I feel sorry for his parents. One would think he would at least offer to pay their $600 since that would still give him some savings for all they did to try to help him.
Anyone wanna bet he’s hardly living frugally as many do fresh out of school? Besides cutting expenses, he could add a second job for starters.
The debt amount they took on was extremely dumb, but now he’s just being selfish and mean. He should be paying for his indulgence, not his parents.
^^^ Honestly, I don’t feel sorry for them. What were they thinking?
I know a family where the kid didn’t pay and parents were stuck. In the recession mom lost her job and dad’s job was just enough that they didn’t qualify for any help. They survived for 5 years by slowly selling everything that they owned until they were left with only bare bones furniture in their 1 bedroom inexpensive condo and the dad’s 15 year old 250k miles commuting car. kid paid nothing. Mom ended up dying (I think from stress) and dad ended up being taken in by his sister. You can’t make this stuff up. I think the kid should be in jail.
^^^ As immigrants from Russia, they may not have been familiar with the reality of borrowing, interest, etc. Plenty of predatory lenders could have easily fed them a line about how easy it is to pay back that money, how high salaries were in the USA, and that they could always declare bankruptcy. The entire crisis in 2008 was fed by exactly these types of practices.
That being said, taking another $70,000 loan for a masters in a field which does not pay much, while already being deep in debt, is rank stupidity or total lack of any idea of responsibility.
Parents believe in their children. They probably thought that going this route meant the likelihood that their son would make enough money to pay off the loans easily. I don’t know about the “easily” part, but so know a heck of a lot of people who paid off more in loans than this person owes. I know my parents would have signed anything I asked from them. They trusted me.
Med students don’t have to go $360k in debt for med school unless they go to a private or OOS.
Most pre-meds who get into medical school get only one admission. They may not have any choice about choosing medical school based on price and debt.
I think Galperin is the poster boy for the case against blanket student loan forgiveness. I have sympathy for those who have fallen on hard times, or who have taken lower paid jobs such as a doctor on a Native American reservation. This guy could earn more or live more frugally, he just doesn’t want to.
The article & the interview failed to discuss why the debtor’s work hours were cut in half.
Maybe his girlfriend got a raise.
He will likely pay dearly for this foolishness. If his parents took PLUS and don’t live long enough to pay it all off, that would go way upon their death. Maybe only one parent signed. If it’s a co-sign situation, the loan will be on G’s head
Looks like he was dealt a bad hand to begin with, then made it a lot worse with bad decisions.
The bad hand was starting college during the great recession (2008), with parents whose income was enough to be full pay (~$90k at Rutgers) but unable / unwilling to contribute any cash, so any college would have been funded by debt. The bad decision was attending Rutgers apparently as a residential undergraduate on $120k debt, then a master’s program for an additional $70k debt – all aimed at a lower income career direction.
One other hint of the story is that his parents were unable / unwilling to contribute any cash. While the great recession was damaging to many families’ finances, and NJ public financial aid is not good, there is also the possibility that the parents who had $90k or higher income were spendy, and the student in question followed their example.
But note that even the cheapest way to go to college (NJ community college for two years, then commuting to the nearest NJ public university for two years) probably would been hard to afford. Assuming tuition and books of around $7k at the community college and $16k at the public university, then adding around $5k in live-at-home and commuting costs each year, the total cost would have been $66k. Student work is generally assumed to be about $3-5k per year, so $12-20k, leaving $46-54k of debt. But then stories like this of difficult affordability even for students who choose the cheapest college route (probably very common stories, sometime leading to students dropping out due to running out of money) do not get as much attention as “$235k in student debt”.
Should I send him a copy of Dave Ramsey’s “Total Money Makeover”?
Take control, pay your debts, go deliver pizzas.
(We gave this book to our kids. every young member of husbands firm, and a few others. One paid down 17k of debt in one year, one changed jobs for more money and actually did deliver pizza to get ahead. All know the concept of “emergency fund”. )
Unfortunately I don’t think it would matter. The point of the article is to play “poor me” and assume they deserve a free lunch. It’s not an article it’s a propaganda piece.
Or perhaps we should recommend the Saturday Night Live debt plan:
The truly disgusting part is that hanging this debt on the parents seems to be acceptable.
“Should I send him a copy of Dave Ramsey’s “Total Money Makeover”? … Unfortunately I don’t think it would matter.”
Yes, that book is for people who want to pay down their debts. This turd’s goal is to pay $35/month for life. He was actually crying when he stated he wouldn’t be able to inherit his parents house because it would go towards his debt.
Money magazine sent a financial counselor and offered up consultation and planning to get a handle on his finances. He declined.
It’s his choice.
There are a number of people stuck the way he is because parents could not or would not pay EFC. Some parents have it in their heads that college is up to the student and if it means taking loans, then so be it. They don’t get it that co-signing loans hamstrings both parent and student. G probably took the max Direct loans for under grad and parents either co-signed the rest or took PLUS. Then G took grad school loans.
We have no idea exactly what the situation is because these stories don’t always get it right but G’s attitude really stinks, IMO. But, it’s his right and privilege to handle his loans that way. If he wants to minimiz his income so he has less of monthly payment, that’s his business.
As for forgiveness of loans, any such thing, if it happens would not be for alleviation of individuals’ financial woes, but for the good of the economy overall. Yes, some undeserving people would make out. Some always do.
This guy is delusional. He seems to simply want to stick his head in the sand and hope his debt will go away. Meanwhile his retirement age parents are paying $600/month toward his debt.
He says he wants to use his money to save for a down payment on a house. Who does he think is going to give him a mortgage with that kind of debt and such a poor repayment history?!
“I am taking back my power and I will not participate in that system.” Except that he did when it suited him to borrow money. Even when he talks about his parents it’s not about what they’re sacrificing, the things they can’t do with their money because of his debt, it’s about how he won’t be able to inherit their money after they die. He seems to see himself as an idealist giving back to the world when in reality he’s incredibly short-sighted and selfish.
This infuriates me. I wonder what his partner’s parents think about him.
Lol just found his website: “I work with people to identify problems and develop solutions.”
Also, per his LinkedIn, he attended community college for 3 years before Rutgers.
Who knows how much is truth and how much is fiction. The video had a “House Hunters” quality to it, where things are fabricated to tell a story they want to tell. This guy is a journalist. He wrote the Money article and is looking to make a buck. What he’s doing to his parents is crappy but I don’t think this story is worth much discussion and emotional investment. He does not get sympathy from me and his story makes the opposite case he was hoping for re: loan forgiveness, unfortunately.
His federal loans will be forgiven after 20 or 25 years, depending on the repayment plan. At that time, he will have to pay taxes on the amount forgiven in the year it is forgiven. Not a tax bill I would want. Oh, and he is loathsome, but he is the exception and not the rule … the vast majority of borrowers are not trying to scam the system the way he is.