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This article should be titled “How some dishonest people made bad decisions and instead of fixing them ran away.” They blame others for their choices, and take

This article should be titled “How some dishonest people made bad decisions and instead of fixing them ran away.” They blame others for their choices, and take no responsibility. Nobody made them get those degrees, take out those loans, or any of it. I get that the cost of education is a problem, but using loans and then skipping town to avoid repayment isn’t only dumb, it’s dishonest.

gruez 8y ago
>Nobody made them get those degrees, take out those loans, or any of it technically true in the sense that they weren't forced at gunpoint to take the loans, but you're ignoring the effect of high school teachers/counselors, parents, and peers have in pushing them into getting a degree.
DennisP 8y ago
And yet, in the corporate world there's no condemnation of businesses that avoid paying back their debts by declaring bankruptcy. Legally, that's not an option for student loans, but morally is there really any difference? Is there an ethical reason why student borrowers are less deserving of the bankruptcy option than other borrowers?
Skye 8y ago
From what I understand, it's not exactly easy for an indivual to "fix". From my limited knowledge about the US economy, it's not easy to get a well paying job quickly, the examples there showed that they tried to get jobs, but the jobs they could get were worse than leaving the US. Maybe they made a bad decision in the first place, but do they really deserve a lifetime of debt because they did what they were told they needed to do (go to university) but weren't aware about the pitfalls of certain paths? While they weren't directly forced to take get a degree, isn't it kind of expected by schools and parents nowadays? So there's still pressure to to it... (also, not everyone is suited or has the prerequisites for the big and well paying jobs, so it's kind of unfair to expect people who are smart but not in the way that certain jobs require to struggle through stuff not suited for them, which might also cause problems, etc...)
Thiez 8y ago
> How some dishonest people made bad decisions and instead of fixing them ran away. How do you propose they fix the problem? By shutting up and paying it all back, even if they have to work 7 days a week and sleep in a cardboard box for the next few decades? Doesn't the bank share some responsibility here for giving a loan to someone that they knew would likely not or hardly be able to repay?

gruez 8y ago

>Nobody made them get those degrees, take out those loans, or any of it technically true in the sense that they weren't forced at gunpoint to take the loans, but you're ignoring the effect of high school teachers/counselors, parents, and peers have in pushing them into getting a degree.

DennisP 8y ago

And yet, in the corporate world there's no condemnation of businesses that avoid paying back their debts by declaring bankruptcy. Legally, that's not an option for student loans, but morally is there really any difference? Is there an ethical reason why student borrowers are less deserving of the bankruptcy option than other borrowers?

Skye 8y ago

From what I understand, it's not exactly easy for an indivual to "fix". From my limited knowledge about the US economy, it's not easy to get a well paying job quickly, the examples there showed that they tried to get jobs, but the jobs they could get were worse than leaving the US. Maybe they made a bad decision in the first place, but do they really deserve a lifetime of debt because they did what they were told they needed to do (go to university) but weren't aware about the pitfalls of certain paths? While they weren't directly forced to take get a degree, isn't it kind of expected by schools and parents nowadays? So there's still pressure to to it... (also, not everyone is suited or has the prerequisites for the big and well paying jobs, so it's kind of unfair to expect people who are smart but not in the way that certain jobs require to struggle through stuff not suited for them, which might also cause problems, etc...)

Thiez 8y ago

> How some dishonest people made bad decisions and instead of fixing them ran away. How do you propose they fix the problem? By shutting up and paying it all back, even if they have to work 7 days a week and sleep in a cardboard box for the next few decades? Doesn't the bank share some responsibility here for giving a loan to someone that they knew would likely not or hardly be able to repay?