car loans, which can make the final cost of the car almost 75% above sticker. So...with such shining examples of financial acumen being displayed by everyone from their parents, to our government, it's no wonder that so many of our kids think that debt is no big deal.

But, then, perhaps they think that since Washington can bail out Wall Street, maybe Washington will also wave a magic wand and make student loan debt disappear.

Our colleges and universities also can share in the blame. Most of these campuses are laced with as much wasteful spending as our government. If you look at a catalog of courses offered, most people can't define what half of these courses are supposed to do towards preparing a graduate for a decent career. A few years ago, when our grandkids were preparing for college, I looked at their catalogs, and never knew that "underwater basket weaving" could have so many different names.

Then, too, society has become brainwashed into thinking that a college degree is an instant pathway to success. Meanwhile, there are good paying jobs going begging because we don't have enough people anymore who are willing to get their hands dirty....which is another contributing reason for why this nation continues to lose more and more manufacturing jobs.
 
Au contraire! One of the big reasons "people" (read "young people) aren't willing to get the training for jobs that will get their hands dirty is because Washington has made it easier to ship manufacturing jobs overseas. People who had those jobs? A good many of them went back to school...probably with a cr*pload of student debt.
 
Last time I checked law school remained expensive, as I explained in an earlier post re my kids. Those portions of my non useless university education that were completed during the last decade and a half, were very expensive, much more so than the degrees

completed in my youth. During the whole protracted process, I got my hands plenty dirty, working while going to school, being a single mother, growing my own food etc. I have no university debt now, but it was not easy to get to that point. Not because I could

not handle money, or was allergic to hard work, but many of the expenses were unavoidable. Entitlement, my delicate derrière. Lolol. If I had begun my education during the millenial years, who knows when I would have paid off my student debt? Perhaps in time for my seventy-ninth birthday?
 
Some numbers from the survey:

-6% of students knew how long it would take them to pay the loan.

-8% knew what their interest rate was

-70% thought Sallie Mae was a person and not a company

-59% thought national total student debt was in the millions compared to the TRILLION in the actual number

-38% knew how much they borrowed

-52% knew what the college was actually charging for tuition and books

-28% know the consequences for not paying

Granted there are some cost & economic issues but how can one not know what interest rate they are paying or how long it might take them to pay it off. Or how can one not know how much they borrowed or have an interest in what they are actually paying in tuition or books. Sallie Mae a person, really?

Part of the problem is on society for greed and/or not teaching & emphasizing to the young when you sign your name you just agreed to what ever is in that pesky fine print or bland verbage. And the volume of paperwork created by a student loan helps hide the real costs literally getting lost in the shuffle. But how one can not know how much they owe-no where on that paperwork was a dollar figure??? It's not always about what one wants but what they can practically afford. Society is selling dreams & desires, not reality which will become a nightmare.

Like most other things in a consumer driven society if more students stopped signing and/or questioned & challenged more clauses/paragraphs in those loan agreements things would change if for no other reason it would take longer to process and complete each application which would interfere with the financial productivity goals of these colleges.

There are multiple issues here but to me first and foremost is the lack of priority for those pesky things like fine print & detail.
 
Instead of going all geezery about it...some simple truths

Agreed that most students do not fully understand student loans when they take them on. I would make that a senior year high school course. Make it addition to math class, make it an elective, but it should be a required course. Even for kids not going to college immediately after high school they should have a working knowledge of the system.

The world has changed regarding jobs. I'm sure back in the day your major could become your career. Now with shifting trends in the marketplace what you major in could be glutted with career competition by the time you graduate. Several years ago Physical Therapy was a projected lucrative career pick. The result was more graduates than open positions in some areas. By the same token the internet has made print journalism a struggling field. Forty or fifty years ago you could make a career working for the right newspaper or magazine. Not anymore...you could graduate on the teaching track and find a job easily. Now they tell graduates to be open to other states to find work.


The fact that many graduates will not find jobs in their major is spot on. So the jobs they might have to accept might generously be between $8 to $10 an hour. Even on daily ramen noodles you aren't going to be able to pull out $400 towards loans PLUS living expenses.


Students also have to know that default is a dirty word. Defaulting on your loans can bar you from virtually any federal job, even being a lowly postal carrier. Also barring one from the benefit packages you get with such jobs. You can work with lenders to get out of default but the damage is already done.


Defaulting on loans also means they can garnish your wages. so now you have to take two or three pittering jobs to make ends meet and yep...they garnish your wages too...sucks to be you.


I did not understand the loan process when I returned to school. I should have brought an accountant with me. I wanted to get on the teaching track. My GPA was off by mere points, meaning I would need more loans for graduate work and the ability to pass two or three college level math courses...I can compose gorgeous essays, with third grade math. Plus competition for teaching is stiff in this state...and I'm fast approaching the age when teachers consider retirement, not just getting started...

I can only hope they forgive student loans after the student passes on because that's how long I'll have them.
 
I am no more or less greedy than I was when I first attended university decades ago, when it was actually affordable. Times have changed, tuition etc is astronomical, most hands on jobs are outsourced or underpaid. Greedy corporate attitudes

primarily responsible for a great deal of this problem. The good old days are gone. Brave or not, this is the new world. Education is paramount for success in the twenty first century, particularly in the scientific areas. I like young people, I work

with many of them, unlike a lot of seniors, perhaps that affects my perception of them as a whole, rather than signaling
Out a few less salubrious ones---the bad apples are the exceptions not the norm re this generation, just as it was with mine. I

was after all a hippy, later member of the free love, drug doing, communal living useless generation. Make love not war, sex, drugs, and rock,and Roll. Going to hell, amount to nothing me generation, criminals and drug addicts. Well here I am. I got the

last laugh, and so will the millenials etc. Little therapy fact for free. Most people turn out ok, and do their best to live good productive lives, given half a chance. Just not as newsworthy as those that don't. Now I think I need a toke.
 
Hey pass that around...I would tell anybody considering college...if math, science or computer programming are a huge passion and you are exceptional in them...great majors, and careers will be there well into the next decade. Virtually any other major is iffy. Better a trade school or internship with a non-profit. I tell them learn something that will guarantee you cash money. THEN you can figure out what you really want to do.
 
One of the things the survey or article pointed out was that not being financially savvy contributed to students picking a major that would not be easy to pay back once in the real world job market. Too much emphasis is on a career or what one wants to do. True one shouldn't have to go to work every day flatout hating their job BUT they should be taught sometimes one has to take a job to pay bills or do something they may not like. And that's the problem in society in general. Too many cannot simple disappointment, it's all about what one wants to do, rather than what they have to do, need to do or should do. Not everything one does in life is a whoopeee experience, sometimes one will have to endure and be happy to survive.

There is definitely greed from the colleges, banks and yes the students. Even if it's not a large salary in a way it's just as "greedy" to assume or think one will get their dream job. Too many parents and counselor types over promise or misrepresent what one can do in life. As a society first and foremost we should be teaching students to survive and that is THE priority in life, survival, not a career or dream but survival in the modern world.
 
Hmmm. EvenAs a counselor type, I feel uniquely qualified to teach PHD level courses in a variety of areas of survival. I got a+
I could survive in most conditions. That is not the point. This is not ancient Sparta where we let foxes chew our guts out,

metaphorically speaking just to be tough . There is a hierarchy of needs, once the primary ones are met, food shelter etc, it is human nature to want and need more. It is encoded in our DNA to strive to be more than basic herd animals. To become better

human beings. When we don't we succumb to our baser instincts. War, greed, power, cruelty, poverty, etc. all these things speak to the dangers and limitations of a primitive, super -testosterone based survival of the meanest mandate. Look at our planet?

Ain't working too,well so far is it? Perhaps a little less yang and a little more yin.
 
Basic survival skills should include academic and vocational skill which should include enough math to understand finance and basic economics along with some domestic skills like cooking, handyman or general fitness. And should it should be emphasized that things like food, shelter are a priority, not one's preferred career. So that means if one can only afford a one bedroom apartment they don't get a funky exorbitant rate mortgage for a McMansion. That also means one might have to coupon clip, look and wait for sales when food shopping, not every meal will be a gourmet treat, don't have to hate it but that prime rib might have to wait.

Basic survival starts with realistic expectations and/or practical obtainable goals. Once they are reached then take the next step which could be something different or better. Too many not only want to skip steps but they feel entitled to do so. That is part of the problem.
 
The world that we grew up in and the way we lived have gone forever. Whether you think that's a good or a bad thing it's a fact. I'm glad I don't have to get educated, buy a house or raise a family in today's economy.
 
I dunno Shalimar but a few more hits and I will toadly understand. I was reading a book in Lowes one night. How to survive the zombie apocalypse raising rabbits, catching squirrels and living off the land. And like that show where people cease to exist and our companion dogs starve, while the cats make nice and go feral...I will be one of the companion dogs. No cans open and no microwave and well I'm gone woof.
 
Can you survive on chips and twist top bottles of wine? If the answer is yes I have all the survival skills I need.
 

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