Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Student Loan Trouble

This article caught my eye as another example of economic mayhem waiting (probably not very long) to happen:

Student loans turn into crushing burden for unwary borrowers
Natalie Hickey picked up $140k in student debt, some of it at interest rates as high as 18%. Her monthly payments are roughly $1,700, more than her rent and car payment combined. Caught in an increasingly common trap in the nation's $85-billion student loan market, Hickey borrowed heavily, presuming that all her debt was part of the federal loans...


All lenders should be obliged to disclose complete terms and all fees, including the total amount to be owed, before the loan is signed and legalized. Otherwise, predatory lending results. It's difficult or impossible to make sound decisions with incomplete information, especially for young and inexperienced people.

Besides, in this economy, how many students are going to get a job that will make enough to pay off huge loans? "Ya want fries with that?" Talk about an obvious bubble in search of a pin! Yet somehow, I'm sure this will escape the notice of the people who are supposed to be supervising America's economy.
Tags: economics, education
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  • 5 comments
anthony_arndt

anthony_arndt

December 29 2008, 19:44:40 UTC 12 years ago

What, you don't think it's realistic for a college-grad to work 30 hrs/wk at McD then another 30 at KFC and then another 30 at Subway? Every week, with no breaks? If they did that, they could pay off their student loans in just three years.

Of course, that's if they didn't pay their taxes and lived with their parents (who also fed and clothed them) and walked everywhere...

They just need to work hard, buckle-down, pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. Or something.

I noticed in the article that they said that four years at a public school would be just under $60k. Which I found interesting because the cost for a Minnesota resident at the U of MN would be over $120k for four years. And that's with a budget of $0 for four years' entertainment and non-essentials.
ysabetwordsmith

Thoughts

ysabetwordsmith

December 30 2008, 00:48:32 UTC 12 years ago

>> What, you don't think it's realistic for a college-grad to work 30 hrs/wk at McD then another 30 at KFC and then another 30 at Subway? Every week, with no breaks? <<

Some decades ago, the unions fought hard for the 40-hour workweek, overtime pay, the weekend, breaks, vacation time, sick leave, pension and health insurance plans -- the protections that keep employees healthy and sane and able to work without injuring themselves or others.

Companies have since found ways around these provisions, especially by cutting down to part-time employees who are much less protected. And so we arrive near where we started, with people who work far longer for far fewer benefits than other civilized nations. Who, quite simply, must often work themselves to death in attempt to survive and support their families. That is not only wrong, it is not sustainable.

Part of the economic plunge is driven by a workforce that is sick, exhausted, and despondent. If they were not much on the ragged edge, they'd have more energy to hop in and fix things. But when one works 60+ hours a week at several jobs, eats poorly to save money, and gets little sleep -- there is not much energy left over to save the world.