

Why I Defaulted on My Student Loans - pen2l
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/opinion/sunday/why-i-defaulted-on-my-student-loans.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-right-region&region=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region

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ColinWright
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9674606](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9674606)

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paulhauggis
This article just shows me that we need to teach more financial education in
elementary through high school.

I find it 'absurd' that I can amass a crippling amount of debt purchasing a
house, but it doesn't mean I should do it anyway and default on my loan.

If you think tuition rates are too expensive, don't take out a loan and don't
go to college. It's that simple. I went to community college and then
transferred to a more affordable university. I had a great career, now have a
business, and paid off my loans within 10 years.

The other problem is that students decide to pick a major that will most
likely never earn them enough to pay their debts off. I worked with someone
that majored in medieval studies and had $60,000 in debt. She was working as a
$10/hour call center rep because she couldn't find a job.

This article is shifting the blame to the Universities when the blame should
be solely on the person that took the loan out. Take this as your first life
lesson.

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dozzie
Oh, your universities are to be blamed, too. They inflated tuition fees, which
happened not without government help in access to student loans.

Of course it's hard to argue that this is a result of bad will on either side.
It's more a problem of a system than any individual action.

A common view that "college is necessary to have a good job" is to be blamed,
too, so society is to be blamed as well. At least some other countries have
seen similar effects of inflating academic degrees in the population, while
killing technical schools on high school level. The result is plenty of people
having a degree, but little of them possessing any skill usable to actually
create something, and little of them willing to do physical job ("I wasn't
studying for five years only to ride a forklift cart!").

