Man defaults on student loans and provides his logic for doing so . . .

[Archetype XLIV]

I think the entire premise, and the person, are disgusting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/opinion/sunday/why-i-defaulted-on-my-student-loans.html?_r=0

 

[Mntneer]

The writer is like in his late 50's. It's gotta be a joke of some sort.

The problem right now are kids taking out large student loans to study at expensive liberal arts colleges to get a degree in something barely pays minimum wage.

 

[Archetype XLIV]

The writer is like in his late 50's. It's gotta be a joke of some sort.

The problem right now are kids taking out large student loans to study at expensive liberal arts colleges to get a degree in something barely pays minimum wage.

Bingo.

The valedictorian to my graduating high school class was accepted to Columbia (later did post-graduate studies at Berkeley). Of all the degrees and career paths that you could have chosen from, this person chose Russian Literature. They're now a paralegal, with degrees from Columbia and UC-Berkeley -- both in Russian literature.

Our salutatorian? This person was best friends with the valedictorian. They went to the University of Chicago and received their degree in Art History. Last I heard, this person was giving tours in some museum.

I'm not sure I want to give lenders the power to dictate what types of degrees their money can be applied to, but both of the aforementioned people are brilliant minds (in academia, not real life, obviously), but have accrued hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt for useless degrees.

Yeah, I'm all for studying what you love; but if you can't make a decent living from it, what's the point? You have really smart people, so consumed with the idea of mastering an area that they love immersing themselves in, that they don't even stop to consider the logistics of how it will serve them in life.

 

[Popeer]

The writer is like in his late 50's. It's gotta be a joke of some sort.

The problem right now are kids taking out large student loans to study at expensive liberal arts colleges to get a degree in something barely pays minimum wage.

It's not a joke. If you read the whole piece, the writer is advocating the ultra-liberal outcome of free college for all: "Instead of guaranteeing loans, the government would have to guarantee a college education." I'm sorry, but the government should not be guaranteeing either loans or a college education -- just like a car or a house or any other large purchase, you should be responsible to either pay it off or face penalties. And aside from the ridiculous utopian nature of that vision, there's the hard reality that not everyone is cut out for college, nor do we need everyone in America to have a college degree. In fact, we need more people with vocational training: builders, electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, metal workers, auto mechanics, etc.

 

[Archetype XLIV]

It's not a joke. If you read the whole piece, the writer is advocating the ultra-liberal outcome of free college for all: "Instead of guaranteeing loans, the government would have to guarantee a college education." I'm sorry, but the government should not be guaranteeing either loans or a college education -- just like a car or a house or any other large purchase, you should be responsible to either pay it off or face penalties. And aside from the ridiculous utopian nature of that vision, there's the hard reality that not everyone is cut out for college, nor do we need everyone in America to have a college degree. In fact, we need more people with vocational training: builders, electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, metal workers, auto mechanics, etc.

Actually, and while I've made fun of the idea of "vo-techers" in the past, I wish I would have gotten a trade while I was in high school. Yes, I still would have gone to college and obtained my current degree (or one in finance), but the thing I really would have done over is learned a trade: carpentry, auto, electrician or plumbing. Not so much to make extra money on the side, although that is an added incentive, but to be able to do your own work and not have to contract out or pay them several hundreds-to-thousands of dollars for their work. We picked on "techers" in high school, but as time goes on, they got it right. Will they make big bucks? Probably not. But they will certainly have job security until they decide to stop working and they're raking in much more than the useless liberal arts degree-holders.

 

[JLW71073]

It's not a joke. If you read the whole piece, the writer is advocating the ultra-liberal outcome of free college for all: "Instead of guaranteeing loans, the government would have to guarantee a college education." I'm sorry, but the government should not be guaranteeing either loans or a college education -- just like a car or a house or any other large purchase, you should be responsible to either pay it off or face penalties. And aside from the ridiculous utopian nature of that vision, there's the hard reality that not everyone is cut out for college, nor do we need everyone in America to have a college degree. In fact, we need more people with vocational training: builders, electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, metal workers, auto mechanics, etc

I have this conversation with my 13 and 11 year old all the time.

 

[dolemitebmf]

It's not a joke. If you read the whole piece, the writer is advocating the ultra-liberal outcome of free college for all: "Instead of guaranteeing loans, the government would have to guarantee a college education." I'm sorry, but the government should not be guaranteeing either loans or a college education -- just like a car or a house or any other large purchase, you should be responsible to either pay it off or face penalties. And aside from the ridiculous utopian nature of that vision, there's the hard reality that not everyone is cut out for college, nor do we need everyone in America to have a college degree. In fact, we need more people with vocational training: builders, electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, metal workers, auto mechanics, etc.

Some of the smartest people I know are builders, electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, metal workers, auto mechanics, etc. who didn't graduate college. Some of the dumbest people I know have advanced degrees.

 

[CAJUNEER_rivals]

The writer is like in his late 50's. It's gotta be a joke of some sort.

The problem right now are kids taking out large student loans to study at expensive liberal arts colleges to get a degree in something barely pays minimum wage.

I've several people who got their degrees in business and finance and other more marketable degree who have student loan debts they struggled to pay. Even the cost of state schools can be burdensome for people coming from families who make too much to get a lot of aid but have little discretionary income.

I think Popeer is right. More people should consider trades.