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Student loan debt taking a mental toll on young people

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Damaniel

Banned
I paid off my Bachelor's student loans back in 2010 (only about $13k, but I graduated nearly 20 years ago from a public school, when tuition was only around $4k/yr), but then went to grad school a couple years later and racked up nearly $40k more (which is down to around $30k). I'm in a position where I already have a well-paying job and I own a home with a modest mortgage, so the monthly payments (~$400/mo) aren't particularly bad.

My wife graduated earlier this year with around $25k in debt. She's planning to use the vast majority of her post-tax income (which we don't really need at the moment) to clear it out in a year or so.

For people who are just out of school and have large amount of debt - that fucking sucks. Too many jobs require far more education than necessary, and a generation is paying the price (literally!)
 
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Fou-Lu

Member
I really, really hope I will be able to pay mine off quickly once I find a job. I am terrified of the prospect of having to find that first job out of grad school though. I'm 45k in debt.
 
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VistraNorrez

Member
Next month my loans will be paid off. Only took a decade. It's a pretty good feeling and mine were not crushing. I can't imagine how 50K+ makes a recent graduate feel.
 
M

Meffer

Member
Damaniel said:
I paid off my Bachelor's student loans back in 2010 (only about $13k, but I graduated nearly 20 years ago from a public school, when tuition was only around $4k/yr), but then went to grad school a couple years later and racked up nearly $40k more (which is down to around $30k). I'm in a position where I already have a well-paying job and I own a home with a modest mortgage, so the monthly payments (~$400/mo) aren't particularly bad.

My wife graduated earlier this year with around $25k in debt. She's planning to use the vast majority of her post-tax income (which we don't really need at the moment) to clear it out in a year or so.

For people who are just out of school and have large amount of debt - that fucking sucks. Too many jobs require far more education than necessary, and a generation is paying the price (literally!)
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That and it's simply too expensive.
 
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Morts

Member
I had around 30k and was lucky enough to be able to pay it off after 5 or 6 years.

My fiance still has a lot though...
 
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Arc

Member
About 40K left myself - in year 3 of repayment. $600 a month until I'm 33 (assuming I'm not forced to refinance),

So yeah, I live with stress.
 
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DiamondDog74

Banned
I'll probably not be able to afford a home and will be paying loans for a bachelor's I never finished for about 5 years. Certifications all the way fuckers.
 
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Thoraxes

Member
I'm lucky I only had to take private loans for two years, and not too much compared to the rest.

Also this was before the bubble burst and the interest rates skyrocketed. I see rates around triple what mine is for people I know looking into school on private loans these days.
 
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bluethree

Member
My student loans werent bad in and of itself, but combine them with some other financial screwups like CC debt...yeah. Last year especially was pretty rough getting out of it. Glad I only have a few thousand left to go.
 
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DominusLeges

Member
Aeana said:
Okay, now imagine that you have a private loan ineligible for income based repayment adjustment and the payment is only $100 less than you make per month.
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This is basically my situation except it's half of my monthly income. Basically leaves me with a bit over $1000 a month to live off of. And no lenders will give me a consolidation loan to reduce my interest and monthly payments despite my having excellent credit and never once missing a payment. Why? Because my amount owed is too high compared to my yearly income. Shit is so fucked up. It would literally save me tghousabds of dollars a year and half my interest rates.
 
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Zeke

Member
How the fuck are some of you 15k in debt from an associates? Are you getting it from a four year university? That Shit boggles my mind I'm three classes away from my associates with no debt I'm still at a CC tho.
 
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br3wnor

Member
TrojanAg said:
Paying off my Grad school debt is not a possibility. I don't even want to say how much it is, but I plan on riding out the next 15-20 years left paying the least possible until the rest is forgiven. I still have pretty good credit even though I owe that much in student loans. If it made more of an impact on my credit score then I would probably be more stressed out about it.
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Yeah I’m in similar boat. Did community College then state university but Law School killed me. Thankfully was able to buy my house with crazy/stressful workaround in terms of my DTI ratio but I was extremely lucky and have no plans on buying a house again now that we’re over the hurdle. Thanks to income based repayment it’s manageable but the overall balance is increasing, I have state job so banking on the PSLF but absolute worst case scenario if I feel like all that’s gonna go to hell im just gonna either refinance them for 30 years or do the income based and deal with the giant tax bill at the end when I’m 50.

*Should say I thankfully only have government loans so that is a huge benefit. Private loans I’d be totally fucked.
 
A

Angelus Errare

Banned
Just_myles said:
Only young people?

Fixing wage stagnation would resolve this.
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Gotta keep it suppressEd, that way the companies bring in more profit that will trickle down and bless everyone! Besides if we "fix" wage "stagnation" then cost of goods will go up and we won't be able to afford stuff!! That and it means serfs at low skill jobs will get paid more and that's not fair to the rest of us who went to college! We're not underpaid, you just don't bring "value" to your company so you're not worth anything!

Capitalism is so pure, so honest, it should be a religion!
 
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F34R

Member
My wife will have her RN/BSN/MSN (nurse) finished off sometime next year and we'll have about 55K in student debt. We've been paying her RN loans for 9 years and it barely seems to have put a dent in it.
 
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sir_kevith

Member
Anyone else just laugh when the alumni association of your University calls soliciting donations?

Yeah I'm gonna give you money when I'm paying $500/month lol. Get a life!
 
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Beach

Member
Best decision I've made in my life was staying home a year after college and paying off my debt (and payed off my car). I understand a lot of people don't have this option but it really helped me out.
 
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soldierblue

Member
I’ve known a couple older people that went back to school and end up with what I would consider crushing debt and what I’m assuming is the prospect of never being able to retire.

I legit think that most in the older generation are totally oblivious to reality in the 2000s.
 
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KorrZ

Member
I feel like this is the secret real killing of the middle class in America.

So many of today's younger generation is straddled with this crippling debt. Does the U.S. government not provide any sort of support for the debt?

In Ontario, when I took out my student loan - I only had a modest debt to begin with (~$25k) but even then when it came time to pay, after government grants the actual amount I had to pay back was about $11k.
 
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soldierblue

Member
And if you wanna talk fucked up, the literal only reason I was able to pay mine off is because of the inheritance I got when my dad died. Otherwise who knows how jacked my finances would be right now.
 
mhayes86

mhayes86

Member
I graduated at $35k, but had to place them in forbearance for a year, which bumped it up to $40k. It sucks, but I can afford it. It makes me nauseous at the amount of student debt that some people I know have.

I would have liked to live at home for a while after starting a job after college, but I took one that offered the most, which also required relocating.
 
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KorrZ

Member
darscot said:
If this much debt is crippling how do people buy cars and houses?
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College/University is sold as something that you MUST do to be successful, so it's instilled in you that you should take on 10's of thousands of $ worth of debt before you're even generating any income.

Cars/Houses are something that of course most people want, but also something that people will more easily forego when they can't afford.
 
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Mesousa

Banned
Gonna have ~50k when I finish my 2nd degree. Not really worried since I have worked full-time for the past 2 years and have an offer.

Still, won't ever be able to afford having kids in good conscious.
 
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darscot

Member
KorrZ said:
College/University is sold as something that you MUST do to be successful, so it's instilled in you that you should take on 10's of thousands of $ worth of debt before you're even generating any income.

Cars/Houses are something that of course most people want, but also something that people will more easily forego when they can't afford.
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You're a Canuck like me and with our mortgage rates and first time buyer incentives I felt a lot more pressure to get into the market. I guess it depends on what you take but school felt way more like a sure thing. Get an education equals earn more money. Buying a house was way more scary, borrow 500K and the bank has your ass for life. Student loans are gravy in hindsight. Seriously student loans are like the training wheels of life.
 
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Kenai

Member
I still have a lot of debt but thankfully most of it is Federal (sans ~8k) so outside of the big tax knock in 15 ish years I'll be all right. The one smart thing I did was not take out private loans.
 
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KevinRo

Member
About time students used their brains. Should've thought about the realities of the situation before they clicked those buttons and took on the debt.
 
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ascii42

Member
KorrZ said:
I feel like this is the secret real killing of the middle class in America.

So many of today's younger generation is straddled with this crippling debt. Does the U.S. government not provide any sort of support for the debt?

In Ontario, when I took out my student loan - I only had a modest debt to begin with (~$25k) but even then when it came time to pay, after government grants the actual amount I had to pay back was about $11k.
Click to expand...
A few states, mostly in The South, offer lottery funded merit-based scholarships for any students that meet the requirements. I have mixed feelings on it being lottery funded, but I can’t complain about being able to have attended the University of Florida for free.
 
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Uncle_Classy

Member
I had around 28K in principle when I graduated. Didn't pay any interest during school and I didn't manage to find a job till a little over six months after graduation, so that interest was added on and made principle around 33k. In all, I pay $340/month. It's totally manageable right now while I'm still living with my parents, and I shouldn't have any issues should I need to move out, but just saving that $340 a month would go a looooong way to making a down payment on a house or driving a car that isn't ten years old.
 
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Aztechnology

Member
I'll be at about 45k in loans, and that's if I don't pursue grad school later. I had a small scholarship. It's fucking stupid.

If I wasn't living with my parents I would have had to drop out of school a long time ago.
 
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TrojanAg

Member
KevinRo said:
About time students used their brains. Should've thought about the realities of the situation before they clicked those buttons and took on the debt.
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The reality of the situation is that you have 17/18 year olds with basically no knowledge of finances taking in large amounts of debt without people bothering to educate them about these things beforehand. I think that's a bit too young for people to find out the hard way later. They need to be educated properly about what they're getting into, from parents, schools and the lenders themselves. There's a lot of blame to go around, but just to blame the students is wrong.
 
S

SaviorX

Member
TrojanAg said:
The reality of the situation is that you have 17/18 year olds with basically no knowledge of finances taking in large amounts of debt without people bothering to educate them about these things beforehand. I think that's a bit too young for people to find out the hard way later. They need to be educated properly about what they're getting into, from parents, schools and the lenders themselves.
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Id imagine that many were promised ( like I was) that upon graduation that plenty of decent paying jobs would be available that make the debt a moot point.

When you arrive at your school of choice, unless you get a full ride, you cannot step foot into a dorm room or register for a class until your tuition is agreed upon as being paid... somehow, a la the loans.

But they forgot to mention your interest capitalization and the addition of several thousand more dollars to your loan once you do indeed graduate. Then you have to find a job that isn't a pittance after taxes.
 
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Glendemonium

Member
Servbot24 said:
I just got it down to below 10k this week. Getting close. Graduated 6 years ago. Worst mistake I've made in my life was going to college (art student).
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You're lucky, art schools these days charge way more. Also it's one of those majors that's very tough to break into if at all, and I've never seen art jobs advertised in our capital city so I'm under the impression you need to live in CA or NY just to have a shot.

I'm 4x that amount because back then there wasn't anything available and it was CGI (dumb move on my part because the school led on that companies will pay you for interviews and things and Arizona there is no such thing as art jobs back in 08.) I thought I'd be on a team doing stuff for media and marketing, but no such luck.
 
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Averon

Member
This is the biggest reason why I still have not returned to school. I graduated with a 2-year associate's back in 2012, and most of my credits can transfer, but I am still looking at tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt.The prospect of having all that debt weigh me down for the next 10-15 years makes it easy for me to delay my decision. But I am also in a rut, and I feel like I need to start building a career.
 
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compo

Banned
I have $90k. I pay $1000/month, and I think I won't have those paid off until 7 years or so.

It sucks. I'm never going in debt again, assuming I can even successfully get out of debt.
 
I

ionitron

Member
ascii42 said:
A few states, mostly in The South, offer lottery funded merit-based scholarships for any students that meet the requirements. I have mixed feelings on it being lottery funded, but I can't complain about being able to have attended the University of Florida for free.
Click to expand...

I might have had the same scholarship you did. It's been a blessing, but, well, we'll see. I do feel kinda bad about it.
 
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ascii42

Member
ionitron said:
I might have had the same scholarship you did. It's been a blessing, but, well, we'll see. I do feel kinda bad about it.
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Its got a different name in every state, I think. It’s called Bright Futures in Florida, Hope in Georgia. I know someone who went to Georgia Tech from out of state, so wasn’t familiar. So when he heard about people losing Hope, he misunderstood.
 
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StoneFox

Member
I'm at the point where I have less than I started with which means I defeated all the interest build up, but I still regret taking out any debt at all since my degree hasn't given me any real boost I believe. All of my jobs have been through networking with friends of friends.

College was also the worst time of my time, so I think I would have preferred just straight working after high school. My only silver lining is that my debt is relatively low compared to others.
 
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