Anyone know a student or graduate with debts?

[OldWiseGuy]

Many here advocate for student debt forgiveness. It would be helpful to know just how students get into such debt. Does anyone know personally any such student or grad with a large debt, and what decisions led to this debt?

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

I'm not in university (didn't have the right grades for it so I just went into work) but to get in debt when you're a student is easy.
Like, in the UK alone, paper text books for required reading can total up to £630 per student, as this article from Essex University says:
"No matter what higher education course you study, there will always be required reading (and wider reading) to complete.

And if you’re buying paper textbooks for every module, these can quickly add up to a hefty financial cost.

The costs associated with buying textbooks will vary from course to course, but the one thing you can always be certain about is that they’re expensive! In fact, “According to official data, textbook inflation since 1977 is 1,041 per cent– almost four times the overall rate of inflation.” This means that today’s typical student can expect to budget between £450 and £1070 for books and equipment per year.

This can seem like an impossibly high amount for many students, especially when considering the UK’s ever-rising tuition and accommodation fees. It’s no surprise that “81% of UK students feel that universities should be offering textbooks for free as part of their fees.”"

Now, Essex University does offer free textbooks, but it's not just those that can burden a student. There's a whole myriad of things that can send a student into debt, like the costs this article from the Guardian explains:

"How much will you really spend in your first year at university? Accommodation costs at universities have soared in recent years, while everyday living costs continue to march upwards. As we explore here, rich students are being lured by super-luxe developments charging annual rents of above £20,000. Below we set out what a more typical student may spend on a room, the likely monthly costs for essentials such as food and studying materials – and work out what parents will have to stump up on top of the loans and grants."

And then of course there's also the stuff that the university provides that a student needs to pay for, as this UCAS article on tuitition fees explains:
Tuition fees normally cover:

• lectures, seminars, and tutorials
• course admin costs
• access to course-related facilities and equipment (e.g. laboratories, studios)
• access to campus libraries and computer rooms
• support services for students
• student union membership
• field trips essential for completion of your course (travel and accommodation only)
• graduation ceremony

However, tuition fees won’t usually cover:

• printing or photocopying at libraries or IT facilities
• non-compulsory field trips
• textbooks and other course materials, e.g. art supplies, dancewear
• personal technology, e.g. laptop, tablet, specialist software, camera, and accessories
• membership to union clubs and societies
• travel costs to work placements
• professional body membership
• living costs e.g. accommodation, travel
• graduation attire, photography, and guest tickets

So... it's a lot of things.

 

[Dave L]

Many here advocate for student debt forgiveness. It would be helpful to know just how students get into such debt. Does anyone know personally any such student or grad with a large debt, and what decisions led to this debt?

I know a couple of seminary students who flunked out after spending $$$$. I thought better screening might have prevented it.

 

[Moral Orel]

Many here advocate for student debt forgiveness. It would be helpful to know just how students get into such debt. Does anyone know personally any such student or grad with a large debt, and what decisions led to this debt?

I have debt. Getting into debt is the obvious part, tuition is really expensive. The key is to get a return on your investment in education quickly to get out of debt. That's the mistake I made. I got the wife and kid before the education. That makes relocating for a low paying entry position while supporting a family instead of an individual difficult to impossible.

Now I know that was my mistake. So I don't advocate for debt forgiveness. But if they happen to do it, you're darn right I'm gonna take it!

 

[RaymondG]

Many here advocate for student debt forgiveness. It would be helpful to know just how students get into such debt. Does anyone know personally any such student or grad with a large debt, and what decisions led to this debt?

Yes,

A major pitfall for me, was taking more than I needed. In my case, I would be given more(thousands more) than I needed.....and would just keep the rest for spending money, food, maybe a pc etc.. This caused the debt to increase unnecessarily. Also, education one the loans would help......Students should know that they can start to pay it back while in school.....and that they continue to collect interest even while they are still in school. Finishing as fast as possible should be a priority, and one should opt to study from home, as opposed to on campus, whenever feasible to do so.....

 

[Albion]

Many here advocate for student debt forgiveness. It would be helpful to know just how students get into such debt. Does anyone know personally any such student or grad with a large debt, and what decisions led to this debt?

Most of it comes from the tuition, fees, and housing costs levied by the colleges these students attend(ed). The students of course thought that a college education was essential to a good life and a good income.

They also had been told that they could recoup the debt thus incurred from out of the good salaries that they would earn after graduation but then found that those jobs were not available or, if some were, that they didn't pay much to the entry level employee.

The parties that "made out like bandits" through these loan programs were the colleges themselves which raised their costs fantastically once they knew that the students had somewhere other than their own savings or part-time earnings power from which to get the money needed for tuition, etc.

 

[SigurdReginson]

Absolutely. I know plenty of people with tens of thousands of dollars in debt... I work in a hospital. They need to go into debt to be able to get the education required to do their job.

 

[gaara4158]

My sister is taking on $50k of debt in order to earn her nurse anesthetist credentials. She’s doing this after graduating from a four year university and nursing school paid for by our parents, and is now practicing as a nurse upstate. It’s significant debt, but it comes with the reward of a significantly higher salary and a less grinding workload.

 

[bèlla]

I vetoed expensive schools and refused to mortgage myself. She was thinking of nursing school. The sticker price was ridiculous. I started showing her blogger income reports and convinced her to change course. She hasn’t looked back.

Yours in His Service,

~bella

 

[durangodawood]

I'm older and went to a top flite university back when it was cheap and my not rich parents could pay for the whole thing.

Mine was such an astounding privilege compared to kids today, to start working life debt free.

 

[jayem]

I went to a private university for undergrad and professional school. I’ll focus just on tuition. Back in the late 60s, my freshman college tuition was $1,800/yr. In my last year of med school, it had risen to $3,600/yr. My folks helped me a bit. Between them and a partial scholarship, about half my tuition was covered. But living expenses and everything else was on me. It took me 10 years to pay off several loans. And I was lucky. My inflation calculator website says that $3,600 in 1975 is $17,500 today. But the med school now charges over $50,000/yr. Tuition alone has increased about 3X the inflation rate. It’s crazy. How can this be justified?

OTOH, some med schools are offering free tuition for all students, regardless of means. NYU started it a few years ago. It doesn’t cover living expenses. But it’s a heckuva lot better than having to finance $90-100K every year for 4 years.

 

[Larniavc]

Many here advocate for student debt forgiveness. It would be helpful to know just how students get into such debt. Does anyone know personally any such student or grad with a large debt, and what decisions led to this debt?

In the UK tuition fees alone for a three year course would be about £27k. That does not include rent and living expenses.

When I went to uni it cost me a total of about £0k

 

[dlamberth]

Many here advocate for student debt forgiveness. It would be helpful to know just how students get into such debt. Does anyone know personally any such student or grad with a large debt, and what decisions led to this debt?

My daughter-in-law had a 80K student loan debt. Her decision to go into debt is that if she were to get her required masters so that she could go into the teaching professions, there was no other option for her but student loans. She has been teaching for 5 years now.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

My daughter-in-law had a 80K student loan debt. Her decision to go into debt is that if she were to get her required masters so that she could go into the teaching professions, there was no other option for her but student loans. She has been teaching for 5 years now.

I have read that there is a point at which such debt will pay off, but one needs to go all the way with it; minimum Masters, preferably P.H.D. Many burn out with a Bachelor's, with lots of debt and few job prospects.

 

[Hazelelponi]

Many here advocate for student debt forgiveness. It would be helpful to know just how students get into such debt. Does anyone know personally any such student or grad with a large debt, and what decisions led to this debt?

I went back to college for a while after I became disabled, because at the time I thought I was doing well enough to go back to work in the right type of work environment... I took out a 10,000 dollar loan to do that...

That said, I went back to work for a year and a half and ended up in far far worse physical shape and had to quit completely, and back to square 1 disabled and needing more surgeries etc.

I still had the outstanding portion of the loan when I had to get back on disability... however, the Obama administration I believe is who created an ability for the disabled to freely discharge their student loan debt, only needing to send in the disability award letter in order to have it discharged so I did that, since 1,000 a month barely keeps a roof over my head let alone pays off the 10 grand.

To me it was worth the try because if I had been able to work again without additional injury then I wouldn't have needed to depend on the public trust, which for me is a pride issue truly - and I do realise that - but I'd give anything to feel as if I was once again a productive member of society...

So certainly in some situations such as permanent disability you can't pay back the student loans, and may require forgiveness, but that's codified into law already.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

I went back to college for a while after I became disabled, because at the time I thought I was doing well enough to go back to work in the right type of work environment... I took out a 10,000 dollar loan to do that...

That said, I went back to work for a year and a half and ended up in far far worse physical shape and had to quit completely, and back to square 1 disabled and needing more surgeries etc.

I still had the outstanding portion of the loan when I had to get back on disability... however, the Obama administration I believe is who created an ability for the disabled to freely discharge their student loan debt, only needing to send in the disability award letter in order to have it discharged so I did that, since 1,000 a month barely keeps a roof over my head let alone pays off the 10 grand.

To me it was worth the try because if I had been able to work again without additional injury then I wouldn't have needed to depend on the public trust, which for me is a pride issue truly - and I do realise that - but I'd give anything to feel as if I was once again a productive member of society...

So certainly in some situations such as permanent disability you can't pay back the student loans, and may require forgiveness, but that's codified into law already.

I agree. Thanks for that.