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My wife is one of these borrowers. She has a master's degree in teaching. It cost her over $100k to get and she can't find job that would pay her enough that s

My wife is one of these borrowers. She has a master's degree in teaching. It cost her over $100k to get and she can't find job that would pay her enough that she'd be required to pay anything back. I've seen her loan repayment docs and her minimum payment due is $0 every month. While I think her decision to get a masters in education was a bad one (before we were married) I laugh at an institution that would loan her money for a field that doesn't pay, ask her to pay at least $0 a month and then complain that the loans are not being paid back. I just paid Navient the outstanding $18 they've been bounding her for and plan on paying them nothing again until my houses are paid off.

AnimalMuppet 11y ago
While she doesn't have a job that pays enough to trigger repayment, is the loan accruing interest? If so, is the interest rate higher than the one on your mortgage? If so, you might want to reconsider your strategy...
- addled 11y ago
  Some of these income based payment plans have a forgiveness clause after 20-25 years, so it may still make sense.
  - maaku 11y ago
    Subject to many stipulations. One of them being that you are making regular payments...
    - tostitos1979 11y ago
      Right ... I know many of my wife's friend's making minimum payments. I said no way .. we're paying the loan off first. I won't mention the amount but man, we could have bought a fleet of boats for that (think about what the average med student accrues in debt).
    - addled 11y ago
      But what if the minimum payment is 0, and you pay it regularly?
- rconti 11y ago
  I'm also curious what marriage did to her perceived ability to repay, in the eyes of the system.
wehadfun 11y ago
Man same situation exactly. We don't get $0 invoices though. What pissed me off is that there is no way the university spend $100K educating her. That money probably went to build some palace with some guys name on it.
- hardcandy 11y ago
  ''you dropped 150 grand on a fuckin' education you could have got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library!''
  - reality_czech 11y ago
    "You can major in gameboy if you know how to bullshit."
- brokentone 11y ago
  Certainly agreed that the dollars going in and out of education don't make a lot of sense to me, but there are cheaper schools. If you don't feel the school is worth the money, go to a school that you do feel is worth the money.
  - swiley 11y ago
    Community colleges are WAY underrated. Although most of the worth of a degree is the networking you do earning it.
henshao 11y ago
Don't teachers usually have loan forgiveness programs after X-years? I think a lot of government associated jobs offer a perk like this. I'm not sure if this is state specific or not though.
- devonkim 11y ago
  They are conditional with having employment in the first place as well as if the government entity they are under has approval for such forgiveness. My wife doesn't qualify under most programs and given the glut of newer grads or veterans (she's been beaten out by veterans for 10 positions with 100+ applications referred - none of which were non-veterans according to the hiring committee we managed to find out) she's competing against that can accept the $12 / hr wages I basically have to pay the residual myself instead. That's marriage for you.
  - tsunamifury 11y ago
    We all bare our burdens... you should be so lucky that your burden loves you.
    - tostitos1979 11y ago
      Heh .. my wife also had a mountain of student loan debt. We saved like hell and deferred major purchases (specifically, no house). We're about to payoff the last of her loans and really happy about it. The challenging things are: (a) we were talking about getting a new car. Even though a car loan is nothing like a student loan (interest rate is much lower) and we do need to change our car, we're super queasy about getting back in the red , and (b) we're in our late 30s and property is unaffordable where we live. We're not keen to take a 600K mortgage (for a starter home) so will wait it out. We're both well-paid professionals but even then one person's loan made a big dent in our financial security. Also, the fact that we didn't own property before the real-estate boom/bubble, means we'll likely be financially stunted for life. Cest La Vie.
      - devonkim 11y ago
siegecraft 11y ago
Have you looked into the tax burden you'll face whenever the loans are completely forgiven? Just curious, it's something I was wondering about since I am in a similar position.
- jonlucc 11y ago
  Most teachers should qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, meaning any federal loans (not private) should be forgiven after 120 payments without incurring the tax burden. As far as I understand, the 120 payments could well be "payments" of $0 if the annual income is low and the borrower is on an income-based repayment plan. By the way, if you file taxes separately, they typically only take the borrowers income (unless you are on the REPAYE repayment plan, instead of the IBR repayment plan).
  - mrestko 11y ago
    The amount forgiven is counted as income for that year and is taxed as such. I believe this is what the preceding commenter was asking about.
    - hodoublesy 11y ago
      There are various repayment options available, some incur a tax burden and some do not. The PSLF option does NOT incur a tax burden after 120 payments. It would be smart to research each option available to see what is best for your circumstance.
      - mrestko 11y ago
        I was not aware of that. Thanks for clarifying.
caseysoftware 11y ago
> I laugh at an institution that would loan her money for a field that doesn't pay That doesn't speak well to her judgement either.
- dredmorbius 11y ago
  Information asymmetries put the burden of guilt on institutional actors. The educational and lending institutions which have a strong awareness of true costs and actual employment prospects. Over individual young students who don't, and are often relying on those institutions for information and guidance. Related: principle agent problem.
  - bduerst 11y ago
    Unless the educational and lending institutions are contractually agreeing to the loan on behalf of the students, it's not a p:a problem. Salary and career signals are publicly available. If a student happens to rack up six figure loans for a career that can't support it, then that is ignorance on their part. At 17-18, they're not exactly minors, and even if you do consider them a minor the fault lay on their guardians (parents).
    - dredmorbius 11y ago
      At 17 a student is precisely a minor. My understanding of current research is that full intellectual maturity is generally reached in the early 20s. I said P-A was related. Not identical. Again: students are being advised and encouraged by parties with 1) vastly greater access to information, 2) vastly reduced risk (the loans are federally guaranteed in the US), and 3) benefitting from risk diversifictation over large numbers of incoming students. Final proof: there seems to be rather a problem with the student loans business. Including numerous institutions convicted of fraud, and, if I can find the article somewhere, noncurrent payment rates of 40%. Oh, silly me, that's the very article we're discussing here.
      - bduerst 11y ago
awinder 11y ago
I don't know about all teachers but in Maryland it's definitely a decent paying profession (50K starting out for 10 months). To me this is almost a state school thing. You can spend like 10k a year on tuition at a great in state school and at least halve some of these outrageous amounts
kamaal 11y ago
>>She has a master's degree in teaching. It cost her over $100k Why does it cost that much? As an Indian, this doesn't make any sense to me.

AnimalMuppet 11y ago

While she doesn't have a job that pays enough to trigger repayment, is the loan accruing interest? If so, is the interest rate higher than the one on your mortgage? If so, you might want to reconsider your strategy...

addled 11y ago
Some of these income based payment plans have a forgiveness clause after 20-25 years, so it may still make sense.
- maaku 11y ago
  Subject to many stipulations. One of them being that you are making regular payments...
  - tostitos1979 11y ago
    Right ... I know many of my wife's friend's making minimum payments. I said no way .. we're paying the loan off first. I won't mention the amount but man, we could have bought a fleet of boats for that (think about what the average med student accrues in debt).
  - addled 11y ago
    But what if the minimum payment is 0, and you pay it regularly?
rconti 11y ago
I'm also curious what marriage did to her perceived ability to repay, in the eyes of the system.

wehadfun 11y ago

Man same situation exactly. We don't get $0 invoices though. What pissed me off is that there is no way the university spend $100K educating her. That money probably went to build some palace with some guys name on it.

hardcandy 11y ago
''you dropped 150 grand on a fuckin' education you could have got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library!''
- reality_czech 11y ago
  "You can major in gameboy if you know how to bullshit."
brokentone 11y ago
Certainly agreed that the dollars going in and out of education don't make a lot of sense to me, but there are cheaper schools. If you don't feel the school is worth the money, go to a school that you do feel is worth the money.
- swiley 11y ago
  Community colleges are WAY underrated. Although most of the worth of a degree is the networking you do earning it.

henshao 11y ago

Don't teachers usually have loan forgiveness programs after X-years? I think a lot of government associated jobs offer a perk like this. I'm not sure if this is state specific or not though.

devonkim 11y ago
They are conditional with having employment in the first place as well as if the government entity they are under has approval for such forgiveness. My wife doesn't qualify under most programs and given the glut of newer grads or veterans (she's been beaten out by veterans for 10 positions with 100+ applications referred - none of which were non-veterans according to the hiring committee we managed to find out) she's competing against that can accept the $12 / hr wages I basically have to pay the residual myself instead. That's marriage for you.
- tsunamifury 11y ago
  We all bare our burdens... you should be so lucky that your burden loves you.
  - tostitos1979 11y ago
    Heh .. my wife also had a mountain of student loan debt. We saved like hell and deferred major purchases (specifically, no house). We're about to payoff the last of her loans and really happy about it. The challenging things are: (a) we were talking about getting a new car. Even though a car loan is nothing like a student loan (interest rate is much lower) and we do need to change our car, we're super queasy about getting back in the red , and (b) we're in our late 30s and property is unaffordable where we live. We're not keen to take a 600K mortgage (for a starter home) so will wait it out. We're both well-paid professionals but even then one person's loan made a big dent in our financial security. Also, the fact that we didn't own property before the real-estate boom/bubble, means we'll likely be financially stunted for life. Cest La Vie.
    - devonkim 11y ago

siegecraft 11y ago

Have you looked into the tax burden you'll face whenever the loans are completely forgiven? Just curious, it's something I was wondering about since I am in a similar position.

jonlucc 11y ago
Most teachers should qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, meaning any federal loans (not private) should be forgiven after 120 payments without incurring the tax burden. As far as I understand, the 120 payments could well be "payments" of $0 if the annual income is low and the borrower is on an income-based repayment plan. By the way, if you file taxes separately, they typically only take the borrowers income (unless you are on the REPAYE repayment plan, instead of the IBR repayment plan).
- mrestko 11y ago
  The amount forgiven is counted as income for that year and is taxed as such. I believe this is what the preceding commenter was asking about.
  - hodoublesy 11y ago
    There are various repayment options available, some incur a tax burden and some do not. The PSLF option does NOT incur a tax burden after 120 payments. It would be smart to research each option available to see what is best for your circumstance.
    - mrestko 11y ago
      I was not aware of that. Thanks for clarifying.

caseysoftware 11y ago

> I laugh at an institution that would loan her money for a field that doesn't pay That doesn't speak well to her judgement either.

dredmorbius 11y ago
Information asymmetries put the burden of guilt on institutional actors. The educational and lending institutions which have a strong awareness of true costs and actual employment prospects. Over individual young students who don't, and are often relying on those institutions for information and guidance. Related: principle agent problem.
- bduerst 11y ago
  Unless the educational and lending institutions are contractually agreeing to the loan on behalf of the students, it's not a p:a problem. Salary and career signals are publicly available. If a student happens to rack up six figure loans for a career that can't support it, then that is ignorance on their part. At 17-18, they're not exactly minors, and even if you do consider them a minor the fault lay on their guardians (parents).
  - dredmorbius 11y ago
    At 17 a student is precisely a minor. My understanding of current research is that full intellectual maturity is generally reached in the early 20s. I said P-A was related. Not identical. Again: students are being advised and encouraged by parties with 1) vastly greater access to information, 2) vastly reduced risk (the loans are federally guaranteed in the US), and 3) benefitting from risk diversifictation over large numbers of incoming students. Final proof: there seems to be rather a problem with the student loans business. Including numerous institutions convicted of fraud, and, if I can find the article somewhere, noncurrent payment rates of 40%. Oh, silly me, that's the very article we're discussing here.
    - bduerst 11y ago

awinder 11y ago

I don't know about all teachers but in Maryland it's definitely a decent paying profession (50K starting out for 10 months). To me this is almost a state school thing. You can spend like 10k a year on tuition at a great in state school and at least halve some of these outrageous amounts

kamaal 11y ago

>>She has a master's degree in teaching. It cost her over $100k Why does it cost that much? As an Indian, this doesn't make any sense to me.