Student Debt approaches $1 trillion

[uscitizen]

So is Wall Street now going to start packaging bad student loans and selling them as AAA rated instruments?

 

[Epsilon Delta]

So is Wall Street now going to start packaging bad student loans and selling them as AAA rated instruments?

Start??????? Are you kidding? They're part of the core group of things that get sliced up, repackaged and securitized. You know what they call them? SLABS (student loan asset-backed securities)! They even used have their own public financial entity (since privatized, of course). Know what its called? Sallie Mae!

 

[Gadawg73]

Anyone that doesn't know that colleges and universities set their rates at what the student can borrow and get through grants doesn't know much.
Lower those and colleges and universities will be forced to cut the massive fat they now have and tuition rates will remain flat for a long while.

 

[uscitizen]

So is Wall Street now going to start packaging bad student loans and selling them as AAA rated instruments?

Start??????? Are you kidding? They're part of the core group of things that get sliced up, repackaged and securitized. You know what they call them? SLABS (student loan asset-backed securities)! They even used have their own public financial entity (since privatized, of course). Know what its called? Sallie Mae!

LMAO.

Thanks I did not know that.

Now it makes sense why you cannot liquidate your student loan in bankruptcy.
To protect the finiancial institutions.

 

[socin]

just choose your courses more carefully and it will be fine

 

[editec]

To suggest that the problem is the FAULT OF PEOPLE STUDYING THE WRONG THINGS is rather silly.

We cannot all be engineers or math majors, folks.

The fact is that thanks to FREE TRADE and other stupid policies, there are more qualified people in many fields than there is need for.

Contrary to the mantra of our POLS, EDUCATION is not the solution to all our employment woes.

If today every student going to college studies those areas where job are still to be found?

Then guess what would happen to the salaries of those professions?

What's more, there's STILL be plenty of unemployment because the shortages in those fields is far less than the number of college grads that would be available for those billets.

We do not have 13.5 million unfullfilled high tech jobs.

 

[Zander]

Higher Education is a racket, an industry so rife with corruption that Tony Soprano would blush. It is stacked with liberal ideologues that have no concept of free market economics and thanks to crony capitalism- no need to rely upon it. They simply turn to their toadies in government (more 'free market" neophytes) and arrange for "low cost" loans for the suckers, er I mean "students" to keep the gravy train a-rollin'. The fish, er I mean "students" line up like lemmings and jump over the proverbial cliff. After four years of reciting the correct lines, and copying the correct answers from the internet, they come out with a piece paper, an entry level job, and $100,000 in debt (that is exempt from Bankruptcy laws!!- you are paying that money back one way or another!) Then they wake up one day and realize they really don't know jack shit.

It takes cash to keep America hating bomb throwers like Bill Ayers employed!! Assholes like Ward Churchill need a constant supply of steady cash!! Who better to pay than those being indoctrinated?? It's the perfect scam.

 

[Modbert]

To suggest that the problem is the FAULT OF PEOPLE STUDYING THE WRONG THINGS is rather silly.

We cannot all be engineers or math majors, folks.

Never mind the fact that everyone who is suggesting that the people who don't have a "real" degree to go into these fields are not looking at the big picture. I'll explain why in the next couple of lines.

You're right editec, we all cannot be engineers or math majors and the market couldn't certainly sustain that. It's the same way with parents who tell their kids they must be a lawyer or doctor, and then they go out there and find there are too many lawyers or doctors.

I have to say I have read some pretty valid points in this thread but at the same time I read some really ignorant ones.

 

[editec]

This is the problem that the government will not stop:
A veteran or anyone wants to go get a trade skill job.
The community college teaches the course for $3500 for 18 months.
The private "college" teaches it for $14,000.00
BOTH can be paid for by student loans.
Anyone that supports the current student loan program is not very bright. Having just graduated 2 children and been around this system for the last 7 years let me tell you it is RAMPANT WITH FRAUD.
NO ONE VERIFIES A DAMN THING and kids get grants, go to school for a year, party and drop out.
HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF TAX PAYER DOLLARS DOWN THE DRAIN.
Total waste of taxpayer $$$ for 80%+ of the kids that get $$$.
Keep it for the other 20% that truly need it, fire 80% of college financial aid employees that are the root of the fraud and move forward.
And watch tuition stay stagnant for 10 years as a result of it.

Seattle community colleges now cost $6,000 a year for full time TUITION.

The median working family's salary has been losing purchasing power, generally speaking, since 1970.

In terms of being able to pay for education and health care, their loss of purchasing power has been even worse than with other costs.

In fact ED costs are about the only area that has risen faster than HC costs.

 

[Modbert]

If you take a couple classes at a time all year round you can get a degree in 5 years and not pay anything near 40K a year.

Anything else you want to tell us we can't do?

All year around? Most colleges have two semesters, Fall (Late August/Early September to December) and Spring (Jan - May). They also have summer classes which are certainly more expensive on average for a class that you could take regularly during those two semesters.

By a couple of classes, let's say you mean 6-10 credits. We'll say that each class is worth 3-4 credits. In order to have an average, we'll say you'll take 8 credits a semester. That's 8 course hours a week. Reasonable if you want to work.

Let's say on average that each class gives about 3 hours of homework a week. (When you get beyond the basic courses, this is unrealistic though) That's 24 hours of homework a week, plus the 8 hours of class for a total of 32 hours.

8 credits a semester, twice a year is 16 credits. Let's say you take 3 credits a summer or one class. 19 credits a year. That's 76 credits in 4 years. 95 in 5.

Now of course, getting out in 5 years and not spending 40k depends on a number of factors:

1.) You pass all the classes.

2.) You are able to take all the classes at once (which of course is not realistic since in order to take Accounting 301, you would need for example Accounting 101, 201).

3.) You don't change your major, once. (And we all know students don't do that. )

4.) It is dependent on how many credits a college requires for a student to graduate. It is also dependent on how many credits a degree program asks for.

5.) The cost of the college. After all, there is a major difference if you're going to either say a community college, regular college, university, private school, for-profit school.

Overall, I would have to say that it is possible to get out of college in 4 years or 5 years. Personally, I'm aiming to get out in 4 and a half to 5 years. However, to give you an idea, I'm going to school full time and taking almost double what we used in the example per semester. That being 15 credits. And if you were wondering, no, I'm not in one of those degree programs that's not considered "real".

 

[Modbert]

Seattle community colleges now cost $6,000 a year for full time TUITION.

The median working family's salary has been losing purchasing power, generally speaking, since 1970.

In terms of being able to pay for education and health care, their loss of purchasing power has been even worse than with other costs.

In fact ED costs are about the only area that has risen faster than HC costs.

Of course, the other thing being ignored is that the reason community colleges were so cheap in the past is because of state funding.

State funding which is now being taken away.

News: 'Triage' Funding for Community Colleges - Inside Higher Ed

Gadawg is a huge fan of Barry Goldwater, who of course is from Arizona. Let's take what is going on in his state as to what is happening with community colleges.

In other states where community colleges are facing more severe cuts than are four-year institutions. In Arizona, for example, Governor Jan Brewer wants to cut community college funding by about 50 percent, while she is eyeing cuts of 20 percent for the state's universities. The governor argues that community colleges can look to local tax dollars and tuition increases to make up for the loss.

Huh, community college funding cut by 50%. I wonder how cheap tuition will be there after that.

I know at my college, tuition has gone up somewhere in the past five years in the area of 50% due to the state giving less and less.

 

[Modbert]

Prices of DeLoreans have skyrocketed too.. government don't owe me that.... Titty bar cover charges have skyrocketed.. government don't owe me that... and whether my wage has stagnated or increased... it's nobody's responsibility but my own to obtain my wants (higher education is neither a need, nor a right)...

Maybe a bit of humbling and a bit of hard work would make more college students appreciate it more, and appreciate the average worker a bit more and stop with their holier than though bullshit we see oh so often

I was trying to count how many strawman arguments you fit into that one post but I lost count. Of course, let's stereotype all college students have no idea what hard work is (including those who already work 20-40 hours a week to go to college) and are so uppity that they don't appreciate the average worker at all.

What's your encore? Perhaps about how Liberals are all junkies who have nothing but lounge around all day while collecting unemployment checks, welfare checks, and food stamps from the Government?

 

[KissMy]

The college return on education investment should be considered as well as the students credit score when lending money to students. If the graduates education earnings premium will not cover the loan in 10-15 years, we really have no business lending their students any money.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

Anyone that doesn't know that colleges and universities set their rates at what the student can borrow and get through grants doesn't know much.
Lower those and colleges and universities will be forced to cut the massive fat they now have and tuition rates will remain flat for a long while.

Actually, I work at a University. There's not much fat left. States have been cutting funding to higher education for the last 5 to 6 years across much of the United States and many public institutions have pretty serious limits set on how much they can increase fees and tuition to offset that cost.

For example: To cover all of the demand for mathematics classes (not history, or philosophy, or underwater basket weaving), my current school used to employ 24+ faculty using a mix of tenure track (which requires a Ph'D in Mathematics) or lecturers (which requires a Master's Degree or equivalent).

Due to budget cuts, our school had to implement a hiring freeze. Which isn't a big deal until you learn that we've lost 6+ faculty due to retirement or simply leaving for a better paying job. Math Ph'D's can move into the insurance or defense industry fairly fast and people with a Master's in mathematics can make a boat load of money teaching in private secondary schools.

Demand for classes has not decreased, and because of that we've seen class sizes go up from 35 to 120 in some classes, and from 30 to 45+ in other classes.

So who suffers there? The biggest problem is that the University simply can not afford to hire anyone else. At this point we're already running with a skeleton crew of administrators and support personnel, which means a large amount of work is falling on the teachers just to keep the University open. There's massive restrictions that have to be fulfilled to raise tuition, and up until this year, the University could not make that decision on its own. Even now, the growth in tuition to cover rising costs is capped fairly low. On top of that, the State keeps slicing off money through midyear and full year cuts.

In the end, that means that I'm unlikely to see my department hire any more Math Ph'D's or Master's holders to teach full time. Which means a greater reliance on increased class sizes, adjuncts (who are always a wild card), or overloads (which drive off faculty due to exhaustion). I'm not concerned about the Math Ph'D's or Masters candidates, as they'll just go into private industry. Mathematics still has like a 98% placement rate when it comes to jobs. The issue will be the quality of education the students get.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

Higher Education is a racket, an industry so rife with corruption that Tony Soprano would blush.

Take it up with the Free Market. Part of the reason so many students feel the need to get a degree is because so many of the EMPLOYERS in the Free Market are requiring a degree.

 

[Triton]

I was just about to say before I made it to the end of the thread that many entry level positions require a college degree. Usually of the 30,000 per year nature.

Young people are required to incur this debt and get the degree if they want a job that is not based on menial labor.

 

[waltky]

Sallie Mae refunds millions to service members...

Sallie Mae, Justice Department in $60M settlement
13 May`14 WASHINGTON (AP) — Student lender Sallie Mae has agreed to pay $60 million to resolve allegations that it charged military service members excessive interest rates on their student loans, the federal government announced Tuesday.

The deal settles a government lawsuit which asserted that the student loan giant violated the rights of service members by imposing interest rates above the 6 percent permitted by federal law and by improperly seeking default judgments against them. The lawsuit was the Justice Department's first against owners of student loans. "We are sending a clear message to all lenders and servicers who would deprive our service members of the basic benefits and protections to which they are entitled: this type of conduct is more than just inappropriate; it is inexcusable," Attorney General Eric Holder said at a news conference. "And it will not be tolerated."

Federal officials estimate that roughly 60,000 service members will be eligible for compensation as part of the settlement. An independent administrator will be assigned to distribute the reimbursements. The settlement has been filed in federal court in Delaware and is awaiting a judge's approval.

As part of the deal, Sallie Mae would also be required to ask the three major credit bureaus to delete negative credit histories resulting from the overcharges. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said students who have taken out loans "should have the peace of mind" that borrowers will treat them fairly.

Sallie Mae, Justice Department in $60M settlement

 

[American Horse]

Not a surprise is it? The bureaucracy takes its lead from the administration, particularly when the administration is the Party of Government. It has been clear lately that the VA operating under a Sec. of Veteran Affairs who was a former 4-star general didn't know that Veteran's administration he was supposed to oversee wasn't in fact providing medical treatment to vets to such a degree that, what, 40 have died from falsified record keeping?

What were those people actually doing who were falsifying records - were they bolstering the way their processing of vets appeared simply to earn bonuses? I can't believe they were doing it because they were worried about losing their jobs or being otherwise abused by their superiors.

 

[initforme]

So let's tell kids to not get a college education so they can work in some lousy rotten factory for $10 an hour. And, oh kids, work really hard and someday you might earn $15 an hour...LOL. If you do this for 15 years or so you can afford half of your education. And make sure to say "thanks" to your boss who is working on making sure you don't make too much. The only chance a kid has is higher education otherwise one is doomed to work for meager wages in a time when employers are looking to whittle away at their pay and benefits.

 

[sameech]

So let's tell kids to not get a college education so they can work in some lousy rotten factory for $10 an hour. And, oh kids, work really hard and someday you might earn $15 an hour...LOL. If you do this for 15 years or so you can afford half of your education. And make sure to say "thanks" to your boss who is working on making sure you don't make too much. The only chance a kid has is higher education otherwise one is doomed to work for meager wages in a time when employers are looking to whittle away at their pay and benefits.

We can encourage them to get a more modest education, and not spend 5 years getting a degree they could have gotten in 2 if they took dual enrollment courses in high school and summer classes while at university.