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Student loan debt taking a mental toll on young people
- Thread starter entremet
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Green Yoshi
Member
Don't get me wrong but isn't it socially accepted to have debts in the USA? So when you buy an expensive car or a house you will have debts again.
As long as you have an unlimited working contract and a decent salary it will work out in the long run.
The problem in the USA is that you don't get a student credit by the government. So if you have poor parents you need a stipend or you are out of luck.
As long as you have an unlimited working contract and a decent salary it will work out in the long run.
The problem in the USA is that you don't get a student credit by the government. So if you have poor parents you need a stipend or you are out of luck.
If I could do it all over again I would learn a trade and start my own business.
But I got off easy. 30K undergrad and a career that has nothing to do with my major. I only went to college because its a requirement. I always tell young people to keep college costs low even if that means staying in state or just getting an associates.
But I got off easy. 30K undergrad and a career that has nothing to do with my major. I only went to college because its a requirement. I always tell young people to keep college costs low even if that means staying in state or just getting an associates.
My student loan debt is >£50,000, and accumulating interest. Fortunately the UK repayment system is pretty lenient; I only pay 9% of anything I earn over £25,000 (and I earn considerably less than that right now so I'm paying nothing) and it gets wiped after 30 years.
What stresses me out more is the graduate job market. Finding something I actually want to do is insanely difficult.
What stresses me out more is the graduate job market. Finding something I actually want to do is insanely difficult.
entremet
Member
How did that happen? I thought the UK was more progressive about this.
Part of the issue is that going to university has become something that close to 50% of young people do; very difficult to keep tuition free when we've got unprecedented numbers of students who achieved middling grades in their A-levels going on to study business management, events planning and so on at degree level.
Part of the issue is that the Tories raised the tuition fee cap to £9,000, and inevitably every single university immediately raised their fees for every single course to the maximum possible price.
As I mentioned above, though, the repayment system is fairly generous and unless you're making six figures, it makes more sense to invest/save any surplus money rather than attempt to pay off any loans early.
it is
you can't be made bankrupt with student debt in the UK
you are only required to pay it back if you earn more than ~£20k a year
what did happen is that tuition fees were increased from £3k a year to £9k a year so it means the student loan you have to pay off is larger. but its not a debt worth worrying about as you are only required to pay it back if you earn enough money and the debt is written off if its unpaid after 30 years.
I dont see a problem with that?
As someone that got into uni on middling A-level grades ( B , 2 C's and a D ) Uni enabled me to better myself and leave with a 1st get into a full time job right after graduating and kickstart my career as a games programmer. if i didn't get into uni I can tell you now that I dont know what job i would have gone into and i most certantly would not be doing as well as I am now and contributing as much to society. Lots of people being able to access uni is a good thing. Especially as the majority of well paying jobs require you have a degree to even get a look in!
Wafflecakes
Member
..so you are advising people to waste two years of their life on a useless degree.
Unless you are going into a trade or specific program, 2 year degrees are a massive waste of time.
Alright sorry, that was wrong of me to say. I guess regardless of grades or university, as long as you put the effort in and make the most if it then you're doing right. I suppose I just met far too many people who saw university as an opportunity to kick back for 3 years and party.
oh totally I've seen that too, but then they get a shit grade and tank their future opportunities. the problem then becomes their unpaid debt.
Effectively youre paying more income tax and earning more than average - the sort of thing that kept university tuition free
Although the way student debt in the UK is set up, its effectively an additional income tax level
I don't have any debts thankfully, but my fiance got like 8-9k left to pay, and since she's near minimum salary and have a lot of other shit to pay monthly(like her car), she can only pay 70-80$ monthly for her debt... so at this rate, it will take her another 10 years.
I feel bad asking her to pay for some stuff like the internet or electricity bills considering this(she could easily pay another 100$ monthly on that debt without them) and the fact that my salary is more than double her own, but I'm already paying the whole apartment by myself and we both feel like she has to contribute a bit to the household.
But...if she could pay another 100$, that would reduce the years left to pay from 10 years to 4½.
I feel bad asking her to pay for some stuff like the internet or electricity bills considering this(she could easily pay another 100$ monthly on that debt without them) and the fact that my salary is more than double her own, but I'm already paying the whole apartment by myself and we both feel like she has to contribute a bit to the household.
But...if she could pay another 100$, that would reduce the years left to pay from 10 years to 4½.
Yeah. I wish they would just formalise it. As it stands the very well off just pay off their loans super quick and stop paying in more while the people that are doing OK or above average will always pay into the system until our loans are written off. a lower % rate but applied to everyone for the entirety of their working life would probably cover peoples written off loans better than the current system does.
Sitting with about $25,000 left 3 years after graduating (had to pay off a car before focusing on school loans), started with about $32,000 in school loans when I finished.
The loans themselves are pretty manageable and I'm not hurting for money. I'm pretty comfortable where I am, but they do take a big toll on me reminding me that I can't take any risks by quitting my job to pursue any goals or dreams in a career I'd rather be in than the one I'm in now. I'm kind of stuck doing what I've been doing until they're gone. I'm patiently anticipating the day I can take more risks and save more money than I am now.
The loans themselves are pretty manageable and I'm not hurting for money. I'm pretty comfortable where I am, but they do take a big toll on me reminding me that I can't take any risks by quitting my job to pursue any goals or dreams in a career I'd rather be in than the one I'm in now. I'm kind of stuck doing what I've been doing until they're gone. I'm patiently anticipating the day I can take more risks and save more money than I am now.
OG Shaka Zulu
Member
My parents pretty much pressured me to go to law school. Nearly $150k in debt and those bums barely help me out financially. I still love them though.
Pagusas
Elden Member
How did they pressure you if they werent helping you with the cost? Did they threaten to disown you or something? What did you want to do instead of go to law school?
DriftingSpirit
Member
I'm at ~15K and I finish undergrad this December. This would have been quite a bit lower if I didn't do summer school for two semesters. I also declined a good chunk of offered loan money and got a lot of help from grants. I can't fathom those upper debt amounts some undergrads have.
LegalEagleMike
Member
wife and I have over 100k between us. Really isnt much of a burden since we both have decent jobs from our degrees and put the loans on a income based plan at first. Did not stop us from getting a mortgage or car loans. IF the government decides to wipe it anyway I wont complain.
The vast majority of lawyers do not make that kind of money. Too many people graduating from law school and not enough jobs.
Petition your Congresspeople. I graduated right before shit got crazy. I obtained a bachelors that I was able to pay off within four years - and without crushing interest or steep monthly payments. There is no reason a college education should be so ridiculously expensive. It is holding us back as a society.
I write my senator about this every year. It's a pet cause of mine. My nephew works for Microsoft making over $150k a year and has to live with roommates in a depressing apartment because his student loans are crushing. He should be living life up at his age with that income.
Edit: also the market seems to drive people towards STEM (I have a CS degree because I saw the writing on the wall - I wanted to be a history major until I discovered my fav prov only earned like $40k a year). And now STEM is over saturated.
I write my senator about this every year. It's a pet cause of mine. My nephew works for Microsoft making over $150k a year and has to live with roommates in a depressing apartment because his student loans are crushing. He should be living life up at his age with that income.
Edit: also the market seems to drive people towards STEM (I have a CS degree because I saw the writing on the wall - I wanted to be a history major until I discovered my fav prov only earned like $40k a year). And now STEM is over saturated.
OG Shaka Zulu
Member
After undergrad I moved back home and was working full-time almost immediately. They both considered this a failure and wanted me to be a doctor or lawyer. I was open to law but that was near the bottom of my list of career paths. I was entertaining
teaching, writing for a rap magazine, psychology, law enforcement, or real estate. I really wanted to teach and they shat on that and discouraged me. They constantly harassed me, barging into my room giving deadlines for a decision, always giving me grief for hanging out even though I was responsible and had a job. It got to the point where I said fuck it and just wanted to get out of the house. Signed up for the LSAT and applied to a school. What a terrible decision mentally and financially. All this drama just because those two are insecure and wanted to say "My son is an attorney!".
I work part-time currently and was an at home parent for two years. They are reluctant to help, even though they have money, because they consider me capable enough to make a lot of money. I would basically have to be a soulless workaholic that wouldn't even have the time to enjoy the money or my family. I'd rather make far less and spend time with my children. Meanwhile my sister never works and they bankroll her whole lifestyle because "she's a princess". Aargh.
I never got any that I applied for externally. The internal scholarships were automatically awarded to you, and I almost never got any. Usually if I did, they were small, like $1k per semester. I had shitty grades my first semester, which ruined me (it was engineering, I survived at least, most people fail or transfer first semester...), but I improved every semester since and graduated with honors. Still never got anything that helped me.
Fluffernutter Pancake
Member
Wife's student loans were about $230K (undergrad & med school), my undergrad were about $50K.
We're down to about $60K left after 10 years of non-stop payments........
We're down to about $60K left after 10 years of non-stop payments........
OG Shaka Zulu
Member
Not at all. There are way more lawyers than there are jobs and wages have gotten worse due to firms' ability to discard and replace people. My highest paying attorney job so far has been $50k, full time. I am not going to be that 80 hour a week dude just so I could say I'm rich.
At this point in time law is huge debt, average wages.
Went to a 2 year technical school and left with I think 48k? I'm pretty close to paying it off 10 years later.
I was lucky to find a decent job and was able to maintain payments this entire time but I know some people who went to the same school and other that I know who went to other schools that are absolutely fucked.
I was lucky to find a decent job and was able to maintain payments this entire time but I know some people who went to the same school and other that I know who went to other schools that are absolutely fucked.
LegalEagleMike
Member
Fortunately I was able to pull some money together after a bit and go solo. Sucked at first but now im making way more with some actual life balance as opposed to killing myself 80 hours a week for some older attorneys.
Dash_Riprock
Member
In the same boat as a lot of you. But I love what I do so to me it'll be worth it.
No, but its okay. Thats clearly our own fault for being lazy Avocado-toast-eating Millennials.
No, but its okay. Thats clearly our own fault for being lazy Avocado-toast-eating Millennials.
Lightning Lord
Banned
I went to ITT Tech and received my Associates. Never went back due to how bad they screwed me over on student loans but I also knew unless I was willing to start over I would have to go back to them for my Bachelors. Now ITT Tech is finished and all I have to show for it is a useless degree.
I've been considering going back to school but the thought of dealing with even more student loans makes me hesitant.
Its your money, so at the end of the day its your decision. However, this is a bit strange to me. Since she is paying interest on those loans, this is going to cost her quite a bit of extra money. There is no extra interest on the apartment. You are allowing her to screw herself over out of pride.
I think you need to protect her from herself and let her put the extra $100 on the loans. and throw any tax returns in the coming years on that student loan payment as well.
Clearly you love her since you are going to marry her, so ideally you have the rest of your lives for her to contribute to the household.
Think big picture and reconsider if possible.
Goro Majima
Kitty Genovese Member
I dont think doctors in family practice make anywhere near that though. I think 400k+ is skilled surgeon money? Even then supposedly malpractice insurance costs a bunch and then theyre fighting against high interest rates on that huge amount of debt.
I also make about my outstanding loan amount ($53k) per year and it still seems like a shitload. Ill have it paid off in like 5-6 years if I can throw $1000 per month at it but damn thats a bunch of money.
If nothing else, I wish the government would help out with interest rates since my average interest rate is about 5.8% across my entire loan portfolio. That seems kinda high considering they were all financed through the federal government.