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It's such a weight off of the shoulders to have paid my wife and my student loans off a few months ago. Instead of the 20 or 30yr plan we put every extra dollar

by tswartz 10y ago

It's such a weight off of the shoulders to have paid my wife and my student loans off a few months ago. Instead of the 20 or 30yr plan we put every extra dollar towards it and paid it off in 3.5 years. It feels fantastic! It's bizarre that student debt has become the norm and students who have potentially low-earning majors such as History are still given similar amounts of money from banks as a CS major.

theandrewbailey 10y ago
I thought I could pay mine off in 2 or 3 years of graduating, but ended up taking about 5. I paid my car off about a month ago, so I have zero loans! I've been entertaining the idea of buying a house in my neighborhood. This town never had real estate inflation and bubble, because of rust belt economics. $150,000 should buy a nice place.
Broken_Hippo 10y ago
Comparatively, teaching is a low-earning major on average, as are many that wind up in a government or public service job. Teaching, btw, is one of the options with a history degree. We need public defenders (and the funds to properly pay them), but that isn't generally a get-rich job either. Especially in a small county or cheap area. And we need these sorts of jobs. It seems mighty unfair to limit the money simply because a degree doesn't earn so much. I think such a system would lead to sub-par schools for the 'lesser' degrees and better ones for those with better earning potential.
gerbilly 10y ago
>It's bizarre that student debt has become the norm Our generation has no solidarity. We should just strike or protest and demand lower tuition. Or just not pay back the loans en-masse. How come with the internet and twitter etc, we can't organize whereas in the 60s and 70s they could get their act together? >and students who have potentially low-earning majors such as History are still given similar amounts of money from banks as a CS major The corporations would love to turn universities into training grounds for the skills they need. Yet another example of them pushing an externality back onto the rest of us again. Education is not the same as training. Education is more than training and expands your mind. Training just teaches you a set of job skills.
NickM 10y ago
> It's bizarre that student debt has become the norm and students who have potentially low-earning majors such as History are still given similar amounts of money from banks as a CS major. Not so bizarre when you consider that student loans are very difficult to get discharged via bankruptcy. The loan issuers don't need to worry so much about whether you'll be able to pay it back or not, because it's more a question of "when" than "if".
- tswartz 10y ago
  Yeah that's a very good point. Interesting how they aren't easily discharged via bankruptcy. I may have to do some research on how exactly that got put in place and who was behind it...
  - maxerickson 10y ago
    It got put into place because they are high risk loans given out to people that have nothing to secure them with. If you could discharge them in bankruptcy, no one would offer them because huge percentages of people would go ahead and do so.
    - talmand 10y ago
      Especially for young people right out of college who have time to repair the damage to their credit.
    - lotsofpulp 10y ago
      Thereby naturally solving the problem. Schools won't be able to raise their prices to pay for non academic garbage like stadiums and fancy buildings, they won't have to compete with other schools accepting as many kids as possible to make as much money as possible to keep up with the Joneses with their newest toys. And society can have a discussion again on how much it values educating its populace.
      - maxerickson 10y ago
up_and_up 10y ago
> potentially low-earning majors such as History FYI, Lloyd Blankfein was a History major, amongst other Billionaires: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Blankfein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Blankfein It's what you do with the degree.

by tswartz 10y ago

theandrewbailey 10y ago

I thought I could pay mine off in 2 or 3 years of graduating, but ended up taking about 5. I paid my car off about a month ago, so I have zero loans! I've been entertaining the idea of buying a house in my neighborhood. This town never had real estate inflation and bubble, because of rust belt economics. $150,000 should buy a nice place.

Broken_Hippo 10y ago

Comparatively, teaching is a low-earning major on average, as are many that wind up in a government or public service job. Teaching, btw, is one of the options with a history degree. We need public defenders (and the funds to properly pay them), but that isn't generally a get-rich job either. Especially in a small county or cheap area. And we need these sorts of jobs. It seems mighty unfair to limit the money simply because a degree doesn't earn so much. I think such a system would lead to sub-par schools for the 'lesser' degrees and better ones for those with better earning potential.

gerbilly 10y ago

>It's bizarre that student debt has become the norm Our generation has no solidarity. We should just strike or protest and demand lower tuition. Or just not pay back the loans en-masse. How come with the internet and twitter etc, we can't organize whereas in the 60s and 70s they could get their act together? >and students who have potentially low-earning majors such as History are still given similar amounts of money from banks as a CS major The corporations would love to turn universities into training grounds for the skills they need. Yet another example of them pushing an externality back onto the rest of us again. Education is not the same as training. Education is more than training and expands your mind. Training just teaches you a set of job skills.

NickM 10y ago

> It's bizarre that student debt has become the norm and students who have potentially low-earning majors such as History are still given similar amounts of money from banks as a CS major. Not so bizarre when you consider that student loans are very difficult to get discharged via bankruptcy. The loan issuers don't need to worry so much about whether you'll be able to pay it back or not, because it's more a question of "when" than "if".

tswartz 10y ago
Yeah that's a very good point. Interesting how they aren't easily discharged via bankruptcy. I may have to do some research on how exactly that got put in place and who was behind it...
- maxerickson 10y ago
  It got put into place because they are high risk loans given out to people that have nothing to secure them with. If you could discharge them in bankruptcy, no one would offer them because huge percentages of people would go ahead and do so.
  - talmand 10y ago
    Especially for young people right out of college who have time to repair the damage to their credit.
  - lotsofpulp 10y ago
    Thereby naturally solving the problem. Schools won't be able to raise their prices to pay for non academic garbage like stadiums and fancy buildings, they won't have to compete with other schools accepting as many kids as possible to make as much money as possible to keep up with the Joneses with their newest toys. And society can have a discussion again on how much it values educating its populace.
    - maxerickson 10y ago

up_and_up 10y ago

> potentially low-earning majors such as History FYI, Lloyd Blankfein was a History major, amongst other Billionaires: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Blankfein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Blankfein It's what you do with the degree.