Comments on: What if we bailed out student debt?

By: Joseph

Joseph — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 01:10:13 +0000

There would be no drastic job changes or location changes, but we would change our lifestyle.

Without my wife’s loans, my wife and I would move to a 2-bedroom apartment. That way our son would have his own bedroom. Without my loans, we would also be able to add another $1000 a month to our home/college savings account. But given our school debt (our only debt), we have no college account for our son. He likely will have to take out loans to pay for college/graduate school too.

If wishing only made it so…

By the way, I would be happy to just get a lower rate on my school loans. In 2006 Bush fixed graduate student loan interest rates at 6.8% and 8.5%. This occurred at the same time that tuition at many universities substantially rose. Together, those two events translated into higher loan repayments. Now, although interest rates are falling, graduate students and recent graduates cannot consolidate at a lower rate because our loan interest rate is fixed. (Note: Congress lowered rates for undergraduate students, but not graduate students.)

By: Kathrin

Kathrin — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:36:36 +0000

I just received my 90 day notices advising me of my first payment. My great-grandchildren will be inheriting my loans at this rate.

My current school debt and the disaster that is our economy is preventing me from pursuing my doctorate (as well as academic burnout). However, even after taking some time off, I have no idea how I could sing going back to obtain my phd.

By: I hate my husband’s 12 emails » Dorie Morgan’s Rising Up

I hate my husband’s 12 emails » Dorie Morgan’s Rising Up — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:26:42 +0000

[...] a much bigger deal: the homeless in Philadelphia (winter is coming) or the current economic crisis (can we talk about my student loans please?). My email is just [...]

By: Deb

Deb — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:19:26 +0000

I personally have no student debt. This is not due to parents who paid for me to go to school, but rather my refusal to go into debt in order to go to school. And so while I don’t have exorbitant amounts of student loan debt to pay off, I still made tragic financial decisions in my early-20’s compounded by more not-tragic-but-still-not-great financial decisions since. It is only now that I am fully onboard with a budget and financial plan to be debt-free by 2010…and I’m psyched!

While I do think it would be great to have someone come along and bail me out of my debt (student or otherwise), I think that more important are the lessons I’m learning by cleaning up my own mess myself. If only the same could be said for the Fannie Maes, Morgan Stanleys, and Goldman Sachs’ of the world.

The government’s bailout of the sub-prime mortgage missteps in the financial industry is certainly not the best case scenario and this taxpayer (and finance industry worker) is certainly not happy about it, however I honestly believe they just went with the lesser of two evils. It’s a shame no matter how you look at it.

By: Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:23:20 +0000

Yeah… it would be nice.

I hadn’t thought about this before, but it would probably have been a much better use of taxpayer money to use the ‘economic stimulus’ money to pay off student debt. What better way to stimulate an economy than to invest in its future?

By: Voice in the Crowd

Voice in the Crowd — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:26:00 +0000

If myself and my girlfriend suddenly had no more student loans…one, we’d move to a slightly nicer/central area of the city, and two we might not change careers, but we’d at least be able to consider it if we wanted. Right now, we can’t afford to take a chance because of the loans hanging over our heads. My career field thrives on contract to permanent work, but is also based on Grant funding most of the time, which means, you can be a great employee, but if they don’t get the next grant, you’re job won’t be permanent. Because of my loans (and high rent), I can’t afford to risk those jobs as I can’t afford to suddenly be without a job.

::Shrug:: like you said, it isn’t going to happen, but it would be nice…maybe I’ll write my senator and complain. That would feel good.

By: Ron

Ron — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:25:16 +0000

Bold post. And obviously something that would never happen. But…gee, wouldn’t that be something everyone could coalesce around?

Nice work.

By: Carmella

Carmella — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:43:27 +0000

I would be spending more money on me, pay off our extraneous debt, and go back to school without the fear of being unable to pay for it.

and maybe Chris would go back at the same time. we’d both love that, even though we wouldn’t see eachother very much.

By: Tim Ramsey

Tim Ramsey — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 12:50:34 +0000

I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog.

Tim Ramsey