Student Loan Hell

[Prettygrimm]

my bf went to Whittier College (private liberal arts college, Richard Nixon went there lolz) and the overall cost was 35k a SEMESTER!!!!!
he was on full la cross scholarship but left halfway into his last semester to go on tour. now he's this close to his BA at a school he can't afford with units that won't transfer.

[estoydestroyed]

I am fortunate in that I don't have any undergrad loans .. But grad school loans will be about $60k once it's all said and done. And then interest.

This is going to be me once I enter grad school.
I'm going to a CalState for my undergrad and I've been fortunate enough to not have to have asked for loans just yet... but once grad school happens, I will be totally in debt...yay.
:/

[[bettie braaains]]

i owe so much in student loans.. i quit school in 07 and just started paying some of my loans this past year.. i pay AES like $120 a month, but Sallie Mae wnats nearly $300 a month from me and they tell me there's nothing they can do to make the payment amounts any lower, so i don't pay them. my credit is so fucked already that it's not going to make a difference.. having money to keep a roof over our heads & food on our table > paying a ridiculous amount of money for schooling that i never even completed. the only thing that sucks is i can't get any loans for school if i decide to go back..

Have you talked to Sallie Mae recently? Because they told me the same thing for a long time, but now they have income based repayment options and I was able to draaaastically reduce my payments...again, hooray student loan reform.

yeah i believe i just spoke with them like 4 or 5 months ago and they were being assholes. i was like "listen, i'm the only one who works and i have a baby.. i can't afford to pay you more than $100-150 a month" and they pretty much said "you need to pay at least $300 a month" i kept telling them that that was impossible and they told me there was nothing else they could do for me. i'll get my AES stuff straightened out [just got a letter yesterday that my loans with them are out of default finally!!!!] and then maybe i'll worry about sallie mae..

[yo_lloro_por_el_futuro]

$45,000 a year for 4 years. I cant wait to start paying that shit off

I'm in the same boat. Not looking forward to graduating in four months

[Chaosbean]

$45,000 a year for 4 years. I cant wait to start paying that shit off

I'm in the same boat. Not looking forward to graduating in four months

And, that my dears is why I put this is Social Responsibility... We have to do something.

You need a degree, but the loans it takes to get a degree make you indentured to your loan holding company, which by and large is backed by the federal government.

[voiddj]

You need a degree

This perception that everyone needs a degree is itself a social problem. I feel a lot of people are pressured into post 18 study when it's not really necessary for them. There are so many other routes to development including apprenticeships, vocational courses, entrepreneurship and on the job training.

[yo_lloro_por_el_futuro]

I'm trying to figure out how to go about this because once I graduate I'm going to owe a whole lot of money (and most of loans are not in my name even though I'm paying them. the interest rates for a couple of family members to take out money was substantially lower, but i also have the added pressure of owing a whole lot of money to people who really can't afford it if I screw up).

One thing that looks worth looking into is some Americorps programs...they're low-paying but they do offer a stipend and an education award at the end of the term of service. I worked for Jumpstart last year but I didn't qualify for work-study so it didn't pay my bills. Does anybody have any experience with the post-graduate full time programs?

[Chaosbean]

You need a degree

This perception that everyone needs a degree is itself a social problem. I feel a lot of people are pressured into post 18 study when it's not really necessary for them. There are so many other routes to development including apprenticeships, vocational courses, entrepreneurship and on the job training.

Those things cost money too

[voiddj]

^ Of course, but they're different routes and don't have to put the individual in debt. Companies are willing to pay for staff development as it's beneficial to them.

Qualifications are great on paper, but people need social and practical skills too.

[ComradeM]

Sooo...what do you propose as a solution?

[Chaosbean]

^ Of course, but they're different routes and don't have to put the individual in debt. Companies are willing to pay for staff development as it's beneficial to them.

Qualifications are great on paper, but people need social and practical skills too.

Perhaps not in the UK, but in the US those things cost the individual money.

And, I agree but our system is so deeply mired in its own bullshit its almost unreal. And, perhaps fixing the student loan mess isn't the only solution, but it is the solution that helps me and the people around me now.

[jessiegrrrl]

I mean... I agree that interest rates should be capped for students, there should be more programs in place to help people get an education (although to be fair, they are out there!) and that tuition should be made reasonable and affordable BUT at the same time, in my mind, you are getting what you pay for and the idea is that you should be able to pay off those loans and support yourself once you get that degree. That's why student loan debt isn't "bad debt". I will come out of graduate school in a ton of debt sure, but my credit isn't going to be fucked because of it, because it's for an education.

And yes it sounds ideal and isn't the case for everyone, but at the same time, perhaps before you pay out the ass for a degree that won't pay the bills once it's all said and done, you have to weigh what you're going to be doing against what you're going to have to pay. There is something to be said for pursuing your passion of course, but it has to be sensibly balanced with being able to take care of your business! I consider myself to be a photographer. It has always been my passion and I am pretty decent at it. But as I was considering it as a career, I decided not to go to art school for it against the urgings of many, many people. I don't have the same promise of a job, steady income (although even with a Masters degree, I am going to start out VERY low on the pay scale for quite a few years, so I will have to deal with that just like everyone else), and security as a photographer that I will when I become a therapist, it's just way more variable of a career. Unless I somehow became famous and incredible, it just isn't the case and will never be. But guess what? I can be a therapist and I never ever have to give up being a photographer. In fact, I am in graduate school now and still work for pay taking photographs, without having gone to school for it! So it was a much better choice for me to pursue one over the other in an educational sense, for the exact reason of being able to pay off my loans when that time comes!!! Everyone's circumstances are different, but I think there's something to be said for that.

So while I do agree that the system needs an overhaul and there are tons of issues with how it is set up and education should be accessible to everyone and sometimes life's circumstances are beyond our control, etc. etc. ... There is still the issue of YOUR involvement in it. You knowingly chose to take out that money, it is not meant to be free money, and therefore it is your responsibility to pay it back. Yes, the education system in America needs some major help and should really take some notes from other countries and I think it's worth spreading the word about and trying to do something to change it. But unfortunately as of right now, that's the system here and you have to consider that when going into these things and work within it's shitty confines, because you signed onto that responsibility in taking out the loans. It's just the nature of the beast right now.

[LilyBathory]

consider my mind blown. If you apprentice at a hairdresser's, you have to pay? carpenter? bank? or do you need to go to school for that? how long does it take and how much does it cost to become certified in any of those areas? Say, a scrub nurse?

I think I'd be absolutely screwed in the US.

[jessiegrrrl]

consider my mind blown. If you apprentice at a hairdresser's, you have to pay? carpenter? bank? or do you need to go to school for that? how long does it take and how much does it cost to become certified in any of those areas? Say, a scrub nurse?

I think I'd be absolutely screwed in the US.

Yeah, typically you have to pay to apprentice for things. If I don't land a job where I can get supervision hours for my license for free from someone qualified in the company to give them, I'll have to pay someone to supervise me and sign off on my licensure hours (all 3,600 of them).

But you wouldn't be screwed. You'd get through it and figure it out and make it work like everyone else.

[LilyBathory]

^^ if "work it out" means having a ton of debt....

an apprenticeship is paid here. You get money for that. There are only very few professions that I heard of that require going to a school that costs actual money (term used loosely. as pissed off as I am about the couple of hundred euros that universities charge for tuition now, I guess it could be considered a small fee to help with expenses), and for those professions, there's still generally an alternative. a free one. still, I have no idea why I never noticed how differently that works in other countries. I mean I kinda knew about australia, but sweet jesus. those are massive differences.