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FFS ... breaching a contract is business decision, not a moral one. He did the right thing. When US can borrow at negative rates charging high interest rates (

FFS ... breaching a contract is business decision, not a moral one. He did the right thing. When US can borrow at negative rates charging high interest rates (6-8.5%) on college loans is also a business and immoral decision.

melling 11y ago
Please read the article before commenting. There's more to the story. "After pursuing not one, not two, but three degrees from an Ivy League university, he chose to default on his student loans at taxpayer expense, because he felt that paying them back would have hampered his ambitions of becoming a write" As for a business decision, it's a really bad one because the government can garnish your wages: "Astoundingly, Siegel never mentions, nor demonstrates that he understands, the fact that in most cases of default the government can simply start garnishing up to 15 percent of borrowers’ disposable wages directly from their paychecks. That’s more than the 10 percent they would owe if they simply signed up for the newest income-based repayment plan that the Department of Education offers. "
- rspeer 11y ago
  The horror. Not one, not two, but three degrees... two of which were graduate degrees. It is not typical to pay for a graduate degree. If you have any reason to go to grad school, you have a scholarship, a grant, or a teaching workload, or some combination of those. The article's author (Jordan Weissmann) seems completely unaware of this dynamic, even as he grudgingly acknowledges in an edit that the tuition for the three degrees he is so shocked about is not actually part of the debt. It's true that defaulting on student loans is probably not a good plan, but it's also true that this article damages its point by opening with an unjustified, moralizing attack on Lee Siegel's educational career.
  - snowwrestler 11y ago
    > It is not typical to pay for a graduate degree. If you have any reason to go to grad school, you have a scholarship, a grant, or a teaching workload, or some combination of those. This really depends on the field of study. A PhD candidate in a STEM field--yes. A masters degree in anthropology--not so much. Even with work study, that person is going to have some student loans if they cannot pay for it outright.
- venomsnake 11y ago
  > signed up for the newest income-based repayment plan that the Department of Education offers. " Was the program running while he defaulted. I had the impression that this was in the 80s when he was talking about ...
tokenadult 11y ago
As melling's comment posted before this comment points out, he didn't even make a sound business decision. (Yes, in law there is a concept of "efficient breach" of contracts, but that efficiency was not achieved here.) I don't think today's college-age youth should be following the example of a person who evidently remained innumerate (and not civic-minded) after an expensive higher education.
- dagw 11y ago
  I think the point should be that whether or not he did they right thing in this case should be judged mainly on financial rather than moral grounds.
deedubaya 11y ago
Yeah! Two wrongs make a right, yes?!?!? The right thing would have been to not burry himself in student loans that he couldn't possibly repay, not to go back on his agreement.
- dagw 11y ago
  Until we invent a time machine it's kind of hard to change the past.
- cnp 11y ago
  Agreement? Who gives a fuck. Spend a couple years in the USA and you'll soon understand that contractual obligations are paradoxical at best.

melling 11y ago

Please read the article before commenting. There's more to the story. "After pursuing not one, not two, but three degrees from an Ivy League university, he chose to default on his student loans at taxpayer expense, because he felt that paying them back would have hampered his ambitions of becoming a write" As for a business decision, it's a really bad one because the government can garnish your wages: "Astoundingly, Siegel never mentions, nor demonstrates that he understands, the fact that in most cases of default the government can simply start garnishing up to 15 percent of borrowers’ disposable wages directly from their paychecks. That’s more than the 10 percent they would owe if they simply signed up for the newest income-based repayment plan that the Department of Education offers. "

rspeer 11y ago
The horror. Not one, not two, but three degrees... two of which were graduate degrees. It is not typical to pay for a graduate degree. If you have any reason to go to grad school, you have a scholarship, a grant, or a teaching workload, or some combination of those. The article's author (Jordan Weissmann) seems completely unaware of this dynamic, even as he grudgingly acknowledges in an edit that the tuition for the three degrees he is so shocked about is not actually part of the debt. It's true that defaulting on student loans is probably not a good plan, but it's also true that this article damages its point by opening with an unjustified, moralizing attack on Lee Siegel's educational career.
- snowwrestler 11y ago
  > It is not typical to pay for a graduate degree. If you have any reason to go to grad school, you have a scholarship, a grant, or a teaching workload, or some combination of those. This really depends on the field of study. A PhD candidate in a STEM field--yes. A masters degree in anthropology--not so much. Even with work study, that person is going to have some student loans if they cannot pay for it outright.
venomsnake 11y ago
> signed up for the newest income-based repayment plan that the Department of Education offers. " Was the program running while he defaulted. I had the impression that this was in the 80s when he was talking about ...

tokenadult 11y ago

As melling's comment posted before this comment points out, he didn't even make a sound business decision. (Yes, in law there is a concept of "efficient breach" of contracts, but that efficiency was not achieved here.) I don't think today's college-age youth should be following the example of a person who evidently remained innumerate (and not civic-minded) after an expensive higher education.

dagw 11y ago
I think the point should be that whether or not he did they right thing in this case should be judged mainly on financial rather than moral grounds.

deedubaya 11y ago

Yeah! Two wrongs make a right, yes?!?!? The right thing would have been to not burry himself in student loans that he couldn't possibly repay, not to go back on his agreement.

dagw 11y ago
Until we invent a time machine it's kind of hard to change the past.
cnp 11y ago
Agreement? Who gives a fuck. Spend a couple years in the USA and you'll soon understand that contractual obligations are paradoxical at best.