$250,000 in student debt after 13 years...

[bjcheung77]

Well, there was the lady who went to NYU for their Masters and had to "sell her eggs", meet another NYU graduate who is in even greater debt.  Guess what?  She's now doing a PhD at UMass-Amherst!  Ouch, I guess she hasn't really thought out what she's trying to accomplish... I would get out of debt first before putting myself in more debt!

Link: Meet a 34-year-old with $250,000 in student debt after 13 years of barely keeping up with her monthly interest payments: 'I never felt like I could get a handle on it' (msn.com)

[mohelena02]

These stories are so insane to me, because I used to be against higher ed (I am an entrepreneur) but due to a series of reasons I had to get back into the workforce and realize that to get jobs I was already qualified for (due to experience) I needed a degree to work in some companies.

But to just have 250k in debt from school and not even have a job 'worth having' makes no sense to me.

[ashkir]

The high cost of education is the only thing stopping me from wanting to do a Physician Assistant's program right now.

[Alpha]

The woman in the original story has certainly dug herself into a deep hole.  I suppose I can understand her impulse to get the PhD and maybe she's getting a good deal with one of those PhD stipends, etc. but even then. she's only delaying her debt repayment.  The only thing that I can imagine that might help is 
Public Service Loan Forgiveness | Federal Student Aid

[jsd]

The woman in the original story has certainly dug herself into a deep hole.  I suppose I can understand her impulse to get the PhD and maybe she's getting a good deal with one of those PhD stipends, etc. but even then. she's only delaying her debt repayment.  The only thing that I can imagine that might help is 
Public Service Loan Forgiveness | Federal Student Aid

Given that public health is her area of study, this is probably the best option she has.

[ss20ts]

Only $150K is the actual loan. The rest is interest. That's the problem with student loans. Many of them accumulate interest while you're enrolled as a student and it's compounded. Over the years the rates were insanely high. I've never had a mortgage or car loan with rates as high as my student loans. Yeah there's a cap but the cap is pretty high too.

[Alpha]

Only $150K is the actual loan. The rest is interest. That's the problem with student loans. Many of them accumulate interest while you're enrolled as a student and it's compounded. Over the years the rates were insanely high. I've never had a mortgage or car loan with rates as high as my student loans. Yeah there's a cap but the cap is pretty high too.

This is an excellent point.  Even if we never get to the point of total student loan forgiveness I would think it would be possible to do something substantial re the interest rates.

[Vle045]

Maybe the first required course for ALL undergraduate degrees should be something about Personal Financial Management. I think there’s a lot of value in learning how interest is compounded and understanding an amortization schedule. It wasn’t until I was in my early 20’s that I took the time to understand that if I always only paid the minimum payments, i would never get out of credit card debt. And it isn’t wise to buy consumables on credit (like groceries or dining out). On the plus side, since I realized those things, I have never had unmanageable debt. Most of the time, the only debt I have any more is house or car. Credit cards are only used for short term, like major appliances or Christmas.

[bluebooger]

didn't read the article
did it say anything about here other expenses ?
married ? has kids? mortgage or renting ? netflix ? iPhone ?
I have no pity for people who buy a $1000 iPhone and have and $80 a month phone plan and have a netflix, disney+ subscription and take vacations while carrying student debt

[ss20ts]

didn't read the article                
did it say anything about here other expenses ?                
married ? has kids? mortgage or renting ? netflix ? iPhone ?                    
I have no pity for people who buy a $1000 iPhone and have and $80 a month phone plan and have a netflix, disney+ subscription and take vacations while carrying student debt

Read the article. Sounds like you want people to live with nothing because they have student loans. Netflix is less than $15 a month! A landline phone costs more than my monthly AT&T bill for our smartphones.