Another article blaming the gov't for student debt instead of the borrower (NY Times)

[swimcatsmom]

No, I’m not joking. I’m from the UK originally and came to the US in my late 30s. Wanted to go back to work once kids left the nest but didn’t have the qualifications to get the sort of job I was interested in so went back to school in my 50s.

[mcat2]

Then I admire you for going back to school in your 50s. I do not think I could manage to do the same in my 50s.

I came to the US when I was almost 30 and hurried through some schooling (1 year only) back then though.

DS once noticed a difference between him and me. I did not have any student loan debt when I finished my education, but he would have accumulated a lot of student loan debt before he makes any real money. But one reason is that his career takes more education years to establish than mine and the post-secondary education costs much more in the US. Sometimes we (my wife and I) feel bad about not being able to help him more but we have our retirement to take care after he graduated from college and he understood this. (Hey…he would not want his future spouse to have “bad” inlaws who keep bothering their family for their financial support, right?!)

[swimcatsmom]

I actually really enjoyed going back to school. It was nice to get my brain back in gear and I studied a lot harder than I ever did in my younger days. I’d love to do some more classes. Maybe Once I retire.

[bluebayou]

[1] Interest Rates : Educational loans that are government supported yet carrying an 8.25% interest rate should be reevaluated in today’s economic climate where the Federal Reserve is loathe to raise rates. Similar to the housing loan crisis, this would be an important first step. Just as the mortgage standards became too lax, we must finally recognize that student loan lending standards must be tightened.

Thanks for responding, scott. While I might agree with your first point, its a political non-starter in that it would have a disparate impact on the poor – exactly the folks that the federal loans are supposed to help in the first place. It also has a disparate impact on the HBCU’s.

[4] Sliding Scale Graduate Loans : Graduate school loans (law schools, medical schools, PhD/MS programs, MBAs) would be capped based on the market estimates of average potential incomes by achieving the degree. Recognizing that the potential earning power of a medical degree would be higher than a master’s degree in education), the borrowing limits would be similarly different. Also, the quality of the school itself should be factoring into this equation, recognizing the difference between a Harvard MBA and a University of Phoenix MBA.

What do we do for the fact that 50% of all law school grads will not get a law job in the first year post graduation. Heck, many of those will never get a job which requires a JD. Add in the fact, that starting JD salaries are bimodal: $160 for the top grads; $65k for the middle grads; (and zero for many). But the point is that it is not a sliding scale – few if any jobs in the $90k range, for example.

[mcat2]

^ In other words, it is more like a modern society: The winner takes all, and the loser takes none.