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College Students Feeling The Cost Of Loans

kutv.com — The rising cost of borrowing money is keenly felt by college students and recent graduates, who face unprecedented debt from government-backed student loans.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 28, 2006

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  • millixaw, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18If we give enough money to the people in Africa, will they finally stop trying to scam us via eBay and PayPal??
  • Nightfall, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15The problem is that a lot of people have to take out loans to finish college. My parents couldn't afford to put me through school, so I paid my entire way. I had over a 3.0 GPA in high school and since I am a white male, I couldn't get any scholarships. I worked like a dog and still had to take out $5,000 in loans. My wife was in the same boat but couldn't work cause her degree program was one of the toughest in the midwest. There is nothing wrong with getting a loan to complete a project. Just make sure the project you complete is going to be worth paying back that loan. A lot of students these days don't think about life after college. They borrow and get that degree in liberal arts only to see them working at McDonalds and shouldering $25,000 in debt after 5 years of partying.
  • Permanent4, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16Sounds to me like Finland uses its tax dollars a lot more effectively than the U.S.
  • MatttK, on 10/12/2007, -6/+17Because people dying in Africa have it a lot harder than you. Tough it out. I didn't come from a wealthy family and have worked hard to pay for school. You can do the same.
  • Paroparo, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15Yay for Finland. Free, yet excellent universities. =P
  • ethicka, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8What's all this about 5k or 15k debt? Please... try 60k. The poor kids at my college get a great subsidy and the rich kids pay 40k without flinching. The middle class is getting *****. My dad makes too much to get financial aid and too little to pay cash. I'm a prime example of why there needs to be reform. As long as the senior citizens are the only ones that are voting, issues that concern young adults will be sidelined.
  • theImposs1ble, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8yeah well that's how the system works, sheesh if your going to go out and get a job that pays well, they want a cut.

    college isn't as academic as it should be, its more like a gigantic hoop of fire that you jump through, get a piece of paper for doing so, owe the government or banks anywhere from 30,000 - 120,00 (i owe the latter) and start paying it back for 12 years with that good job that you got.

    not to mention the college robs you the whole time your there. you have to pay to park, you have to pay for them to warm up the ovens so they take 15% right off the top of your meal plan in hidden fees. then they have the audacity to day that you get a 10% discount on the food for using the meal plan? so many stupid people did it at my school thinking they were getting a deal where if you just paid with cash you saved 5%

    the whole system sucks. i guess this is what happens in a capitalist society. ***** , were practically proud of it.

    (all my ranting is based on what happened at my school, and could happen at any school if you don't keep your eyes open. you can smoke the ganja, but don't pay too much for that either)
  • velocipenguin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8An education is arguably more important than a car or a house.
  • Murdats, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7americans should respect each other then what they do instead of running around yelling gimme gimme gimme and sue sue sue
  • ethicka, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6i'd have to skip a lot of lunches to pay back my loans.
  • qwickone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6What you don't realize is that out of med school (during residency), you're lucky to be making more than 60K a year. So between them, that's 120K and loan payments over 10 years on that kind of debt will be about 45Kper year, so most likely, they'll be in more debt before they start climbing out.
  • angelp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Yeah...Warren Buffet should pay for YOUR higher education. That makes sense.
  • Paroparo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Yeah, our system is at the other end of the "low taxes, pay for stuff yourself" "high taxes, get stuff for free" spectrum as yours. I understand how this makes people who've lived all their lives in a country that worships laissez faire capitalism scream communism, but a small country like ours with little in the way of natural resources (all we got is trees =P) has to make a strenght out of something, and we chose to make our strenght education.

    I'm a bit old-fashioned (as in 1700s old fashioned in some things) and I believe it is one of the states duties to educate it's population. Besides,e veryone benefits from the level of education being higher.
  • wyfflemunky, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Nice attitude. Between ridiculous malpractice laws, excessive amounts of excessively difficult schooling, and the rampant insurance policies screwing over doctors, I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a doctor available to perform emergency surgery to save your life should the situation arise.

    We should respect doctors a lot more than we do. They work a lot harder getting where they are than the average American, and don't get much more for it.
  • Nightfall, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6My wife graduated from Pharmacy school with over $35,000 in debt back in 1996. That was a lot of money back then. Course, she had an easy time paying it off because pharmacists have a negative unemployment. Same with most doctors, dentists, and so on. I don't feel sorry for these professionals that have a job almost handed to them when they graduate. I feel worse for the students who get their degrees in areas like political science or liberal arts. Why get a worthless degree in something like that? Why graduate with $30,000 in debt for something you can't get a good paying job with? You can blame the system, but you better blame the students too. They have to carry the burden of responsibility when it comes to choosing their degree programs.
  • millixaw, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Two medical students engaged, are crying about being in debt. Kinda hard to feel sorry for them if their combined income is going to be about $400K+ a year. They'll have the debt paid off in a year or two. They just want a free ride to that 400K along the way.
  • yllabianbitpipe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4After several years of record low interest rates, the time is coming to pay it back. The next decades are going to be interesting with high, higher, and highest interest rates for any loan, mortgage, business, student loans, credit cards. There is no free lunch and America borrows 2 billion dollars a day to keep the facade afloat. We'll all have to adjust to it.
  • HarryBauzonia, on 10/12/2007, -6/+10It's not free. Were the buildings built for free? Do the professors work for free? Does the grass get cut for free? No.
    You pay the government taxes. The government uses those taxes to pay itself, then uses some portion of it to pay for your universities. So you pay for college (whether you attend or not) your entire life. Then you die.
  • perrupa, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Sounds to me like Finland doesn't spend $396.1 Billion a year on their military. If the US spent as much s China did on the military (a mere 60 Billion) that would leave an extra $336 Billion dollars laying around. enough to send 6,182,000 kids to university for free (assuming $50,000 worth of tuition and books and room and beer).
    ;)
  • Nightfall, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5The problem was even with good grades, I couldn't qualify for any scholarships. Sure, if I had a 3.75 I could probably get one. At the same time, there were minorities getting scholarships with grade points almost a full point lower than me. Thats the difference.
  • velocipenguin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"My dad makes too much to get financial aid and too little to pay cash."

    I feel your pain. My family's income is in the same bracket - too low to pay for college and too high to qualify for financial aid (including work-study jobs.) I have no option besides unsubsidized student loans.
  • ppb1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3government-backed student loans? I only know Staffords but this is ridiculous;

    the idea of intimidating amounts of principle and rates may apply to private loans that have a variable rate of interest, but the gov. loans are exceedingly cushy and are hardly a burden.

    ZOMG, CONSOLIDATE BEFORE JULY 1st!!!

    This is scaremongering.
  • brianb722, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Choose a cheaper school. There's plenty of quality public universities out there that wouldn't have put you in that big of a hole.

    But yes, the middle class does get hosed.
  • tweak13, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5"I had over a 3.0 GPA in high school and since I am a white male, I couldn't get any scholarships."

    I hear that. I graduated high school with a 3.98 and couldn't get any scholarships except for a single $1000 academic scholarship that they promptly took away my second year. Apparently I stopped being smart despite the fact that I made the dean's list my first year. Now that I have no scholarships or grants my meager savings aren't going to get me much farther. Of course now that I actually need loans interest rates are seeing massive increases.
  • HarryBauzonia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The GI bill is still around, and paid for my degree. Also, because of my military training, I was able to work my way through college as an electronics tech instead of a burger flipper. I could afford my own apartment, a pretty nice car, and cool vacations. If any of you are already in college, you can join ROTC and have the military pay your tuition. In return, you serve something like 6 years as an officer. It's much easier to land a good job with a college degree and military experience under your belt, and there are no loans to pay back.

    You folks think about that before you go into hock paying for college.
  • qwickone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I totally agree. My parents make too much for me to get any help from the government, but not enough to pay for my whole education. I ended up paying half of my way (20K for me). All of that came out in loans and while I don't regret it, I think something needs to be changed.
  • hoowahman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I never recieved much help from anyone and have 30k racked up in school loans, I'm just thankful that this is nothing compared to most people that go out of state. I think the key here is if you dont have the finances to cover college and you want to get a college degree for cheap, go in-state! I racked up half my school loans in just attending an out of state school for one year and at that transfering back to a in state school wiped 3/4ths of my credits. Employers do want to know if you have a four year degree most of the time and it is necessary to secure a good job that will go somewhere in the future. It's possible to not go to college and get a good job and make your way up in the world but it's not so cut in stone. Your chances of getting your foot in the door are much much better with the degree.
  • Otto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Nightfall: I honestly don't think you really looked hard enough for scholarships. The vast majority of scholarships don't have rigid grade requirements. The number of actual applicants for most of them is so low that the requirements get relaxed anyway.

    Heck, I know for a fact that 2 of the 6 or so scholarships I had in college I got because I was *the only person to apply for them*.

    How did I get them? Easy, I went to the financial aid office, picked up the big list of scholarships, made a copy, and spent a week applying for every single one. I didn't even *read* the requirements for any of them, I just applied. No lying, I was wholly honest on the applications, but I figured I'd just let them sort out the people they don't think qualify for their money. And it worked too.

    You can't win if you don't try.
  • brianb722, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4A 3.0 GPA in high school is pretty mediocre.

    Make good grades and be involved in extracurricular activities and there's plenty of money out there for you. Merit-based scholarships and tons of interest free loans available based on economic status.
  • Dr.House, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2this is a simple fact of life. i have loans to payback, in the end i still think college is a ***** scam. In most cases a degree is completely ***** useless.
  • velocipenguin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If you want to go into science or engineering, a degree is pretty much a requirement.
  • mcgrew, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1So they'll be netting a measly $75K a year. Poor them.
  • reed311, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3My advice is to not go to college unless it is for something highly specialised, such as a Doctor, Lawyer, or Pharmicist. Employers just do not care, that you have a degree in Political Science and that it requires a massive amount of discilpline writing 4-5 comparative essays each week. I wasted my time on a Political Science degree, which had, easily, the smartest professors at the University; world-renowed professors that you would see on CNN, etc. Ultimately, modern Government has done an excellent job of eliminating the middle class; essentially creating only two class. This same thing was happening many years ago and which, in turn, sprung up revolutionaries like Lenin, Marx, Castro, Mao. I'm not saying there's going to be a Communist revolution, but its things like this that puts ideas into peoples' heads.

  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2As a student about to enter a private law school this fall, I know how bad loans can be. I'm looking at racking up $150,000 worth of them over the next three years. But time and again studies have shown that people with college degrees make about one million more dollars over their lives than those without. So, yes, those loans look scary, but the payoff is significant. Because of that, I have a difficult time being too upset by people whining about student loan payments. You're investing in your future. That's all.
  • mrhaines, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Is this really news? Haven't students always had to acumulate some debt to go to school? I think the cost of a luxury automobile is a small price to pay to not have to live in ignorance your entire life. And really, who can't afford a 400 dollar a month loan payment when you get a 50k a year or more paying job? And most student loans only make you pay when you have a decent income (at least the government supported loans), so whats the problem? We should be thankful that we have a government willing to lend us the money we need to get through school.
  • tweak13, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"There's plenty of quality public universities out there that wouldn't have put you in that big of a hole."

    Explain to me where these universities are. I go to a state university and tuition alone (in state) is over $8000 a year. Add in room, board, and fees and you're looking at closer to $14,000 per year. Getting out with only 20K in debt already sounds like a deal to me.
  • ktchpmn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Nightfall

    because not all of us want to be doctors when we grow up.
  • brianb722, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@tweak13, my public school comment was in regards to ethicka's $60,000 in debt. At $14,000 per year there's no way you should be THAT far in debt when you leave.
  • wanieda01, on 10/24/2008, -0/+1A typical consolidation loan designed to deal with student loans combines several student or parent loans for students into one comprehensive loan from one single lender.Read more:
    hxxp://student-loan-consolidationrebate.blogspot.com/2008/10/finding-reputable-student-loan.html
  • yllabianbitpipe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I really feel for any college students today. Meanwhile social security, medicare are going to run out of cash in the decades to come and guess whose going to be paying to support all the sick retired baby boomers working their way through the system. We're almost guaranteed higher taxes, income and payroll in the future, making all of these loan payments look puny by comparison.

    I almost think there's a plot to get the middle class and below in hock so the rich can live off our interest payments.
  • mcgrew, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1There are cheaper schools, I an a computer science major at WVU Tech, a school with the #78 ranked engeineering program in the US, and pay about $5k a year.
  • deathscytheh64, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Talk about more expensive, because of Bush's cuts on education they removed government support from subsidized stafford loans from 5.3 to 8.25%. For some that can be $2k in just interest alone...
  • Hakai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's kind of ironic that the huge message that everyone pushed onto us while we were in high school summed up as:
    "Go to college and you'll make good money and be successful!"

    What they should have told us is that we'd have to first live through virtual poverty while we attmepted to pay back all of the loans......
    Hell, i had a scholarship and i still had problems keeping up (fulltime student + fulltime worker = one very tired student who is basically struggling to keep up)


  • Quidam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I'm not going out of state and I'll be racking up 100,000 dollars worth of loans. There really needs to be more federal grants given to those who can't afford so much for college.
  • aforward, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4What does being a white-male have to do with getting scholarships? Agreed, you probably cannot apply for the Lesbian Merit Scholarship, but there is plenty of money available to plenty of students. The key to winning scholarships is to first, be a good student, with awesome extra-curricular activities, mix in some volunteer work and second, to start looking, now!

    And for those living in Canada, it is now tax free!
  • tweak13, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Well, seeing as how my school is in the top 10 (or top 20? I forget) for engineering programs I guess I should expect to pay more. Still, the other state colleges cost just as much, despite the fact that their programs are nowhere near as good. There really are no cheaper alternatives for me, regardless of major, unless I go to a two year program at a community college.

    @brianb722: I overlooked the 60k in the first post, my bad. However, my point still stands. The cost at my university is about the same regardless of major, and the same goes for the other state colleges. If you have little savings and depend on loans, 4x$14,000 = $56,000. That's getting pretty close to 60k. If you're in a major where your time is almost entirely eaten up by classes (think perf. arts or foreign language) work is part time for limited hours at best, so you can't always expect to work all that away.
  • unitedgdp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0OK, roast me if you will, but if this isn't for you, then that's also fine. For the others, consider the following:

    I founded the United Graduate Debt Program because there are people from all around the world who were, simply, born into difficult situations or have learned a personal ethic that drew them towards avenues that were chock-a-block with potholes and cracks to fall into. What I mean is that for some graduates, the future is pretty bleak, and wouldn’t it be great to help those who could really use it? If you would, consider how motivated and inspired a graduate would be, one who has spent over a year in personal frustration and torment because the very training he or she had to get dropped them into significant debts. In most cases, most graduates will assume the burden of paying back the loans they got to go through university. In some, perhaps too many, there are professionals who are looking towards decades of stress from ultimately fulfilling important positions that need quality candidates.

    Nursing, social work, education and more, are such examples of domains that require academic training, but which do not pay well. In my most personal case, my best friend, who is a single dad and who teaches in one of his city's most difficult districts, has been facing a debt load of more than $50,000, on a salary that lets him barely scrape by, to say the least.

    Check out the site, www.united-gdp.org, and consider spreading the word. I believe in the power of inspiring members of the community, be it in the US, Canada, the UK, the Philippines or beyond.
  • satanatnmtedu, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I made my choices. I thought they were informed, but I was wrong. Nonetheless, I owe for my university, and I will be paying it.
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