$200k student loan to earn a BA in Sociology

[cantdrv55]

Pure genius.
is-the-college-debt-bubble-ready-to-explode: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

[Embraer]

I broke up with a girl over this. When I found out she had 68K in student debt (but no degree to show for it) that was my first clue to her financial irresponsibility. See ya...

[kaisen]

Tuition at a good private school is $45K per year, so it's not uncommon.
My wife has a BA in Psychology from one of those good schools.
Her student loans are staggering

I had exactly $1500 in student loans, but I got hella scholarship

[cstreit]

I think this is exactly like the mortgage crisis.

The loan app interview SHOULD have gone something like this:

Student: "I'd like a student loan for $200,000."

Loaner: "Oh Excellent. Will it be neurosurgeon or Manhattan Attorney you're after?"

Student: "Umm No, Sociology"

Loaner: "Ahahaaaaahaaahhaaa. Seriously. GTFO."

[Schumi]

How can schools charge so much for tuition? Because so many loan houses are willing to give loans for said tuition.

It's a vicious cycle.

I never realized it, but it paid off to do well in high school- it paved the way for the ridiculous amount of scholarship money I was given. That, on top of paid research and a teaching job, and I made it out of 4 years of undergraduate school with a degree and having been paid to get it.

[Noah930]

The cost of education also increases because it's becoming an increasingly rare commodity. At least to go to a school with a good name. Look at the Ivys, for example. There are still only 8 of them. (And there's still only one MIT, Swarthmore, Stanford, Williams, etc.) They have roughly the same student body sizes as they did 20 years ago when I started college. But the county's population (and number of HS kids continuing on to college) has increased during the same time. So they charge more because that's what the market will bear. Like any other commodity.

I went to a private HS. I get sent the alumni newsletter. There was an article about how the cost of tuition at the school has risen about about 6-8% annually. The goal is to slow it down...to just 2-3% over inflation. The article didn't come out and say it, but that's what they must think the market will bear.

[legion]

The lady who sits across from me at work took out three kids worth of parent loans to fund her kid's over-expensive educations (out of state, all). Only one of the three has a degree, the other two are "taking a break".

[Rick Lee]

Banks will lend for this stuff because they can't lose. They're guaranteed a profit because they get the money cheaper from the US Dept. of Ed. than they can charge for it AND the loan is guaranteed by the taxpayers. It's a great business to be in. The insanity is that just about every politician thinks it's a great vote getter to promote college education for everyone. College is NOT for everyone and it doesn't need taxpayer support while also building mountains of student loan debt....which Obama now wants to wipe away if you go to work for the gov't. Unreal.

Sometimes I get the feeling colleges and universities spend whatever they want, divide that annual amount by the number of students they have and then call that the tuition. When your income comes from the gov't. and students paying with OPM, then why not treat it like Monopoly money?

Personally, I can't understand why anyone gets a loan for an area of study that is unlikely to pay them enough to repay the loan. And it's a vicious cycle. Keep lending them more money, even if it takes seven years to graduate because if you stop the lending, they can't get a job that pay enough to repay the loan. Pure madness.

[kaisen]

I agree Rick

[Hugh R]

IIRC you can't or couldn't use to pay off a student loan early. Guaranteed return for x years.

[Scuba Steve]

Originally Posted by Schumi

How can schools charge so much for tuition? Because so many loan houses are willing to give loans for said tuition.

Made even better by the fact that student loans can't be discharged.

[widebody911]

I agree with Rick. I think the entire educational system needs a good hard look from top to bottom.

[Rick Lee]

I have to confess that I'm one of the spoiled people whose parents paid for college and didn't want me to work during semesters. I worked anyway, but only because they gave me a lump sum check for room and board for the semester, which I usually pissed away in the first two weeks on booze and music equipment. But they were happy I chose a university that cost less than my prep school had. And I finished in four years, going part time my last semester.

My sister, OTOH, picked a very expensive school and goofed off, then transferred to an even more expensive school that wouldn't accept her other credits. I vividly remember seeing her get a check for $10k for Xmas around 1995. The check had little strings taped to it, meaning strings attached. It was enough for tuition, room and board for one more semester. Condition was that, if she didn't get at least a 2.7 GPA, that was the last my folks would be paying. And so that was her last semester of college. Luckily, she didn't take on a bunch of debt to drag college out to seven or more years. And she found an excellent job in almost no time after moving to Dallas. College really isn't for everyone. When she recently spent over a year on unemployment, she was actually living very well because she had no debt and her rent was about the same as her weekly UI check.

[Rick Lee]

One of my best friends took 10 yrs. to get his BA. Most of it was paid with student loans and he'll have that debt for many years to come. He's 41 now, unemployed and had a decent run for a few years in commercial real estate. I would never have met him, if he hadn't gone to college. But I can't see how college helped him other than in having fun and meeting new friends. No one cares about your degree when you're in a 100% commission sales job.

[A930Rocket]

I read about this awhile back. It's CRAZY.

Did you read where she went overseas as part of her learning and tuition paid for it? WTF? If you have to borrow money for a questionable degree, why are you adding insult to injury by going overseas?

With the economy/workforce going the way it is, not all kids should be going to college. Some should be going to trade schools to learn a trade.

[Hugh R]

My Son effed off his first year at CA State Northridge. I put him in community college and told him I'd pay for his college IF he got passing grades. In this economy he can graduate debt free in a few years and he won't get a better deal anywhere. If not, he can move out, live with a few friends in an apartment and see how far his $10/hour part time job will get him. He took it to heart and is bringing in A's and a few B's in a Business major.

[jyl]

On a related topic, the for-profit education industry is, in my opinion, a scandal.

They promise students great careers post-graduation, help them submit misleading aid applications, charge them tuition higher than decent pubic schools charge, leave them with huge debt loads (not dischargeable in bankruptcy, and taxpayer-guaranteed), frequently without degrees or usable skills.

The government, specifically the Dept of Education, is trying to crack down on the industry by, among other things, restricting/blocking student loans if the school is not producing graduates who are actually employed and paying back their loans. The industry is fighting back because investors perceive, correctly, that this has the potential to slow the growth and reduce the profit margins in the for-profit education industry.

Google "gainful employment" for more on this. Or, see the stock charts for APOL, COCO, STRA, etc.

[A930Rocket]

^^^^ +1. What a rip off those "schools" are. Just money making machines leaving people in huge dept in their wake.

[cmccuist]

There are scores of jobs that will never be outsourced in this country - plumbers, welders, carpenters, auto mechanics etc. ie Skilled labor.

My brother got a degree in economics from UC Davis. What was he going to do with that? He ended up as an apprentice plumber and now he's certified. He loves his job!

College is no garauntee of a high paying job - unless you pick the right degree. My daughter is a doctor, my son is finishing up in engineering, and the other daughter is a huge disappointment - lawyer! Oh well, two out of three aint bad (just kidding)

[tabs]

Anybody can get a college degree so everybodies got to try

What a fking joke..When ya can't get a job paying more than $10 an hour with a degree, somehow the econics of having $200K in debt doesn't add up. I hear being a Plumber pays well..

Oh BTW I hear they are hiring in China..but wait I think U need to be Cinee to get hired...ummmmm

Just think an MBA will be required to press the Mckey D's Big Mac button before long...