Our financial system is crumbling this week.

[IMADreamer]

I'm confused IMA....

you rip on the wealthy, and how they should all be burned at the stake.....and then turn around and complain about people without money, that need a student loan to put themselves through college.

Student loans are fine. I used them. The problem is a good number of people who are supposedly drowning in student debt are also drowning in their own financial stupidity. It sucks if you can't get a job to pay your bills. That doesn't mean I should pay them for you. It sucks that you have to go to college to get a good job, although you don't actually. It sucks that someone spent 100k on their education and works at wherever they work that doesn't pay the bills but maybe at some point in that time they were racking up 100k in a debt they should have been working and going to school, or working and saving for school.

I suspect we aren't getting the full story on the average person with debt they can't pay. I'm sure there are sad stories of honest hard working people who caught some bad breaks. I'm sure there are far more stories of people who have used credit poorly for years which have accumulated in student loan debt, credit card debt, and car loans. These people don't just have student loans and are victims of our over priced education system. They are victims of stupidity, mostly their own. I'd be really interested in seeing the statistics on those with student loan debt and what other debts they have as well.

People today think they have to have everything now. They don't. If people would learn that it would solve a lot of person finance problems.

edit: this is probably all I should have said here. Student loans should be seen as an investment. If you are going to take out 100k in loans it damn well better have that and a lot more in return after it's done. State schools provide a quality education just like the big expensive private and popular state schools. Why pay twice or ten times as much in some cases?

[Fat_Bulldog]

I have student loans, car loans and a little bit of credit card debt. I must be a stupid low life.

[IMADreamer]

I have student loans, car loans and a little bit of credit card debt. I must be a stupid low life.

Only if you think the govt should pay it all off for you.

[Fat_Bulldog]

I have student loans, car loans and a little bit of credit card debt. I must be a stupid low life.

Only if you think the govt should pay it all off for you.

I do not think that. I needed my loans at the time due to life circumstances out of my control. It was a necessity and was not out of laziness or "have it now" mentality.

I do have a good life now and I'm thankful for the loans and debt I carry that allow for my lifestyle.

[IMADreamer]

I have student loans, car loans and a little bit of credit card debt. I must be a stupid low life.

Only if you think the govt should pay it all off for you.

I do not think that. I needed my loans at the time due to life circumstances out of my control. It was a necessity and was not out of laziness or "have it now" mentality.

I do have a good life now and I'm thankful for the loans and debt I carry that allow for my lifestyle.

So then you are not at all who I'm talking about. Again I took out loans too. I was pretty careful to keep them low and I worked so that I didn't have to take out more. I was going to school to be a meteorologist which doesn't pay all that great so I knew having 60k in loans would not have been smart. I think when I left college I might have been at 30k which I was pretty disappointed in myself for at the time.

[Jocephus]

as someone who spent 5 years in a state institutions financial aid office, i think the biggest thing is people don't realize that this [expletive] adds up. or perhaps, they just see a big lump of money and dont want to lose out on it.

also, as someone who has lived in brownbackistan, states are more than willing to slash education, thus increasing costs and reliance on federal loans.

certainly my viewpoints lean left but i must admit i cringe when i hear students/former students, etc talk about having their student loans forgiven. its like, c'mon, you are inundated with literature about what you are signing up for, every semester and every year. but i also think education is very important and i dont want to fault someone for doing that either and its hard for me to trust financial institutions and their genuineness on a situation too.

so basically one big clusterfudge

[Fat_Bulldog]

as someone who spent 5 years in a state institutions financial aid office, i think the biggest thing is people don't realize that this [expletive] adds up. or perhaps, they just see a big lump of money and dont want to lose out on it.

also, as someone who has lived in brownbackistan, states are more than willing to slash education, thus increasing costs and reliance on federal loans.

certainly my viewpoints lean left but i must admit i cringe when i hear students/former students, etc talk about having their student loans forgiven. its like, c'mon, you are inundated with literature about what you are signing up for, every semester and every year. but i also think education is very important and i dont want to fault someone for doing that either and its hard for me to trust financial institutions and their genuineness on a situation too.

so basically one big clusterfudge

This is a good viewpoint.

[GeddyWrox]

as someone who spent 5 years in a state institutions financial aid office, i think the biggest thing is people don't realize that this [expletive] adds up. or perhaps, they just see a big lump of money and dont want to lose out on it.

also, as someone who has lived in brownbackistan, states are more than willing to slash education, thus increasing costs and reliance on federal loans.

certainly my viewpoints lean left but i must admit i cringe when i hear students/former students, etc talk about having their student loans forgiven. its like, c'mon, you are inundated with literature about what you are signing up for, every semester and every year. but i also think education is very important and i dont want to fault someone for doing that either and its hard for me to trust financial institutions and their genuineness on a situation too.

so basically one big clusterfudge

I didn't work in financial aid, but I agree wholeheartedly with this. The ppl who want them forgiven are crazy. BUT, student loans SHOULD be treated like other loans once a student is out of school. By that, they shouldn't be locked in to the crazy/high interest rates. They should be able to consolidate student debt just like any other debt. If I understood correctly what I've heard Elizabeth Warren saying, students are locked into rates 3,4,5 times higher than what they could get if they could roll those loans into a mortgage or something. But for some reason, they can't.

[IMADreamer]

as someone who spent 5 years in a state institutions financial aid office, i think the biggest thing is people don't realize that this [expletive] adds up. or perhaps, they just see a big lump of money and dont want to lose out on it.

also, as someone who has lived in brownbackistan, states are more than willing to slash education, thus increasing costs and reliance on federal loans.

certainly my viewpoints lean left but i must admit i cringe when i hear students/former students, etc talk about having their student loans forgiven. its like, c'mon, you are inundated with literature about what you are signing up for, every semester and every year. but i also think education is very important and i dont want to fault someone for doing that either and its hard for me to trust financial institutions and their genuineness on a situation too.

so basically one big clusterfudge

I didn't work in financial aid, but I agree wholeheartedly with this. The ppl who want them forgiven are crazy. BUT, student loans SHOULD be treated like other loans once a student is out of school. By that, they shouldn't be locked in to the crazy/high interest rates. They should be able to consolidate student debt just like any other debt. If I understood correctly what I've heard Elizabeth Warren saying, students are locked into rates 3,4,5 times higher than what they could get if they could roll those loans into a mortgage or something. But for some reason, they can't.

Really, when I got out of school I was able to consolidate mine. Then by paying on time for a year and paying online my rate went down to 2.1%. Needless to say I wasn't in a huge hurry to pay it off even after I could.

Maybe some rules have changed though and rates are higher now, which is odd since interest rates are pretty low still.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

We recently got a mortgage at 3.25% and have student loans at 6.8%. Even with assets to cover what would have been half of a combined loan (house + student loans), we weren't allowed to roll the student loan amount into the mortgage. The only reason I got was something vague like 'regulations'. I don't know. Seemed pretty dumb.