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If you are in the US and know people who are aged 30-50 and not software engineers, this is almost all that they talk about. Some people manage to pay them off,

by issa 5y ago

If you are in the US and know people who are aged 30-50 and not software engineers, this is almost all that they talk about. Some people manage to pay them off, others (due to high interest) owe more than when they started. It is a huge problem.

cableshaft 5y ago
Yep, I'm a software engineer and just about to pay them off (I slowed down because of the deferred loans, could have had it done in 2020). Meanwhile my wife only makes an appreciable dent in hers whenever she gets a gift from family members, and she's still paying $900 a month to not do much more than tread water. She did get it paid down a bit more thanks to the past two years of deferrals, but she still owes a lot more than I ever borrowed (two years of my school were paid for by a scholarship). It's been a steady drag on our income since we've been together. At least mine is just about to go away, mine was $400/month as well... that $1300/month is almost as much as our mortgage payment. I have multiple friends that have just given up on ever paying off their student loan debt in their lifetime and only pay enough to keep it where it is (or slowly increasing even). You wonder why people aren't buying homes and having children, there it is. I guess the solution to overpopulation is just saddle everyone with a bunch of debt, then.
samarama 5y ago
Do you have sources for this, because the numbers don’t reflect this.
- issa 5y ago
  Obviously I don't have statistics on the people I talk to at that age, but to get a sense of the scope of the problem, 6,100,000 people are behind on payments. https://educationdata.org/how-many-people-have-student-loans https://educationdata.org/how-many-people-have-student-loans
  - samarama 5y ago
    Sure but 85% of those have loans less than $50,000 and those that have more have entry levels salaries of $200,000 usually. That seems rather small for such a huge debating point?
    - issa 5y ago
      It would if it were true. But in reality, there are lots of people with $40k starting salary jobs (example: a librarian, which requires a masters degree!) paying off $50k loans with 8% interest rates.

by issa 5y ago

cableshaft 5y ago

Yep, I'm a software engineer and just about to pay them off (I slowed down because of the deferred loans, could have had it done in 2020). Meanwhile my wife only makes an appreciable dent in hers whenever she gets a gift from family members, and she's still paying $900 a month to not do much more than tread water. She did get it paid down a bit more thanks to the past two years of deferrals, but she still owes a lot more than I ever borrowed (two years of my school were paid for by a scholarship). It's been a steady drag on our income since we've been together. At least mine is just about to go away, mine was $400/month as well... that $1300/month is almost as much as our mortgage payment. I have multiple friends that have just given up on ever paying off their student loan debt in their lifetime and only pay enough to keep it where it is (or slowly increasing even). You wonder why people aren't buying homes and having children, there it is. I guess the solution to overpopulation is just saddle everyone with a bunch of debt, then.

samarama 5y ago

Do you have sources for this, because the numbers don’t reflect this.

issa 5y ago
Obviously I don't have statistics on the people I talk to at that age, but to get a sense of the scope of the problem, 6,100,000 people are behind on payments. https://educationdata.org/how-many-people-have-student-loans https://educationdata.org/how-many-people-have-student-loans
- samarama 5y ago
  Sure but 85% of those have loans less than $50,000 and those that have more have entry levels salaries of $200,000 usually. That seems rather small for such a huge debating point?
  - issa 5y ago
    It would if it were true. But in reality, there are lots of people with $40k starting salary jobs (example: a librarian, which requires a masters degree!) paying off $50k loans with 8% interest rates.