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"the idea that it's impossible for students to get an education without outrageous monthly loan payments is just wrong." - Can I ask why you defined it this wa

"the idea that it's impossible for students to get an education without outrageous monthly loan payments is just wrong." - Can I ask why you defined it this way? One could very well argue that this is precisely the problem. Students are looking at "cheap" monthly payments and not looking at the actual debt amount they're accruing. Cheap interest rates for student loans may or may not go away. The total amount of debt they collect will certain not go away. So we let them get saddled with debt in the hope that historically low interest rates aren't going anywhere. Sounds familiar.

alexeisadeski3 13y ago
Isn't the interest rate locked in on student debt?
- VLM 13y ago
  This brings up the interesting problem that educational expenses can be paid by parental home equity loans and credit cards. The official student loan market quantity is nothing more than how much of a subsidy the .gov wants to pay off to the .edu. That doesn't necessarily imply much about the total cost of education other than its probably at least that much although it could be much more.
- wtvanhest 13y ago
  Yes.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  > Isn't the interest rate locked in on student debt? Depends on the particular kind of student loan.
Alex3917 13y ago
"58.0% of all first-time bachelor's degree recipients still had outstanding student loans 1 year after graduation in 2009. The average amount owed by graduates with outstanding loans 1 year after graduation was $20,100, compared with $10,100 (2009 dollars) in 1994." Source: Trends in Debt for Bachelor's Degree Recipients a Year After Graduation: 1994, 2001, and 2009 (Tables 3, 4) So 1 year after graduation, of students with remaining loans, the average amount owed was 20.1k, and the median monthly payment was 8.0% of salary at the same point in time. But after a year or two salary should increase substantially, so loan payments should be a much smaller percentage. And a total average remaining debt of 20.1k after one year certainly isn't ideal, but it isn't really that unreasonable either, nor should it be especially burdensome. Obviously some people are dramatically worse off than this, but for most people the system doesn't seem especially broken. But to answer your question, I think that you need to look wholistically at total net cost increases, along with total debt, along with monthly loan payments and employment statistics. Looking at any one on its own will be highly misleading. Also keep in mind that different types of institutions and degrees lead to dramatically different outcomes in all of the above. I'm really only concerned with 4-year degrees from public or private non-profit institutions, because 2-year degrees and for-profit colleges are largely scams.

alexeisadeski3 13y ago

Isn't the interest rate locked in on student debt?

VLM 13y ago
This brings up the interesting problem that educational expenses can be paid by parental home equity loans and credit cards. The official student loan market quantity is nothing more than how much of a subsidy the .gov wants to pay off to the .edu. That doesn't necessarily imply much about the total cost of education other than its probably at least that much although it could be much more.
wtvanhest 13y ago
Yes.
dragonwriter 13y ago
> Isn't the interest rate locked in on student debt? Depends on the particular kind of student loan.

Alex3917 13y ago

"58.0% of all first-time bachelor's degree recipients still had outstanding student loans 1 year after graduation in 2009. The average amount owed by graduates with outstanding loans 1 year after graduation was $20,100, compared with $10,100 (2009 dollars) in 1994." Source: Trends in Debt for Bachelor's Degree Recipients a Year After Graduation: 1994, 2001, and 2009 (Tables 3, 4) So 1 year after graduation, of students with remaining loans, the average amount owed was 20.1k, and the median monthly payment was 8.0% of salary at the same point in time. But after a year or two salary should increase substantially, so loan payments should be a much smaller percentage. And a total average remaining debt of 20.1k after one year certainly isn't ideal, but it isn't really that unreasonable either, nor should it be especially burdensome. Obviously some people are dramatically worse off than this, but for most people the system doesn't seem especially broken. But to answer your question, I think that you need to look wholistically at total net cost increases, along with total debt, along with monthly loan payments and employment statistics. Looking at any one on its own will be highly misleading. Also keep in mind that different types of institutions and degrees lead to dramatically different outcomes in all of the above. I'm really only concerned with 4-year degrees from public or private non-profit institutions, because 2-year degrees and for-profit colleges are largely scams.