

Untenable Student Loan Loads - Genmai
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/education/12college.html?_r=1&ref=education

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pnathan
Word to the wise: when you go to college, figure the costs, and figure them
good.

Then, figure the _benefits_ , and don't take the Humanities degree unless you
are independently wealthy or are okay being under your debt load for years and
years.

It's a lousy system, but don't bias your strategy towards being a barista for
years.

~~~
calloc
I figured the costs before I went to college, but coming from a wealthier
family (we were never poor, my dad made sure we lived within our means, but a
family of 6 as a single parent meant we were by no means rich) I couldn't get
any Federal loans, having a green card also added an extra step on top of it
in that by getting a student loan you have to sign up for the Selective
Service System which my country can consider another countries army thereby
possibly having me lose my citizenship.

I took out three student loans (3 years, 3 semesters each year) to cover all
of my costs, tuition, housing, books, living expenses, and when I graduated I
had 120k in student loans. This is for a software engineering degree.

I have so far paid off about 40k (mostly through money I got from my
grandparents for graduating), leaving me still to pay 80k. That is a lot of
money, finding a job wasn't easy either, the job I am working at now is
certainly not paying a whole lot (it's below the 50k mentioned in the article
as what people are earning with a bachelor degree, but I am at a startup and I
love the atmosphere ...), so I am going to be spending a lot of time paying
off all of my student loans.

So maybe I had the deck stacked against my favour, maybe if I had done better
in high school I could have gotten more scholarships and the like (many of
which BTW, as I found out, do not apply to foreign nationals/green card
holders). I chose a degree in which I will eventually be making a lot of
money, but for now I definitely feel like that debt is looming over me, it is
holding me back from doing what I want to do (get a newer car, my beater is
really on its last legs), find a place to live on my own rather than with 4
room mates.

It hasn't given me the freedom yet to purchase new tools and equipment for my
woodworking hobby. I can't afford to go on a vacation to just take some time
off, because I need the money I am making to pay off my loans. I am currently
paying just over $700 per month for my student loans, that's a lot of money,
especially compared to what I have left over after paying bills (water,
electricity, gas, Internet) and rent.

So yes, I know what I got into, I knew it was going to be hard, what I wasn't
expecting was that it was so hard to find a job mainly because the IT sector
was hit so hard with the recession thereby causing a flood of engineers to the
market, and a fresh out of school kid getting a lesser chance to find a
position.

I should have done what my brothers and sister did, and that is go back to
Europe and get a free education courtesy of the governemnt.

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williamdix
The big question I have about this article, which unfortunately goes
uncommented upon by the author has to do with the accompanying graph. Yes,
students loan debt is constantly rising, but so was credit card debt until
recently. The graph shows a huge decline in credit card debt. I wonder if this
has to do with the economic downturn leading to bankruptcies which can clear
out credit card debt?

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phamilton
Articles like these always make me glad I attend a very affordable school and
will graduate with zero debt.

~~~
melling
A lot of people don't seem to be making that same choice. According to the
article, we're already talking about debt forgiveness. There won't be a
correction in the system until consumers choose the affordable options. You
don't need to spend $50k/year to get a great education.

~~~
pnathan
Yeah, a lot of the buzz I read comes from people freaking out about the cost
of the Ivy League.

Cost of state schools is just a tad bit less.

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Hoff
Ritholtz graphed recent consumer credit activity, and student loans looked to
be all of the recent credit uptick.

[http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/04/fade-the-consumer-
credi...](http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/04/fade-the-consumer-credit-
headline/)

