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My ingenious solution: don't buy so much education, if the loans are too much. You know you shouldn't buy a house, a car, or a business asset which you know yo

My ingenious solution: don't buy so much education, if the loans are too much. You know you shouldn't buy a house, a car, or a business asset which you know you can not afford or leverage to pay for itself, why do you take on debts (and make other decisions around payments) that you know you can not repay? I have to hope that people aren't counting on bailouts, but given the political rhetoric that gets tossed around, it's hard to imagine that doesn't factor in to people's poor decisions.

benrbray 8y ago
I think this is too black and white of a perspective. First off, plenty of people buy cars they can't afford out of necessity. Or, rather, they NEED a car for work and buy a cheap used car that inevitably needs repairs and sucks up money they need for food, rent, etc. I think attending college is a similar type of decision. We're told over and over that college is the only path to decent life, and in many ways it is. There's very little hope of someone without a degree making more than minimum wage and even less hope of doing meaningful work. If they're already poor, getting a job right out of high school won't pay enough to help improve their quality of life. So they go to college hoping things will be better.
- microcolonel 8y ago
  > I think attending college is a similar type of decision. We're told over and over that college is the only path to decent life, and in many ways it is. You're also told that Harvey's makes your hamburger a beautiful thing, that smoking Marlboros will make you a man's man, that Tesla will deliver the Model 3 at the promised rate, and that you can keep your doctor. If your contention is that people should not be judged for believing what they are told, then I guess you could make that case. I certainly don't agree. > There's very little hope of someone without a degree making more than minimum wage and even less hope of doing meaningful work. I think there is something wrong with this, I have had 10th+ percentile income since I was 17, and I never attended high school. I get the impression that a number of people who have gone to college may have spent money and time better on books and begging for an internship. The people who benefit from college don't need assistance paying it off. I'm aware I lost something by not going to college, but I figure it can't be too bad, if I can't really tell what that something is.
deleted 8y ago
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speedplane 8y ago
> why ... take on debts ... that you know you can not repay? Obviously... people think they can repay them. There are millions of advertisements and seminars promoting the ROI of education. No one goes into them "knowing" they can't repay. They think they can, and then they cant.

benrbray 8y ago

I think this is too black and white of a perspective. First off, plenty of people buy cars they can't afford out of necessity. Or, rather, they NEED a car for work and buy a cheap used car that inevitably needs repairs and sucks up money they need for food, rent, etc. I think attending college is a similar type of decision. We're told over and over that college is the only path to decent life, and in many ways it is. There's very little hope of someone without a degree making more than minimum wage and even less hope of doing meaningful work. If they're already poor, getting a job right out of high school won't pay enough to help improve their quality of life. So they go to college hoping things will be better.

microcolonel 8y ago
> I think attending college is a similar type of decision. We're told over and over that college is the only path to decent life, and in many ways it is. You're also told that Harvey's makes your hamburger a beautiful thing, that smoking Marlboros will make you a man's man, that Tesla will deliver the Model 3 at the promised rate, and that you can keep your doctor. If your contention is that people should not be judged for believing what they are told, then I guess you could make that case. I certainly don't agree. > There's very little hope of someone without a degree making more than minimum wage and even less hope of doing meaningful work. I think there is something wrong with this, I have had 10th+ percentile income since I was 17, and I never attended high school. I get the impression that a number of people who have gone to college may have spent money and time better on books and begging for an internship. The people who benefit from college don't need assistance paying it off. I'm aware I lost something by not going to college, but I figure it can't be too bad, if I can't really tell what that something is.

deleted 8y ago

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speedplane 8y ago

> why ... take on debts ... that you know you can not repay? Obviously... people think they can repay them. There are millions of advertisements and seminars promoting the ROI of education. No one goes into them "knowing" they can't repay. They think they can, and then they cant.