People have to start paying their student loans back next week

I too am old fashioned. My preference would be those that favor loan forgiveness should pay what is owed so that tax payers don't foot the bill.

Let’s get real: how will student loan forgiveness be paid for? The answer is taxpayer dollars. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that Biden’s forgiveness plan could add up to $400 billion to the national deficit. While Biden suggested that the costs could be covered through deficit reduction, this approach is complex. The deficit, the gap between government spending and revenue, could widen, affecting the country’s financial health.

Who Pays for the Student Loan Forgiveness Program? | MoneyLion.
 
My sisters and I were very fortunate that our parents paid for our college bills and expenses. We did the same for our daughter and son. My wife taught at a large university here in the east and our kids would have been allotted free tuition, but neither one decided to go there. Back when they went to school, the tuition was around $10,000+. Today, the cost for undergraduate is around $75,000.
 

Irishdude said:
I'm old fashioned and think that if you took out a loan, you ought to pay it back. I'm sure others here think differently, however.
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I feel the same way about student loans. I could see some sort of incentive, such as a minimal interest rate offered to people that repay promptly. I see that in 2024 the average interest rate on student loans was 7.89%. That is very high. I would give some sort of incentive for prompt repayment, maybe 3% interest rate?

Further, I would prefer that our tax $ not go towards certain studies that will not lead towards a career path that will enable the student to be able to afford repayment.
 
Back in the 70's, it was a common practice to default on your school loans. You just stopped paying, they'd bug you for a while and then write them off. I know several people who did that and were pretty "proud" that they had "defeated the man".

My parents paid for me, with a combination of my working. But then, tuition was only $11 an hour and the dorms were pretty reasonable. I attended for 2 1/2 years, leaving without a degree.

We paid my daughter's tuition for her BA. Frankly, I don't know what she did for her MBA and her other master's degree. I know she got some help from her employer.

My granddaughter got pretty much a free ride from a combination of athletic and academic scholarships. She graduated from a $60,000-a-year school with less than $20,000 in loans. Because she was a teacher, she did get a little help but mostly she paid those off on her own.

I don't know how people afford to go to college now, especially the ritzy ones. If you're really determined, though, there ARE ways to go to college that don't cripple you for the next 20 years.
 
Trade said:
I support free higher education like they have in civilized countries so that there is no need for student debt.
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In the typical "civilized countries" you speak of, what is the percentage of youth that graduate with a free college education, that would be considered equivalent to a 4 year bachelor's degree in what I assume you consider the uncivilized, barbaric, primitive, uncultured, unrefined, or untamed USA?

I would Google it myself but you do not specify which are universally categorized as "civilized countries".

While you're at it, why don't you tell me what superior country you claim as home. I sure as hell hope you don't live in The USA.
 
I paid mine back, but I went to college when a summer job and a $1000 loan would last a year. Unless today's college students get very good jobs, they are going to be poor for a very long time. Something is wrong with the system that penalizes the youngest and brightest with poverty.
 
JustDave said:
I paid mine back, but I went to college when a summer job and a $1000 loan would last a year. Unless today's college students get very good jobs, they are going to be poor for a very long time. Something is wrong with the system that penalizes the youngest and brightest with poverty.
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SIL got a PhD in Genetics on scholarships. I worked with youngsters between 17-25 over the last couple of years to find scholarships. Boolean search? Filling out applications? Keeping up with dead lines? Please that is too much. Personally I pulled a scholarship when a young lady referred to SO as the Garage Mongrel.
 
I love this meme.

I saw back in the seventies that half of college classes were nonsense and with pressing bills I went to an 8 month computer technician program which the government funded as I was one step away from being homeless.

I have known so many people who had few useful skills but had played the university game. Let the universities be penalized and refund tuition for people who do not get jobs that service our civilization.

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There are so many things I could say... I paid my loans as I worked while in school and paid during that time with no interest adding up. I went to college later in life so not way back .....
Far too many may be taking remedial classes and such that tack on an extra semester or two just to be up to speed.... Silly required classes that have nothing to do with majors.... and program change 3/4 way thru that add on extra requirements...
Universities or colleges are just a business with tons of add on costs. because the government will back loans to anyone it seems.

A Yale student earlier this year sued high school because she cannot read .... how do high school teachers not know this while teaching them? and why do colleges not admit students that are NOT ready for higher education?
 
Irishdude said:
I'm old fashioned and think that if you took out a loan, you ought to pay it back. I'm sure others here think differently, however.
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For me, it’s not as straightforward as it might seem. While I ultimately agree that individuals who take out loans should be responsible for repaying them, having the government step in to pay off these loans merely addresses the symptom, not the root cause—the exorbitantly high cost of education. Decades ago, in the 1950s, 60s, and well into the 70s, it was feasible to work one’s way through college. Today, however, I find it hard to believe that this is a viable option for anyone pursuing a four-year Bachelor's degree.
That said, given the choice between alleviating student loan debt or providing massive tax cuts for the wealthiest 1%, I’d choose the former without hesitation. Here in the United States, we already provide free education through elementary and high school. College, in my view, should be an extension of that foundation.
 
There is no need to grasp at excuses. Take a loan, you pay it back.

if you want to be upset about "the rich" go after those profiting from the loans and the failing education industry that is in cahoots with them and keep escalating the costs.

"Brightest?" Sorry, but entrance standards and academic standards have declined each year for several decades. A certificate of attendance says more about tolerance for nonsense and general disposition in the face of authority, not how "bright" one is. The more social one is the "better" one does in college today.
 
Tom52 said:
In the typical "civilized countries" you speak of, what is the percentage of youth that graduate with a free college education, that would be considered equivalent to a 4 year bachelor's degree in what I assume you consider the uncivilized, barbaric, primitive, uncultured, unrefined, or untamed USA?

I would Google it myself but you do not specify which are universally categorized as "civilized countries".

While you're at it, why don't you tell me what superior country you claim as home. I sure as hell hope you don't live in The USA.
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Twostep said:
There is so much free money out there but why bother someone will hand it to you.
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I expected you two to reply like that. In fact I would have been disappointed if you had not.
 
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Rich said:
For me, it’s not as straightforward as it might seem. While I ultimately agree that individuals who take out loans should be responsible for repaying them, having the government step in to pay off these loans merely addresses the symptom, not the root cause—the exorbitantly high cost of education. Decades ago, in the 1950s, 60s, and well into the 70s, it was feasible to work one’s way through college. Today, however, I find it hard to believe that this is a viable option for anyone pursuing a four-year Bachelor's degree.
That said, given the choice between alleviating student loan debt or providing massive tax cuts for the wealthiest 1%, I’d choose the former without hesitation. Here in the United States, we already provide free education through elementary and high school. College, in my view, should be an extension of that foundation.
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Colleges have jacked up their prices at three to six times the rate of inflation. I can't explain how they have been able to do that, and why people blame "the rich" for it. The colleges are to blame in my view. But you still have to pay back your loans, that's a separate issue.
 
Tom52 said:
I doubt you could make a dignified response, you only want to offend and belittle. Re your "civilized countries" snarky jab at USA.
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I edited my comment. But like I said, you never disappoint me. You have more buttons on you than a Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Uniform and it's so tempting to push them now and then.
 
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Tom52 said:
In the typical "civilized countries" you speak of, what is the percentage of youth that graduate with a free college education, that would be considered equivalent to a 4 year bachelor's degree in what I assume you consider the uncivilized, barbaric, primitive, uncultured, unrefined, or untamed USA?

I would Google it myself but you do not specify which are universally categorized as "civilized countries".

While you're at it, why don't you tell me what superior country you claim as home. I sure as hell hope you don't live in The USA.
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Countries that offer zero tuition for university education include Germany, Norway, Finland, and Sweden, where public universities do not charge tuition fees for students, particularly for EU citizens. They also have among the highest income tax rates. I believe Finland's is the highest and Sweden is right behind them, but I could be wrong about that.

Of course, this has nothing to do with being more civil or advanced or superior; some of us live in a country where the law says every earner must pay into a college fund (basically), and some of us don't. And either way has its critics.
 
Lawrence00 said:
I love this meme.

I saw back in the seventies that half of college classes were nonsense and with pressing bills I went to an 8 month computer technician program which the government funded as I was one step away from being homeless.

I have known so many people who had few useful skills but had played the university game. Let the universities be penalized and refund tuition for people who do not get jobs that service our civilization.

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If the only reason you are going to college is to get a marketable skill in order to use it to make money you are missing the main point which is to learn to think critically.
 
Trade said:
I edited my comment. But like I said, you never disappoint me. You have more buttons on you than a Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Uniform and it's so tempting to push them now and then.
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You must be smoking something, other than my reply to your post I have never responded to anything you have posted. Nothing you say has any value to warrant my comment.

You are not as cutesy in you posts as you would like to think you are.
 
jujube said:
My parents paid for me, with a combination of my working. But then, tuition was only $11 an hour and the dorms were pretty reasonable. I attended for 2 1/2 years, leaving without a degree.

We paid my daughter's tuition for her BA. Frankly, I don't know what she did for her MBA and her other master's degree. I know she got some help from her employer.
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this is great for those who have parents who can afford to do that - but I think university entrance should be based on merit alone not only be available to those who can afford to pay

On the other hand I recognise that university educated people, on the whole, earn more in the long run.

I like the system we have in Australia where University tuition is partly government subsidised and party covered by the student after they are working and earning over x amount and they pay back their HECS (higher education contribution scheme) by paying additional tax until it is re paid
That seems a good compromise to me
 
I can remember back in my college days (the 1960's), a lot of people thought that you went to school to "widen their perspectives." So they spent lots of money (usually their parents') widening their perspectives and getting degrees in Philosophy, Art History, Drama and the like.

Then, they graduated and started looking for a job with that diploma in hand. Unless they got lucky, they were asked "how fast do you type?" and got to start as a mailclerk somewhere.

On the other hand, their "less widened" compatriots learned auto repair, plumbing, electrical work and started making some serious bucks when the artsy-fartsy ones were still going to Friday night keggers at the Phi Yi Yi house.

That said, I strived for a degree in Journalism (just about as useless as a degree in Basket Weaving) and never even finished that. I'd like to go back in time and kick my cute little ass down the street to somewhere I could have gotten a useful education and made some good money from it.

We didn't have good vocational guidance counselors at my large high school. It was usually a teacher who had a free period and didn't have any real training in the field. If you were a female, you got "become a teacher or a nurse". I have no idea what the guys were told. You HAD to go to a 4-year college and you HAD to get an "acceptable" degree. We weren't even offered aptitude tests to see what we'd be best at.

My daughter, on the other hand, went to her vocational counselor in the 1980's and asked, "What can I make really, really good money doing?" And then she proceeded to do just that.
 

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