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A lot of people in America were tricked to go into college and take out huge loans that they may never be able to pay back. The common push from the majority o

A lot of people in America were tricked to go into college and take out huge loans that they may never be able to pay back. The common push from the majority of generation x to millennials was to finish college. What they don’t understand is that world has changed and even now a college is more of a business as opposed to a learning center. You have for profit scam college everywhere and useless degree mills. I suggest going to college but only if you really understand the loans your taking out and have a plan to pay them back. I think college is not for everyone and that’s fine.

standardUser 2y ago
It depends on the size and terms of the loans. I still pay about $75/mo at 3.8% for my loans (20 year later). Going away to college was far, far, far more valuable to me (in terms of fun, adventure, etc) than the cost of that monthly bill.
- betaby 2y ago
  Is that a typical rate? Youtube showed me scary cases of 9%.
  - standardUser 2y ago
    No it is not! I was appalled years later to learn that government-backed loans were being given at such high rates. It just seems cruel. The government has no obligation to turn a profit on student debt.
    - _heimdall 2y ago
      If you're in the US, the government isn't really profiting on school debt. The government guarantees the debt, but that is a play to protect the banks rather than to drum up profits. Profits really don't matter to a government that can print any money it needs but doesn't currently have.
    - verdverm 2y ago
      https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/loans/interest-rates https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/loans/interest-r... 6.5 / 8 / 9 according to their own website These are about the same as when I was in school during the great financial crisis I have/had loans from 2.5-6.5
  - _heimdall 2y ago
    Loan rates just depend on the terms you accept (fixed vs variable) and the base rate when you take out the loan. 20 years ago the base rate for any debt was cheaper than it is right now. What anyone has to decide is whether they are willing to take on debt at today's rates. You weigh the pros and cons and decide for yourself. Personally I wouldn't have gone to college if I had to take on debt to do it. That was my choice though, and it was only right for me in my situation.
  - daemonologist 2y ago
    Depends on when you went and whether your loans were federally backed. 9% for recent students is possible but pretty high; federal undergraduate loans in the past 10 years have been ~3-5%. (Private loans can have much higher rates but represent a relatively small fraction of loans and loan balances. [1]) More information: https://educationdata.org/average-student-loan-interest-rate https://educationdata.org/average-student-loan-interest-rate [1] - https://www.enterval.com/#reports https://www.enterval.com/#reports
  - nunez 2y ago
    One of my loans out of college was 13%.
- Aleksdev 2y ago
  Right, like I mentioned. If you understand the loan and your ok with it then go to college. If you don’t know basic finances or how interest compounds then sit home until you figure things out because your playing with fire.
chii 2y ago
> were tricked they aren't "tricked". They saw the last generation's results of going to college, without thinking for themselves and making a better decision.
- darkerside 2y ago
  These are kids, and I'd say in most cases, parents are making the choice to take out excessive loans on their children's backs so they can feel like successful parents without paying the price.
  - Aleksdev 2y ago
    Exactly, this is why you I’m happy the younger generation doesn't listen to us. We listened to generation x and got into a lot of trouble for it. I knew parents who would encourage 100k of debt for their child for an art degree..
- hiddencost 2y ago
  Naw. There were a huge number of scam colleges taking advantage of people who didn't know how to evaluate them. That was a consumer protection issue. Scam colleges are a wholly different thing.
- recursivedoubts 2y ago
  Ah yes, teenagers who have never lived in the real world should be able to predict that their future would turn out to be entirely different than the pattern that their parents & parent's parents followed, and that they were explicitly told to follow, and that said teens are still told to follow by almost all socially important institutions and leaders. Truly, the children are to blame.
  - chii 2y ago
    So the teens are rebellious when convenient to label them as such, and sheeps when convenient otherwise? They are adults choosing their life's course. They are not children. They have responsibility to think for themselves, and to accept the consequences of their choices. college debt is crushing because they chose to have it. They could've gotten into apprenticeships instead, or a community college which costs less. There are opportunities in high school to discover whether studying higher education is for them. The parents also have a role to play here - paying for extracirricular activities to test out or discover their child's talents and interests (which, of course, is only affordable for the wealthier parents - a form of inequality of opportunity, and have nothing to do with blinding going to college at any cost). So no, i do not agree that the "children" are not to blame.
kjkjadksj 2y ago
The real crime was tricking these kids to go to out of state schools for $60k a year that offer the exact same curriculum as their in state school going for $12k a year.
- whimsicalism 2y ago
  not everywhere has a good in state school
  - kjkjadksj 2y ago
    I'm curious what state even has a "bad" one. At least bad enough to the point where its worth being over 100k in the hole for the alternative.
    - whimsicalism 2y ago
      well i grew up in dc and we didn’t have jack
      - black6 2y ago
        DC is not a state.
        azemetre 2y ago
        People still live there and the lack of a public school still affects them. Now I’m kinda curious if DC residents get in-state tuition in Virginia or Maryland or Delaware?
        whimsicalism 2y ago
        We have a program that contributes $10k/yr towards the difference. We don't get in-state for any of the nearby states and $10k/yr generally is not enough to cover the different in modern state schools. When I was in this position, it was basically only economical to go a private school for undergrad.
Aurornis 2y ago
College has a positive ROI in most cases, despite the high price tag. There are exceptions like the people with useless $200K degrees working at coffee shops, but you have to ignore a lot of common sense to get that far. For most people, college really does have a positive ROI.

standardUser 2y ago

It depends on the size and terms of the loans. I still pay about $75/mo at 3.8% for my loans (20 year later). Going away to college was far, far, far more valuable to me (in terms of fun, adventure, etc) than the cost of that monthly bill.

betaby 2y ago
Is that a typical rate? Youtube showed me scary cases of 9%.
- standardUser 2y ago
  No it is not! I was appalled years later to learn that government-backed loans were being given at such high rates. It just seems cruel. The government has no obligation to turn a profit on student debt.
  - _heimdall 2y ago
    If you're in the US, the government isn't really profiting on school debt. The government guarantees the debt, but that is a play to protect the banks rather than to drum up profits. Profits really don't matter to a government that can print any money it needs but doesn't currently have.
  - verdverm 2y ago
    https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/loans/interest-rates https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/loans/interest-r... 6.5 / 8 / 9 according to their own website These are about the same as when I was in school during the great financial crisis I have/had loans from 2.5-6.5
- _heimdall 2y ago
  Loan rates just depend on the terms you accept (fixed vs variable) and the base rate when you take out the loan. 20 years ago the base rate for any debt was cheaper than it is right now. What anyone has to decide is whether they are willing to take on debt at today's rates. You weigh the pros and cons and decide for yourself. Personally I wouldn't have gone to college if I had to take on debt to do it. That was my choice though, and it was only right for me in my situation.
- daemonologist 2y ago
  Depends on when you went and whether your loans were federally backed. 9% for recent students is possible but pretty high; federal undergraduate loans in the past 10 years have been ~3-5%. (Private loans can have much higher rates but represent a relatively small fraction of loans and loan balances. [1]) More information: https://educationdata.org/average-student-loan-interest-rate https://educationdata.org/average-student-loan-interest-rate [1] - https://www.enterval.com/#reports https://www.enterval.com/#reports
- nunez 2y ago
  One of my loans out of college was 13%.
Aleksdev 2y ago
Right, like I mentioned. If you understand the loan and your ok with it then go to college. If you don’t know basic finances or how interest compounds then sit home until you figure things out because your playing with fire.

chii 2y ago

> were tricked they aren't "tricked". They saw the last generation's results of going to college, without thinking for themselves and making a better decision.

darkerside 2y ago
These are kids, and I'd say in most cases, parents are making the choice to take out excessive loans on their children's backs so they can feel like successful parents without paying the price.
- Aleksdev 2y ago
  Exactly, this is why you I’m happy the younger generation doesn't listen to us. We listened to generation x and got into a lot of trouble for it. I knew parents who would encourage 100k of debt for their child for an art degree..
hiddencost 2y ago
Naw. There were a huge number of scam colleges taking advantage of people who didn't know how to evaluate them. That was a consumer protection issue. Scam colleges are a wholly different thing.
recursivedoubts 2y ago
Ah yes, teenagers who have never lived in the real world should be able to predict that their future would turn out to be entirely different than the pattern that their parents & parent's parents followed, and that they were explicitly told to follow, and that said teens are still told to follow by almost all socially important institutions and leaders. Truly, the children are to blame.
- chii 2y ago
  So the teens are rebellious when convenient to label them as such, and sheeps when convenient otherwise? They are adults choosing their life's course. They are not children. They have responsibility to think for themselves, and to accept the consequences of their choices. college debt is crushing because they chose to have it. They could've gotten into apprenticeships instead, or a community college which costs less. There are opportunities in high school to discover whether studying higher education is for them. The parents also have a role to play here - paying for extracirricular activities to test out or discover their child's talents and interests (which, of course, is only affordable for the wealthier parents - a form of inequality of opportunity, and have nothing to do with blinding going to college at any cost). So no, i do not agree that the "children" are not to blame.

kjkjadksj 2y ago

The real crime was tricking these kids to go to out of state schools for $60k a year that offer the exact same curriculum as their in state school going for $12k a year.

whimsicalism 2y ago
not everywhere has a good in state school
- kjkjadksj 2y ago
  I'm curious what state even has a "bad" one. At least bad enough to the point where its worth being over 100k in the hole for the alternative.
  - whimsicalism 2y ago
    well i grew up in dc and we didn’t have jack
    - black6 2y ago
      DC is not a state.
      - azemetre 2y ago
        People still live there and the lack of a public school still affects them. Now I’m kinda curious if DC residents get in-state tuition in Virginia or Maryland or Delaware?
        whimsicalism 2y ago
        We have a program that contributes $10k/yr towards the difference. We don't get in-state for any of the nearby states and $10k/yr generally is not enough to cover the different in modern state schools. When I was in this position, it was basically only economical to go a private school for undergrad.

Aurornis 2y ago

College has a positive ROI in most cases, despite the high price tag. There are exceptions like the people with useless $200K degrees working at coffee shops, but you have to ignore a lot of common sense to get that far. For most people, college really does have a positive ROI.