Student Loans

[LuciferHam]

Who's got one? And what do you do with these sordid things?

Mines at 38k NZD at the mo. If I stay in NZ the government writes off the interest. They take 10% off my pay a year and that goes towards it. So its just like extra tax and probably not that bothersome unless I try to go for a mortgage. Though still an extra annoying burden.

If I go overseas for more than 6 months the interest goes back on, which puts my loan up to 50k. Interest then accumulates. And I believe this remains if you return to NZ.

So yeah our government has in some form shackled us to the country. Or at least the debt concious amongst us.

Whats it like overseas? Probably worse I'm guessing.

[Bob]

i owe about $120k from law school. 2/3rds of it is federal, the other 1/3 is private.

the federal debt qualifies for a sweet, sweet federal program called "income based repayment" which, as the name implies, lowers your maximum payments to a percentage of your income. i forget what the exact formula is, but it's something like x% of your discretionary income above the poverty line, meaning that if you're broke enough (or even unemployed), your monthly "payments" are zero. after 25 years of payments (even if they're zero), the debt is forgiven (10 years if you enter public service)

it's literally the only thing keeping me from moving back in with my mom, and i dread the day when the tea party finds out about it

the private loans, unfortunately, do not qualify for this. each of my private lenders has their own income-contingent repayment program, but it's not nearly as generous as federal IBR.

what's more, the shitty thing is that if all of my debts were federal, my entire monthly payment would be capped at the (relatively reasonable) amount that i currently pay on my federal loans. but, because i was a shortsighted idiot that checked the "private" instead of "federal" box on my financial aid application seven years ago, i'm shelling out to the private lenders too, which effectively doubles my payments. i'm literally wasting over $300/month because i checked the wrong box. whoops! but i'm a rational actor in a free market society so that's 100% my fault, i should have known better/everything

all told, after all my taxes and deductions, 21% of my take-home pay goes to student loans each month. could be worse! but it still sucks. i'm probably going to have roommates till i'm 50. i'm also not sure how i'm going to ever retire. also i hate my job, a lot, but i can't really afford to make less money than i currently do and i haven't a clue where to get it

the lesson is, don't get an education unless you're wealthy (or plan to be) or really good at sports. they're too expensive, the market's decided that most people don't deserve them

[Waus]

I took on a hefty sum to pursue things unrelated to my career.

It's not crippling yet, since I'm not done with the degree - but it'll be challenging after that. We've tried to be realistic about it, and luckily the cool people I worked for back home have been super nice and volunteering my old job if I ever move back.

It's pretty tempting, I'll be surprised if by next summer I'm not back in Michigan.

I think the sheer amount of student loans is a little deceptive. It's so much money that you don't really grasp just what you're getting yourself into when you do it. Even if you do, the full weight of what you're doing is just impossible to fully comprehend.

[Kid Presentable]

Cleared my student debt in three years via being arseholed at tax time. My Masters was sponsored so I'm clear. Except for the one semester I did at Otago Uni. But New Zealand is never getting that money back lol

[Waus]

I once read a news blurb about some meth dealers or coke dealers or something who used their phat staxx to quietly pay tuition for relatives, and when they got caught eventually there was nothing that could really be done. They earned the degree, regardless of where the money came from.

[Bob]

and that, ostensibly, is sort of along the same lines as the reason that student loans can't be discharged in bankruptcy; you can't really repossess an education

though i will say that if it were possible, i would gladly have my legal education wiped men in black style if it meant i could get out from under this debt

[Waus]

and that, ostensibly, is sort of along the same lines as the reason that student loans can't be discharged in bankruptcy; you can't really repossess an education

though i will say that if it were possible, i would gladly have my legal education wiped men in black style if it meant i could get out from under this debt

Yeah, I wonder how that works if you deliberately go bankrupt paying as much tuition via credit cards and direct loans and then default on them all. I mean, I get that the student loan stays - but do they take back tuition money to pay the defaulted credit?

Also, what's the deal? No plans to do anything law-related?

[Dorothy Wood]

I have $10,000 left to pay after 12 years. I pay the bare minimum now. I don't really care how long it takes at this point. All told, I've got about $16,000 in total debt. Which isn't that bad, but still completely irritating to pay off. It's sad how such a small sum rules my life. I honestly don't know how anyone handles huge debts. Or maybe I'm just bad at saving money.

[Lyman Zerga]

i never had student loans but i still have to come up with $30-35,000, frustrating

[cosmo105]

I had about $23k left on my undergrad loans and with graduate school i've now pretty much tripled that (n)

[checkyourprez]

undergrad paid cash.

grad school paid cash.

:cool:

fux wit me you know i got it.

[russhie]

I think mine is sitting around $38,000 - it's all HECS (or whatever they call it now) though so I pay back a percentage each to the tax office each week according to my current wage. It's interest free but the debt is revised up each financial year to match inflation or something.

The issue I have with student debt (as great as govt subsidised finance is) is that you have no clue how much it's going to cost you at the end. My postgrad qualification cost almost twice as much as my bachelor degree because each unit of study has a higher cost applied to it.

I just bought a new car for about $36,000, the difference is I walked in and knew what I was getting, how much my repayments are, and the total cost over a period of years. If I'd known I'd be saddled with a $38,000 + debt just for going to uni...I might have thought a bit harder about what to study, and pursued something more 'tangible' or lucrative than a BA. High school careers advisors seem to act as salespeople, pushing 16 & 17 year olds to make applications for universities who will fleece them to pay for the free tertiary education offered in the 80's.

I hate my student debt.

[LuciferHam]

Man we all have a lot of debt. Except for checkyourprez. At least we're in the same boat I guess.

That's crazy the US thing, giving you the option of choosing either federal or private. What have in NZ is the pretty similiar to federal, I guess private would only exist if you took out your own loan with a finance company or bank.

The education outweighs the debt right? You've just not gotta let it trouble more than it has to. Although in hindsight I wish i had more information coming out of high school, I'm not sure 40k is worth it for a B.A. Hons in Media, Film, Communication.

I'd like to study more, perhaps in a different field, perhaps post-graduate, but taking on more debt right now seems something im unwilling to do.

I wonder how previous generations (at least in NZ) managed to have tertiary study almost completely government subsidised, and also places such as UK, Ireland and Germany.

[abbott]

I got a bs with no debt, but I had a full time night job at Kinko's.

I married my wife and paid her last year of school and her debt within our first year of marriage.

Also in New Mexico today, you can get a state collage BS or BA for free if you go straight to College from High School and maintain a C average.

However, there are plenty of other type of loans other than student loans that I have. Not sure why, But I thought it would be funny if I could get a million dollars in debt. I found out it is easy to do.

[cj hood]

i'll be paying til i die...

[Micodin]

No debt.

[Echewta]

I made sure to pick an inexpensive school and thought ahead of time what I would have to borrow and pay back to make sure I would be responsible enough to pay it back. Luckily, jobs smiled on me and I was able to do so.

I don't get it when I read about people who want their student debt forgiven.

[Dorothy Wood]

I think people want their debt forgiven because they were asked to make a very serious decision when they were teenagers, and to spend an intangible amount of money because it just seemed fine. And when things don't work out, you want your money back.

Some kids make the right choice. I didn't, and I was a great student who tried to do everything right. I toiled and reaped nothing of monetary value (though I value the knowledge and skills gained). I will pay my debt, and I have a handle on it now, but when I was younger it took a huge toll and I messed up my credit because I couldn't afford to pay and I didn't understand how the loan worked and was too embarrassed to ask for help until I defaulted.

Personally I think education should be free.

[Bob]

I made sure to pick an inexpensive school and thought ahead of time what I would have to borrow and pay back to make sure I would be responsible enough to pay it back. Luckily, jobs smiled on me and I was able to do so.

I don't get it when I read about people who want their student debt forgiven.

when did you go to school and what was your debt?

[Echewta]

Hardknocks. Free.

A university in the middle of tennessee where room/board/education was cheaper than a university in california.

I think my debt was about 15k. I also waited and saved two years before going.

[Documad]

It's one thing if parents can afford it. But if young adults are going to college without that kind of help there should be a lot more thought put into it. Is it a good idea to take out loans to pay for four years of room and board? Now my old school ripped out many of the old living quarters and put in luxury apartments. I can't imagine borrowing money to pay living expenses. I was always aware that I'd have to pay back what I borrowed and I assumed I'd never make much money because my dad didn't.

I knew my parents couldn't help. I worked and saved some money before and worked during. I went to a cheaper school. I worked. For instance I worked almost every Friday night during college because that's one time they always needed people where I worked and it didn't conflict with classes. I didn't have a lot of fun and sometimes I'm sad I didn't get the social college experience. Post graduate education was worse because I worked full time during school and had no social life at all. But the tradeoff is that at the end I owed less than most people and none of it was for my living expenses.

I don't know. It might have been better to have more fun when I was younger. I have some regrets. My friends who owe a lot now had much more fun than I did. I started to have fun in my thirties. :)

[Bob]

i just get a kick out of the fact that after charging me $40,000/year in tuition, my law school has the nerve to ask me for donations every year

who the fuck do you think you are

[ericg]

i owed about 30k, but don't have to pay it back since i was diagnosed schizophrenic... good things do come from craziness.