It's About Liberty: A Conservative Forum

Topics => Economy => Topic started by: LadyVirginia on October 27, 2011, 02:59:41 PM

Title: Pay back student loans?
Post by: LadyVirginia on October 27, 2011, 02:59:41 PM
Rush was talking about this today but it's been a topic with OWS crowd for awhile. 

But now people are suggesting that the burden of repaying is just too much for them and it's not fair.  Who should pay it I wonder?

Perhaps they should be mad they spent so much.  But these people will never blame themselves.  The party is in danger of being over and they're scared.

I think Obama opened the door to this kind of thinking when he suggested something about forgiveness of student loans after 20 years.

Parents today don't know how to prepare their kids for the world.  They expect the schools to do it for them all the way through college. 
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Predator Don on October 27, 2011, 03:04:34 PM
Wonder if I can get a refund for my student loans I worked like hell to re pay.

College tuition is already skyrocketing because of all the "free" money available.....can you imagine if college education became (cough cough) free?

Somebody is raising a bunch of whiny crybabies. Unbelievable how far America has sunk into the muck.
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Glock32 on October 27, 2011, 04:02:15 PM
Like a lot of people, I have substantial student loan debt, though it's much better than it is for some people. I've somehow managed to make my own payments though, without being a whiner.

I also think it helps to have something that is at least worthwhile in exchange for that price tag. I got my degree in computer science. There are people with loan debt several times more than mine, and they have degrees in French Lit for it.
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: AlanS on October 27, 2011, 04:02:25 PM
My lovely bride and I paid for 8 semesters on my eldest son. He went through his savings to pay for 4 more semesters. He's been working the whole time, but it seemed to us, he didn't put a full effort into school. Now we have no money left and he still doesn't have his degree. He toyed with the idea of a student loan to live off of and concentrate on school, but my mathematical genious/ common sense wife talked him out of it. I think he regrets not putting his full effort in earlier, but it's too late now. Of course his major was mechanical engineering, so it would have paid well.
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Predator Don on October 27, 2011, 04:33:03 PM
Like a lot of people, I have substantial student loan debt, though it's much better than it is for some people. I've somehow managed to make my own payments though, without being a whiner.

I also think it helps to have something that is at least worthwhile in exchange for that price tag. I got my degree in computer science. There are people with loan debt several times more than mine, and they have degrees in French Lit for it.


I believe this is part of the issue with the idiotic occupy wall street crowd. Bet if you poll them on thier degrees, lots of French lit, meaningless degrees. Those with substancial degrees are most likely not protesting. Protesting over thier own pitiful choices.
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: IronDioPriest on October 27, 2011, 05:30:41 PM
Too many people graduating with degrees in things like history, poly-sci, english, queer studies, or women's studies. What kind of career do they think they're gonna get?

It's just another facet of the entitlement mentality that says, study something you like that makes you feel good, and don't worry  about whether it is useful or not.

It's also a symptom of the Leftist domination of universities and their primary function as indoctrination centers. They sell education at a premium, and use the money against the students, eroding their wisdom and judgment.

Now that the jig is up, they all want a bailout.
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Damn_Lucky on October 27, 2011, 05:34:15 PM
I figure my son will have 80-85k in loans (Computer Eng.) and my daughter will probably have 100-150k in loans (Dr. OT w/specialty in special needs) both needed occupations.
And so far one is doing it on his own and the last starts next year.
Pray for us please we need all the help we can get!

P.S. I don't want or expect anybody else to pay our debt!
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Pandora on October 27, 2011, 06:09:11 PM
The whiners ought to be "occupying" the colleges and universities who not only allowed, but encouraged, so much debt be incurred in pursuit of a worthless degree.  Where's all the opprobrium for greedy, Big Education pulling a bait and switch on attendees by pushing the everybody-needs-to-go-to-college in order to make a decent living crap and then deliberately non or mis educating young people?

Higher education no longer imparts knowledge, for the most part, but indoctrination.
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Castaway on October 27, 2011, 10:50:20 PM
Wonder if I can get a refund for my student loans I worked like hell to re pay.

College tuition is already skyrocketing because of all the "free" money available.....can you imagine if college education became (cough cough) free?

Somebody is raising a bunch of whiny crybabies. Unbelievable how far America has sunk into the muck.

Look no further than Greece where if I'm not mistaken every grad is guaranteed a job.  May as well be "free". You are seeing how well it worked out for them.  

It's all about choices.  I chose the hard headed way, worked three jobs and got what is now a worthless electronics certificate.  I've been back many times and worked two jobs as needed so I had no debt.  Im more into get what i need and get out.  I married into about 70K of student loan debt but it's paying off rather nicely through sacrifice and hard work.

Was at a dinner earlier this week with a group of egg heads and every one of them said it took six to eight years into their jobs AFTER college before they started making what most would consider real money.  Several said they had non college friends that were making more during those years.  

Like everything else left unfettered in our society the degree opens doors nothing more.  If you gave several groups of 1000 people large sums of money each you'll find most would blow through it and a few would find a way to work instead of partying as they collected the rest of the groups money.  Goverment is supposed to be there for protection of both groups...nothing more nothing less.  

From what I am reading this loan restructuring is part of the healthcare plan...WTF???  ::facepalm::
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Libertas on October 28, 2011, 07:25:54 AM
Yeah, all these OWS clowns have time on their hands to protest network with other losers because after graduating from one of our affordable universities with degrees in gender studies or some such useless major they have absolutely zero credentials for obtaining gainful employment and so they return to mommy and daddy and whine and moan about how unfair life is and how mean big business is for not hiring them to be the VP in charge of gender equity or some such crap so of course they are looking for a bailout since their own pathetic nature ensures they are unemployable and unable to honor their debts!  I wanna slap the sh*t out of these people and then go to their homes and kick their parents asses for raising such worthless drains on society!

 ::gaah::
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Castaway on November 06, 2011, 08:06:53 PM
"Over half of all foreign grad students were
studying engineering, math, computers
or science; only 15 percent of U.S. grad
students were enrolled in these disciplines."

Found that little snippet today while doing some reading on a fiscal site.   We need a surge in tech skills.
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Sectionhand on November 07, 2011, 12:39:27 AM
The fact is that there's no excuse for college tuition and fees to have risen even 50% of the amount they have over the last twenty years , notwithstanding the fact that probably 25% of the kids in school have no business being there to start with .
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Libertas on November 07, 2011, 06:52:56 AM
Like everything the Left touches, it soon turns to sh*t!  College used to be a privilege, not a right!  Kids would have a greater appreciation for opportunities if they did not have access to government subsidies and had to earn their way in or work their way through like most of us did.  All these subsidies have done is help bloat university payrolls and fund departments of little use.  Is it little wonder our natural born kids are lagging so far behind their foreign counterparts in engineering and the sciences?  The Left has bred generations of people learning useless studies who in turn perpetuate the cycle of uselessness.  It is all of our fault for letting it happen.  Souring the milk won't be painless but if it is not done all we are doing is condemning succeeding generations to a nation in irrecoverable decline.  Heck, we may be beyond the point of no return already so maybe it really doesn't matter what we do...
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Sectionhand on November 07, 2011, 08:04:15 AM
Like everything the Left touches, it soon turns to sh*t!  College used to be a privilege, not a right!  Kids would have a greater appreciation for opportunities if they did not have access to government subsidies and had to earn their way in or work their way through like most of us did.  All these subsidies have done is help bloat university payrolls and fund departments of little use.  Is it little wonder our natural born kids are lagging so far behind their foreign counterparts in engineering and the sciences?  The Left has bred generations of people learning useless studies who in turn perpetuate the cycle of uselessness.  It is all of our fault for letting it happen.  Souring the milk won't be painless but if it is not done all we are doing is condemning succeeding generations to a nation in irrecoverable decline.  Heck, we may be beyond the point of no return already so maybe it really doesn't matter what we do...

I have to wonder at times if some of these bone-heads are taking the same SAT I took .
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Pandora on November 07, 2011, 08:06:58 AM
It is my understanding that they are not, SH.  The test has been "reformed".
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: LadyVirginia on November 07, 2011, 09:06:31 AM
From everything I've been reading the rise in tuition correlates to government subsidies.  Schools can charge whatever and they know kids will just borrow more money.  Universities are just like the government--they do all kinds of stuff not directly related to their purpose.....


My daughter pays $600 in fees per semester! We still haven't figured out what it's for.  It seems to me that tuition should include everything.


It is my understanding that they are not, SH.  The test has been "reformed".

Many have been changed and kids still can't do well on them!
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Predator Don on November 07, 2011, 10:53:37 AM
From everything I've been reading the rise in tuition correlates to government subsidies.  Schools can charge whatever and they know kids will just borrow more money.  Universities are just like the government--they do all kinds of stuff not directly related to their purpose.....


My daughter pays $600 in fees per semester! We still haven't figured out what it's for.  It seems to me that tuition should include everything.


It is my understanding that they are not, SH.  The test has been "reformed".

Many have been changed and kids still can't do well on them!



LV, you are 100% correct. The integration of "free money" is the main culprit of raising tuitions. All these liberal feel good programs, initiated to assist the student to pay for college, is the very cause of rising tuitions.

We have discussed this before. In Tennessee, our lottery is directed toward educational "loans" AKA free money. Students use this money to offset the cost of education, but a funny thing happened as the "free money" was introduced, tuitions increased roughly the amount of "free money" students were receiving. LOL

When our politicans objected, of course they meddled, cutting the % to go to the school..... So what did higher education do? Yes, they raised thier tuition to cover the % loss, effectively collecting the same amount of "free money", while padding the back end with higher tuitions.

My gov't is helping me straight to the unemployment line.
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Pandora on November 07, 2011, 10:57:34 AM
It was the tuition-loan part of the GI Bill that started this ball rolling, and this is not a statement one way or t'other about that piece of it, more a pointer toward what always happens when you let government's nose under the tent.
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Delnorin on November 07, 2011, 11:00:10 AM
When I graduated from college back in 1991 (now I'm going back for more)... I soon realized that my degree wasn't worth much at all.  It wouldn't even get my foot in the door of a place.  I had to join the USAF to get experience in my degree so that I could sell myself with experiencing -and- the degree after I got out and became a civilian again.

As time went on I began to understand that because EVERYONE is going to college.. you're not special anymore.  Because everyone is -expected- to attend college; when you get out looking for a job; guess what.. you and 500 other people with the same college degree also want the job.

In effect:  Because everyone goes to college now, it means nothing.

You've gone into 10's of thousands of dollars of debt to just be average.  And average doesn't get you the job.
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Libertas on November 07, 2011, 11:20:26 AM
To the free money point - this subsidy is what perpetuates the cycle of uselessness, the results of which Delnorin highlights.  Until the government teat is pulled away, nothing will ever change.  Same argument for home ownership, CRA, student loans, its all the same scam!
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: LadyVirginia on November 07, 2011, 03:08:01 PM
I'm beginning to wonder if it wouldn't better be to get back to working one's way through school.  Sure it could take 6 or 7 years but it would give you experience as an employee.

If I was hiring I'd choose the person who was 27 years old and worked their way through college over the 22 year old who's never worked. (My kids all get jobs by age 16 if not before and one of my daughters tells me some of her friends never worked until they got their first job after college.)

There's also this mythology around college now you must have the "college experience" in order to fully enter adulthood.  Much like if you miss prom, you miss the high school experience.

Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Pandora on November 07, 2011, 03:11:34 PM
Never went to college so I can't comment on the "college experience" as the threshold to adulthood.  I got my own apartment at 19, sans roommate, and was henceforth responsible for all my own bills.  Nothing like it to catapult one smack-dab into adulthood.
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Predator Don on November 07, 2011, 03:34:33 PM
I had the college experience......One time so much I couldn't remember where I parked my car and took 2 days to find it.
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: LadyVirginia on November 07, 2011, 04:20:31 PM
Never went to college so I can't comment on the "college experience" as the threshold to adulthood.  I got my own apartment at 19, sans roommate, and was henceforth responsible for all my own bills.  Nothing like it to catapult one smack-dab into adulthood.

I agree.  But I run into many who think college is that time--as if college makes you an adult--if anything it extends childhood if you go right after high school. You get to pretend you're an adult without the downside! It's like going to camp for 9 months of the year.

Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Pandora on November 07, 2011, 06:41:54 PM
Never went to college so I can't comment on the "college experience" as the threshold to adulthood.  I got my own apartment at 19, sans roommate, and was henceforth responsible for all my own bills.  Nothing like it to catapult one smack-dab into adulthood.

I agree.  But I run into many who think college is that time--as if college makes you an adult--if anything it extends childhood if you go right after high school. You get to pretend you're an adult without the downside! It's like going to camp for 9 months of the year.

See Don's comment above.  That, and the fact that they're still not paying the bills if they're not working full-time tells me all I need to know.

Chapel Hill students seem to major in drinking and Halloween.  I wonder how many of them are at the OWSes all over d'plaze.
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Castaway on November 07, 2011, 08:03:36 PM
The fact is that there's no excuse for college tuition and fees to have risen even 50% of the amount they have over the last twenty years , notwithstanding the fact that probably 25% of the kids in school have no business being there to start with .

Actually a third party auditor Norton Norris did a look at Proprietary Education vs Public Education and found that it was a significant amount less

Though for profit education does it at less expense to the tax payer our leadership is doing everything they can to smear the industry and shut them down through negotiated rule making. 

Lets not forget the feds have taken over ALL student loans...what is the rate they are charging and what do student loans have to do with healthcare again?

Look for the news to show up anytime on the default rates on student loans.  When the banks were running them they had a vested interest in getting the money back.  The government took them over ill prepared and are scrambling trying to keep up with all the defaults. 

Bottom line the DOE has a HUGE role in the jump in the cost of education. 
Title: Re: Pay back student loans?
Post by: Castaway on November 07, 2011, 08:05:55 PM
The fact is that there's no excuse for college tuition and fees to have risen even 50% of the amount they have over the last twenty years , notwithstanding the fact that probably 25% of the kids in school have no business being there to start with .

Actually a third party auditor Norton Norris did a look at Proprietary Education vs Public Education and found that it was a significant amount less....like 20K plus less over two years!

http://www.nortonnorris.com/pdfs/career_vs_community_r5.pdf (http://www.nortonnorris.com/pdfs/career_vs_community_r5.pdf)

Though for profit education does it at less expense to the tax payer our leadership is doing everything they can to smear the industry and shut them down through negotiated rule making. 

Lets not forget the feds have taken over ALL student loans...what is the rate they are charging and what do student loans have to do with healthcare again?

Look for the news to show up anytime on the default rates on student loans.  When the banks were running them they had a vested interest in getting the money back.  The government took them over ill prepared and are scrambling trying to keep up with all the defaults. 

Bottom line the DOE has a HUGE role in the jump in the cost of education.