4 ms·

The issue with student loans is not that they exist or that they have high interest or any of that...it's that they're just given out to any and all college stu

by dchuk 14y ago

The issue with student loans is not that they exist or that they have high interest or any of that...it's that they're just given out to any and all college students regardless of degree or career path. Just like a high school teacher on a high school teacher's salary wouldn't be approved for a million dollar loan to buy a million dollar house, a kid looking to go to Harvard to major in Poetry shouldn't be approved for hundreds of thousands in loans. Some degrees/careers are bad investment choices and some people shouldn't receive loans for them.

dman 14y ago
If students were allowed to default on the debt under bankruptcy there would be a corrective feedback loop where lenders would be pricing the risk of default in.
- dchuk 14y ago
  I suppose, but at the end of the day it's still 17-18 year old kids getting handed thousands of dollars to make a big (and most likely extremely uninformed) career choice decision. I think there needs to be a lot more education (irony) targeted at how to make a fiscally responsible degree choice when entering college. All of these kids majoring in creative writing and then protesting wall street because they can't get a job to pay off their loans should garner no sympathy as they made a bad fiscal decision that got them into that mess in the first place. But since they were just kids when making the decision it's hard to fault them entirely...I think the system itself needs to be doing a better job telling people they're being dummies and helping them correct their course before becoming a debt statistic.
lukev 14y ago
Maybe. But is there any economic reason for a decent liberal arts degree to cost 100k to begin with? I think that's the real problem.
- dchuk 14y ago
  possibly. there are a lot of people on the payroll for that degree to be offered. School's cost a lot of money to run. There's nothing wrong with expensive degree programs. Some people drive Mercedes and some drive Honda. But someone who can only afford a Honda isn't going to be approved for a loan for a Mercedes.
Evbn 14y ago
Bad example. A Harvard poetry major will make connections and do fine. A George Mason poetry major, maybe not.

by dchuk 14y ago

dman 14y ago

If students were allowed to default on the debt under bankruptcy there would be a corrective feedback loop where lenders would be pricing the risk of default in.

dchuk 14y ago
I suppose, but at the end of the day it's still 17-18 year old kids getting handed thousands of dollars to make a big (and most likely extremely uninformed) career choice decision. I think there needs to be a lot more education (irony) targeted at how to make a fiscally responsible degree choice when entering college. All of these kids majoring in creative writing and then protesting wall street because they can't get a job to pay off their loans should garner no sympathy as they made a bad fiscal decision that got them into that mess in the first place. But since they were just kids when making the decision it's hard to fault them entirely...I think the system itself needs to be doing a better job telling people they're being dummies and helping them correct their course before becoming a debt statistic.

lukev 14y ago

Maybe. But is there any economic reason for a decent liberal arts degree to cost 100k to begin with? I think that's the real problem.

dchuk 14y ago
possibly. there are a lot of people on the payroll for that degree to be offered. School's cost a lot of money to run. There's nothing wrong with expensive degree programs. Some people drive Mercedes and some drive Honda. But someone who can only afford a Honda isn't going to be approved for a loan for a Mercedes.

Evbn 14y ago

Bad example. A Harvard poetry major will make connections and do fine. A George Mason poetry major, maybe not.