America’s Student-Loan Burden Is Getting Severe

[Deleted member 6056]

I either succeed and climb the ladder to ridiculous heights or mine will never clear. That simple. Currently I'd be slated to have student loans well past retirement. First degree didn't result in any stability or serious income changes. Second degree did but I maxed out loans and even had to use credit cards to finish paying for classes to get there.

It should not take this much to get an education.

 

[NESpowerhouse]

1) Look into income-based repayment immediately. Your situation is perfect for it.
2) Why didn't you continue living with your parents? Seems like a pretty clear solution to the problem unless that's not an option.

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My job is 4 states away

 

[GuitarGuruu]

Yeah not surprised. Eventually if nothing is done, this mess will fuck up the economy down the line.

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I'd argue it already is.

 

[Indeed™]

Glad I went went to a community college with 0 debt. Meanwhile all my friends who went to state colleges are in debt.

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Me education cost me.... 0. Hooray on the job training!

 

[MadScientist]

I think the problem is everyone keeps on talking about "Free" college. It wouldn't be free, but would be taken out of our taxes. Like healthcare should be also taken out of taxes. No reason we need to divert so much of our taxes to the defense budget. US needs to start thinking of what its citizens need like help with healthcare and tuition/student loan debt.

Also, the person suggesting that a kid should just be able to pay 20k per year for college and pay that while going to school is crazy! I took almost 20 credit hours a semester and was in the library most nights to get my biology degree. I had hardly any time for a part time job. Even if I got a part time job, no way would it come close to covering tuition for the year! College tuition rates are spiraling out of control and something needs to be done.

 

[MazeHaze]

All of my friends who went straight to trade school or became barbers/hair stylists have made more money in the last 10 years than all of my college friends.

Every job i've had that required a college degree put me through a 2 month training class before i could start. I haven't practiced macro econ since my final project.

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Yep. I would highly encourage all young people to go into trades instead. I have a history degree and a music degree, both useless, turns out when you're still a fucking child maybe you shouldnt be making $80k decisions about your future.

The good news is, I somehow stumbled into an awesome job in a production facility. It's hard work, and very physical, but I make more than triple the minimum wage and have amazing health insurance. I can't even imagine how much better off I'd be if I never went to college though. I'm smart, allegedly, like I always tested well, so teachers and parents and everyone kind of forced college on me (my parents were clueless and I was an ignorant child). I was NOT an academic person though, and just picked majors I liked without really thinking about a realistic career. The glorification of college being for EVERYONE is a fucking cancer.

 

[Voror]

Under IBR, PAYE, and REPAYE, you pay anywhere between 10-15% of your adjusted gross income monthly for 20-25 years, depending on the plan. Lots of people are on these plans because their loan principals are too high to service with their income. As a result, the 10-15% they're paying typically doesn't do enough to pay down the debt meaningfully, resulting in interest piling up and the total debt amount expanding over 20-25 years.

The US tax code counts discharged debt as taxable income, no different than a wage you're paid for labor. Current tax law does NOT provide an exemption for debt discharged under IBR, PAYE, or REPAYE (only under PSLF, the ten-year government/not-for-profit plan, a much smaller portion of those under income-driven plans), meaning any debt discharged under those plans after 20-25 years will count as taxable income to the extent of the debtor's solvency.

Needless to say, this will be financially catastrophic for individuals who had to rely on an income-based plan to service a large debt in the first place.

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Oh. Well I'm utterly screwed then. I simply have never made enough on top of everything else to really get it down despite being on the IBR.

 

[thewienke]

Oh. Well I'm utterly screwed then. I simply have never made enough on top of everything else to really get it down despite being on the IBR.

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The upside is that the IRS, in my experience, is fairly reasonable to work with as long as you keep in contact with them. If they have to come after you, you're going to have a bad time.

 

[Voror]

The upside is that the IRS, in my experience, is fairly reasonable to work with as long as you keep in contact with them. If they have to come after you, you're going to have a bad time.

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Would this be whenever this actually comes up when I get it paid off? I've never really interacted with them and always get my taxes in early.

 

[Cloud-Hidden]

The interest rates are a fucking joke and I realized really early on that there was a real possibility I'd have debt hanging over me for my entire life.

For the first two years of our marriage my wife and I paid off all of our debt. $50K combined student loan debt and about 13K I owed on my car. She was a social worker and I was freelancing writing for video game websites. We budgeted every month, threw literally every spare dollar at our debts one by one, and almost never went out or ate out. We also lived with my parents for a year to save on rent.

Was it a fun two years? No. Did we learn a lot of valuable lessons? Yes. Are we now completely debt free? Also yes.

If you're in this thread and you're just assuming you'll always have debt, muthafuck that. You can get out. You just have to sacrifice.

 

[Deepwater]

I wonder if anyone has calculated the amount of student loan debt that was taken on because of the recession. Because for many people graduating between 2007-2010, getting another degree was the only thing they could do.

 

[thewienke]

Would this be whenever this actually comes up when I get it paid off? I've never really interacted with them and always get my taxes in early.

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The moment you realize you have a huge tax bill that you can't pay you should call the IRS and they'll probably refer you to a long term payment plan.

Their long term payment plans have fairly reasonable interest rates (between 2-3% I think? someone can correct me). Regardless in the long run, the whole thing should be substantially less than if you had paid for your student loans outright.

 

[SonicThrust]

Between student loans, medical debt and credit card debt from large unemployment stretches most large debts for my family have to be ignored until we get to a stable place... which is then quickly snatched out from under us every year or so without fail as my employer controls our fate.

It's all a morally unsustainable evil system that all hinges on pure luck in ones employment status in the end if you survive or not and the ones who profit from it deserve far worse than failed investments from the damage they inflict on people.

 

[Thordinson]

The interest rates are a fucking joke and I realized really early on that there was a real possibility I'd have debt hanging over me for my entire life.

For the first two years of our marriage my wife and I paid off all of our debt. $50K combined student loan debt and about 13K I owed on my car. She was a social worker and I was freelancing writing for video game websites. We budgeted every month, threw literally every spare dollar at our debts one by one, and almost never went out or ate out. We also lived with my parents for a year to save on rent.

Was it a fun two years? No. Did we learn a lot of valuable lessons? Yes. Are we now completely debt free? Also yes.

If you're in this thread and you're just assuming you'll always have debt, muthafuck that. You can get out. You just have to sacrifice.

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This is also assuming one can have two incomes and assuming one can live with their parents. Not everyone has these abilities.

 

[El Bombastico]

Why do we operate on this narrative that K-12 is perfectly fine being funded by taxes but anything after that is absolutely NOT ok? Do people not see the con?

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Because we still have the mentality that college isn't necessary for a well-paying job, which hasn't been true for decades, if ever...

 

[Cloud-Hidden]

This is also assuming one can have two incomes and assuming one can live with their parents. Not everyone has these abilities.

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That's... not assuming that at all, no. If I didn't get married I would have only had one income, but I also would have only had roughly half of the debt.

And living with my parents isn't what allowed me to pay off my debt, it just accelerated the process. Instead of two years, it might have taken me four if I didn't have that year of rent-free living.

In other words, living at home a year and being married had nothing to do with me getting out of debt. Aggressively making multiple debt payments every month and saying "no" to almost every single fun or 'extra' thing in my life for 24 months had everything to do with it.

 

[Thordinson]

That's... not assuming that at all, no. If I didn't get married I would have only had one income, but I also would have only had roughly half of the debt.

And living with my parents isn't what allowed me to pay off my debt, it just accelerated the process. Instead of two years, it might have taken me four if I didn't have that year of rent-free living.

In other words, living at home a year and being married had nothing to do with me getting out of debt. Aggressively making multiple debt payments every month and saying "no" to almost every single fun or 'extra' thing in my life for 24 months had everything to do with it.

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It still helped quite a bit. And if one can make multiple debt payments a month, of course it helps. That doesn't mean we all can.

 

[Cloud-Hidden]

It still helped quite a bit. And if one can make multiple debt payments a month, of course it helps. That doesn't mean we all can.

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I guess I failed making my point.

My point is that you don't *have* to just live with your debt. If you want out, you'll do whatever it takes. For me, that looked like never going out to do anything fun, eating a lot of the same food at home for every meal, living with my parents for a year, and working seven days a week as a freelancer (and saying goodbye to so much of the money I made)

It's not going to look the exact same for you, or for anyone else. And it may not take two years. It may take five; it may take one. The point is it's possible. It just takes prolonged sacrifice and focus.