[Bonnevie]

while I agree that students should be responsible for what they borrowed, I think the lending rates should have been less than what they were and I would support re-writing of the loans with low interest. After all, if we could give the big banks no interest bail outs during the recession, we should be able to help the students. Remember, tuition is about 200 times what it was when we went to college and I can remember that there was an interest free period after graduation when you could pay off the loan if you were able to save enough. It's graduate school that's killing the young kids....the private loans that they have to take to cover expenses have interest accruing immediately. Too often, we look at things thru the lens of what we went thru and think things are the same--they are not. A one bedroom one bath apartment in Orlando is $1300-- a lot to pay when you are in your first job.

[retiredguy123]

So, taxpayers who don't have a degree at all should finance someone who wants to go to graduate school? I don't agree with that. You can work for a few years and then pay your own way to graduate school, or get a private loan. The current student loan debt is 1.6 trillion dollars. Way too much.

[Velvet]

It took me, personally, a long time, decades, after earning many degrees, to learn the value of applied skills, and of those people who never went to college or university.

My eldest daughter studied under Dr Martin Seligman, The Father of positive psychology (sort of the equivalent of Sigmund Freud, considered The Father of negative psychology). Many years in university. The other daughter decided to work in welding, now works on airplane parts and she delights making wrought iron art. She never wanted to go to university. Yet it would be hard to say which daughter was more successful. Each kid followed her heart.

Would it have really been worth a very large student loan for the difference?

[Velvet]

Originally Posted by asianthree

All three had full rides, for undergrad. By the time you finish your residency, then your fellow into your field. Half a million plus is pretty common for specialized physicians. All are children happy with their field.

Our granddaughter, is in premed, full ride. We all have had the conversation about physicians debt starting a practice, and MALPRACTICE cost. Other physicians she has shadowed have had discussions with her.

At 3 she announced she wanted to be a doctor, while she reading X-rays with her grandpa, at the office. She asked for a grays anatomy for her 5 birthday.

She is going To be an Orthopedic Surgeon with eyes wide open.

That sounds wonderful! I can relate a tiny bit, I had a very happy baby sitter when I was five. I asked her what made her so happy and she said because she was studying chemical engineering. I had no idea what it was but I decided from that moment on that’s what I was going to do....and I did. Only to find out, much later, that watching chemical interactions for hours in beakers was not really my thing. Lol. Of course your granddaughter choose the right path for herself.

[retiredguy123]

My favorite consumer guru, Clark Howard, recommends that you should never borrow more money for a 4 year degree than you expect to earn as salary in your first year after graduation. And, you should never make a private loan for graduate school. I agree with his advice, but he is a real cheapskate.

[JoMar]

Two members of our family decided against college, one even tried it. Both went to trade school and both now have a 6 figure income plus significant benefits. We still need contractors, plumbers, electricians etc. and their income can far exceed college grads. In addition, job placement is highest in the trades because we need their skills. Not everyone can be a lawyer or doctor. I believe that many kids go to college because their parents want them to, they think that's whats best for them and quickly become disillusioned when they can't get into the field of their degree.

[villagetinker]

I was lucky, my parents paid for my tuition so I paid it forward, and setup 529 funds for each of 3 grandchildren, as well as paying for most of my step sons college, still have the last grandchild to go. The 529 investments almost doubled from the initial investment to time of use. So far all of the grand children have taken on side jobs and summer jobs to keep any remaining loans as low as possible, very responsible.

[retiredguy123]

Trade schools are fine, but the skills you learn can become obsolete with technology and robots. Also, you can only do physical labor for a certain period of time before you burn out or become too old to do the job. Plumbers and electricians can only make as much money as electrical and mechanical engineers if they own their own business, in which case, they are business people, not plumbers and electricians.

[Velvet]

I think that a person values the effort they put into it. Also there is the concept of learned helplessness, when you do everything for a person they learn that they are helpless themselves. (This applies to government student loans too, I think.) Therefore, I encouraged each child to fight for what they wanted, thus the scholarship. Eldest had five universities bribing her to come. (I was standing in the background ready to help each child .... if needed. Neither needed it. But they were also headstrong and choose their own path.)

[JGVillages]

Since the Federal Government guarantees Student Loans colleges will continue to raise tuition without consequences. If the student does not honor the loan then the Government (aka us taxpayers) will. Sort of a hybrid Ponzi Scheme created in Washington by our lawmakers who by the way vote their own salary increases.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by JGVillages

Since the Federal Government guarantees Student Loans colleges will continue to raise tuition without consequences. If the student does not honor the loan then the Government (aka us taxpayers) will. Sort of a hybrid Ponzi Scheme created in Washington by our lawmakers who by the way vote their own salary increases.

The Federal Government doesn't guarantee student loans, they make the loans. As understand it, banks are prohibited from making Government student loans anymore. They are loans made directly from the Federal Government, unless they are private loans between the student and the bank.

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by Velvet

That sounds wonderful! I can relate a tiny bit, I had a very happy baby sitter when I was five. I asked her what made her so happy and she said because she was studying chemical engineering. I had no idea what it was but I decided from that moment on that’s what I was going to do....and I did. Only to find out, much later, that watching chemical interactions for hours in beakers was not really my thing. Lol. Of course your granddaughter choose the right path for herself.

She fractured her wrist at age 5. ER orthopod told her it was broken in one place, she looked at the x-rays told him it was fractured 2 places. Took her x-rays to her grandpa’s office. She was right it was fractured in 2 places, one fracture was so near the growth plate, ER guy missed it, but she didn’t. ER Doc was one of 10 recommendations for Med school.

[JoMar]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

Trade schools are fine, but the skills you learn can become obsolete with technology and robots. Also, you can only do physical labor for a certain period of time before you burn out or become too old to do the job. Plumbers and electricians can only make as much money as electrical and mechanical engineers if they own their own business, in which case, they are business people, not plumbers and electricians.

Not sure what your experience has been but working plumbers and electricians make more than most. If they work for themselves they control their destiny but if they work for someone else they are promoted and run projects. Both of our family members did that, started at the bottom and worked their way up the ladder. Our son, no college degree, makes 125K a year and has been in his trade for 15 years, our nephew makes 110K a year and gradutated trade school 5 years ago. It's been an old argument parents use to convince college is their future, but I see a lot of graduates waiting tables, driving Uber or working at Disney. My point is that you don't need college to find a good paying job....that's a myth.

[eweissenbach]

Student loans are far from a singular problem and people looking to get help with paying for them are far from alone. Have you heard or seen the dozens of ads for companies wanting to help reduce credit card debt through negotiation and consolidation? Have you seen the ads for companies that claim they have negotiated with the IRS to reduce people’s tax liens by tens of thousands of dollars? Not to mention the dozens of attorneys advertising for bankruptcy cases. Seems to me that many, if not most, people are looking to get out of debt without simply paying it off.

[jimbomaybe]

does not the interest rates depend on the likelihood of default? , if banks could not adjust for that could they stay in business ?