The higher educational system is broken and exploiting the young. For profit lending institutions and profit number driven university system is setting young eager students up for a life of poverty.
To make it parents cosigned the loan. The whole family got sucked into the system. The cost for the degree does not match the potential income. The lender has know risk. The government covers the lost. The tax payer gets the bill.
Kellen thinking of his exciting future.
Kellen Kleinfelter, "I can't even off myself, because then the debt goes to my family."
here is Kellen story from cnn:
Name: Kellen Kleinfelter
School: Berklee College of Music - 2007
Student loan balance: $173,000
Kleinfelter plays the electric bass guitar, getting a professional music degree from one of the premier colleges for contemporary music study, and racking up $183,000 in student loans.
After graduation, he owed monthly payments of $1,400 to the lender Sallie Mae. But Kleinfelter couldn't make a single payment, because he didn't earn enough at the music warehouses where he worked moving boxes at $7 an hour.
The lender hounded him. "They'd call three or four times a day. They were very tough. I'd try to diffuse the situation with humor. I offered them a kidney. I asked if there was a mop I could come push at Sallie Mae. But mostly I'd say, I don't make $1,400 to give you."
Eventually, he got a job doing information technology support engineer for a tech company. He now pays about $700 a month after Sallie Mae worked out a new monthly payment based on his income.
"I pay more in student loans right now than I do in rent," he says. His parents co-signed his loans, which is another burden he feels. "It's the most depressing thing. I can't even off myself, because then the debt goes to my family."
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some of the comments from cnn:
300k to learn how to shoot pictures??? Using what?? Hubble? This is a joke right
Photography is becoming a thing of the past. Some news papers are shutting down their photography departments. End result, she spent 300k to work at McDonald
"Upon graduation, she discovered she'd never make enough money from photography to pay her loans"
UPON GRADUATION?? she only learned this then? Wouldn't it have been prudent for her to research salaries BEFORE she borrowed the money for school??
Here we go again with the "everyone's a victim" mentality. There's no such thing as personal responsibility. She's a bonehead, didn't research actual salaries and job possibilities, but somehow it's the system's fault. What a joke.
Ha. I went into the Navy as a photographer. Got my education for free, got free food and housing, got paid on top of it, and I got to see the world on the government's dime.
You make it sound like you were on welfare
"As a college student, Robinson said she had no idea about the consequences of borrowing so much."
Really? As a college student you don't know the consequences of borrowing? Seriously?
Spent 300k on photography???? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I was prepared to read that Brooks Institute was some sort of esteemed medical school, I choked on my bagel.
Every article about student loans should be renamed,Examples of Idiot People who have no clue how to plan their lives, education, money and future.
If you want to go to college and don't have the money go to college part time, get a job and take as long as it takes to finished. Paying for your own will also teach you how to be responsible and learn the value of hard work and money. Not everyone can afford the most expensive school. Start with a community college if you have to. In the end you will be thankful you don't owe any money to anyone. Better to start your life at $0 than minus $1
The chain needs to be broken where parents and students go in to deep debt to pay for colleges they can't afford hoping they will get a high paid job that will easily pay for all those loans. If you do the math, the stress and the money left at then end of the day does not justify many of these ridiculous student loans.
I know a couple who are both going to school using loans. However, they use their loan money to finance vacations. I don't feel sorry for these 'students'
Long after I graduated, I unintentionally booked a Caribbean cruise once during Spring Break, or the first week after school let out for the summer. It was packed with 99% college kids (I spent the whole time at the pool J). I couldn’t believe how many there were. Believe me, there was more student loan money being spent there than daddy’s money. They were obviously thoroughly enjoying themselves – good for them – they’re young. They can say “college was the best time of my life”. But eventually they have to PAY for the best time of their lives. I went the “starving college kid route” – lot’s of us did. These guys obviously were not. I bet they’re now some of these posters complaining about how much they owe in student loans. Just remember, “It was the best time of your life”……….and after graduation, it’s time to pay it all back. Or….. go to school for the education (forego the cruises, eating out, partying, cars, computers, iphones, etc, etc) and graduate loan free. It’s your choice – “choose wisely my friends”………’cause your actions today will haunt you tomorrow.
Most students are not taking out loans for vacations.... believe me.
I bet there are more than you think. They're also using the money to buy cars, computers, TV's, pizza, beer, etc.
When I was in college what I qualified for in student loans exceeded the cost of tuition. The difference was mine to do with as I wished (such as paying rent). Instead of drawing on the difference I gave it back to the bank and worked a part time job to support myself. Because of this frugality I was able to pay my student loans off within three years. It also didn't hurt that I attended a state college. Oh, and I earn a very comfortable living.
I graduated in one of the worst hiring years of the recession and was only half way through school (profession change) when my wife lost her job in the banking industry. We had to live off my student loans for a year and a half. My balance is now huge and I haven't had a vacation since 2005.
I'm not complaining, I can pay it off as I make decent money, but not everyone with a huge balance spent it unwisely or had a crap degree or went to a private university. Some of us were just victims of the times.
I didn't say everyone. I said "...more than you think..."
You know, it would not hurt at all if you had a comfortable living back in college too. I did not work part time job to support myself in a college. I used my loans for living (and vacations). Now I earn, as you said, a very comfortable living and paying my student loans without even noticing it. So what is the problem with this?
There is no problem with it as long as you don't complain about how much student loan debt you have.
That is right. And you know what - most people do not complain. They did it having complete understanding of what they were doing.
Perhaps. So why do we see so many articles on CNN about these people and how they are "victims"?
Do you consider CNN a reliable source of information?
You didn't answer the question.
My loans exceeded the cost of school by $200. It went to pay rent, not a vacation.
I did. So what is the problem? I was able to pay for college myself, but I took loans too, because of low interest rate. I pay 750 per month now and going to do this for 20 years. I do not even notice this payment among other bills. I just love low interest rates and subsidized loans... Thank you American Taxpayer!
Go to a local state school, work and pay as you go. I picked up pecans and sold them for 40 cents a pound, collected aluminum cans, was a nanny, petsitter, raised much of our food to cut costs even more. NO school loans. My husband went to work at a company that offered tuition reimbursement. Guess what? Still NO school loans. My son works as a housekeeper/handyman, still in high school, saving his money for college. And yes, EVERYONE can do this. No excuses.
"I really had no idea of the true cost of college. I just signed what I needed to sign and had no idea how much in loans I was taking out," ....."I just got caught up in the whirlwind of borrowing and borrowing and borrowing just so I could graduate," - How did these two manage to graduate from high school, much less college? How can you not be aware of the cost of the goods and services you are purchasing. This is an indictment of the grade/high school system that prepared these two, the parents that "didn't" raise them, and most of all their entitlement mentality.
"is an indictment of the grade/high school system that prepared these two..."
I have to disagree. It's a product of today's society where people are told to pursue their dreams no matter what the cost. That they deserve whatever they want.
I don't subscribe to the "it's society's fault" or any other excuse you might use. People need to be held accountable for their own decisions.
No single bank offered a $300K loan for a college degree! These people are to blame for their own decision to defraud the loan industry by claiming that they could repay those loans and hiding their total debt in getting more loans.
There are many politicians now claiming that the government [ eg. taxpayers] should forgive these loans. But, look at the last example of one who didn't take out loans and missed his opportunity to go to an Ivy League university. Those politicians are essentially saying he should be forced to work harder to pay more taxes to forgive the debts of the stupid.
This headline is mislabeled and should read "Student Loan Stupid Stories".
"People need to be held accountable for their own decisions."
I agree. I believe you misunderstand my position. I'm right there with you. However society has taught people to avoid personal accountability.
Overdraw your bank account? It's the banks fault. Take out too much for a mortgage? It's the banks fault. Can't pay your credit card payment? It's the banks fault. Don't earn enough? It's the corporations fault.
We agree.
It's the politicians and other manipulators who push these great ideas on the ignorant, while planning on how to exploit the situation for their own profit. It's even university professors pushing these ideas in classes, saying people deserve to aspire to their dreams. They're essentially pushing students to sign up for their classes (with debt) while demanding higher salaries from the university to pay for their own liftstyle.
But, ultimately, stupid people will be taken advantage of by the schemers. (And that includes the current crop of politicians using them for their votes.)
Correct. We have a system that tells kids they don't want to be truck drivers or heavy equipment operators and a Bachelors degree in ANYTHING at ANY cost is okay. It is not.
We don't explain to kids what they are borrowing and how long it will take to pay it off. We tell kids to "borrow it now" and don't worry we will give you decades to pay it off. We don't tell kids the degree they are borrowing $50,000 to get a degree in pays a starting salary of $32,000.
Meanwhile there are many companies right now needing heavy equipment operators and have starting salaries in the $60k range.
I have no problem with degrees and have three myself but I DON'T like the way society pushes kids into borrowing tens of thousands of dollars with no idea what their degree will give them or any plan to pay it back.
"e don't tell kids the degree they are borrowing $50,000 to get a degree in pays a starting salary of $32,000."
We shouldn't have to. This should be common sense.
Those "kids" have parents. It was their parents job to explain everything about borrowing and consequences of borrowing. If you, as a parent, did your job properly, your kid should not have any problems with society.
I did my job properly... and moreover I paid for my daughter's education.
"It's the politicians and other manipulators who push these great ideas on the ignorant..."
What's really sad is the fact we're discussing college students. These are supposed to be educated people.
These student loan failures are an example of the failure of the university system and their failed theories of education. If people are so easily exploited, then educators at all levels have either failed to do their job properly, or they're complicit in the exploitation of the masses.
As far as defining people as "educated", I think that word needs to be reworked to "those who accumulate useful knowledge to improve their situation." (And that doesn't require paying a college professor to recite his opinions.)
It's a combination of the two. The public education system (and I daresay private ones as well) doesn't instill the importance of understanding how to manage your money. This is a lesson that should begin at 1st Grade.
And our society is all caught up on the delusion of "get the good education and you CAN'T fail then!" College is promoted as a mandatory and important step towards success. Yet REALITY teaches us that anyone who has the drive to do what they want to do will find success with or without the higher education.
Schools shouldn't have to teach kids about money - parents should that. My father started giving me a monthly allowance when I entered 1st grade, and told me that one of the things I was required to pay out of it was for any school supplies I needed. I, of course, did what any self-respecting seven-year old would do and immediately went out and spent every cent I had on candy/little toys. My father let me because, as he said, it was my money. Within a week I remember coming home and needing an eraser (that cost a quarter) for school - but I didn't have the money. My father refused to give it to me. I can still remember having to tell the teacher that I didn't have what I needed because I had spent all my allowance. It was humiliating and I remember crying in school, thinking my father was cruel for not just giving me the quarter. But I never forgot the feeling, and I never allowed that to happen again. From that point forward I always had money saved. Fast forward thirty years and I am completely debt free. Best lesson ever.
If your success is dependent on someone else's opinion of your abilities or a corporation's HR department, you are often times dismissed from first impressions without a degree.
Perhaps it shouldn't be that way, but the mentality that drives us to get college degrees is the same one that perpetuates those with college degrees to ascribe value above and beyond what that degree attributes to a given job.
If they are your boss, good luck moving up without a degree.
My 16-year old knows better than this because we (her parents) have taught her. She has an older brother who commutes to a local college, gets merit-based scholarships, and has a tuition bill that ends up being about $1,000 a semester after scholarships (which he does not pay with loans).
Our entitlement society must end, and everyone who is smart enough to attend college is smart enough to figure out how to do it without burdening the rest of their lives!
Here are some smart 1%ers. Hope you learned from your mistake.
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Good for Joshua! At least one of the students profiled in this article seems to be solidly grounded in reality.
I have zero sympathy for people like these first two.. 300k to learn how to take photo's? Did not realize that x y z etc..
Hundreds of thousands of dollars racked up in debt for an education, and not one of these people were required to take an econ 101 class?
When I was in eighth grade (back in the early '80s), I was in a business class. We never discussed college but at one point, I recognized the stupidity of my fellow students where money was concerned when we were asked, "When you get a job, what do you think your average yearly income will be?" I was the only one with a reasonable answer: $40,000. Everyone else was saying $500,000 or a million dollars, because of course they were going to all be rich, but I stared the teacher straight in the face and repeated, calmly and firmly, "Forty thousand dollars."
That was a mere five years from graduation and adulthood. I often wonder how many of those kids continued to live with the delusion that they would be independently wealthy, or that money didn't matter. At least now, thanks to this article, I don't have to wonder what path their lives followed--clearly, it was one of immense student loan debt.
My freshman high school class had 8 potential doctors, 4 or so lawyers, and countless professional athletes in a class of 50 people at one of the worst performing high schools in rural Indiana.
One of them did end up with a PhD in Chemistry and teaches at Georgia Tech. The rest got pregnant or hooked on meth or realized college was a lot more demanded than podunk high school that didn't even offer Calculus. Only about 4 of us ever moved away from the area as far as I know.
Anyone who took out hundreds of thousands in student loans obviously wasn`t LEARNING anything in college.
You mean when I BORROWED all that money and lived on that money for free while in college the bank was playing for "keepsies?" That doesn't seem fair.. It wasn't my fault, I didn't have an "app" to tell me not to borrow that much... Mom? Dad? Someone?
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