Posted on 06/02/2010 5:42:59 AM PDT by jdsteel
Like many middle-class families, Cortney Munna and her mother began the college selection process with a grim determination. They would do whatever they could to get Cortney into the best possible college, and they maintained a blind faith that the investment would be worth it.
Today, however, Ms. Munna, a 26-year-old graduate of New York University, has nearly $100,000 in student loan debt from her four years in college, and affording the full monthly payments would be a struggle. For much of the time since her 2005 graduation, she's been enrolled in night school, which allows her to defer loan payments. .... (this found 3/4 of the way through the article:) She recently received a raise and now makes $22 an hour working for a photographer. It's the highest salary she's earned since graduating with an interdisciplinary degree in religious and women's studies. After taxes, she takes home about $2,300 a month. Rent runs $750, and the full monthly payments on her student loans would be about $700 if they weren't being deferred, which would not leave a lot left over.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
If you are going to go into debt to the tune of $100K in a major or majors that have absolutely no real-world application, that's your problem.
Aren't these two mutually exclusive?
Feminism is it's own religion and abortion is it's holiest sacrament.
IMO, don’t go into debt if you can afford to pay it back.
Here’s a cure for this issue: cancel, end, excise, and otherwise get rid of women’s studies, chicano studies, african-american studies, in fact all studies that don’t have an adequate job base beyond the fry bin at Wendy’s. Same goes for language-based classes unless they can tie more jobs to the degree. End of story. Purge these useless programs, the useless professors and, worst of all, the useless students that are the product of all this academic masturbation.
My friend’s daughter graduated in Women’s Studies from the U of M in ‘09....I believe she’s still working as a receptionist at her friend’s father’s auto dealership.
Average indebtedness for an NYU grad in 08 was $34K. WTH did she do with the other money?
My kids are 1 and 3 years from college. We have had this very discussion at home.
Going into debt for a BS degree is a thing of the past as middle class families will actually perform a cost analysis of what degrees/universities are worth.
That’s average. Some have no debt, others borrowed a high % of the total cost.
I don't suppose that it ever crossed Ms.Munna's mind that getting a worthless degree would be, well, worthless? Her decision to persue a worthless occupation had dire consequences to her life.
Ms. Munna should now bite the bullet and enroll in a program to help her learn something of value, like maybe being a sonogram tech, or an x-ray tech, or a plumber, or a car mechanic, or something which people are willing to pay for.
...while Ms. Munna is going to a trade school, her debt would be postponed, and when she graduated, she just may be able to pay the debt....
I earned my teaching degree from U of Akron. I was lucky: I received a partial athletic scholarship from the rifle team and my parents paid the rest. My parents did not have to do that and I can’t thank them enough. My brother-in-law earned his teaching degree from Hiram college to the tune of $25 K a year. He made $25 K his first year out of college. It just doesn’t make sense.
Four years of drinking, partying and Marxist indoctrination in exchange for a life of debt servitude. Not a good choice.
Even deliberate tax cheats will be offered settlement offers from the IRS when caught.
It is draconian the way the system is now.
I don’t care if they want to study Underwater Basketweaving ... as long as I don’t have to pay for it.
But you know we WILL have to pay for her useless degree, and many more like her.
Methinks she didn't learn much...
It is pay now or pay later. College, for the most part before WWII, was for the intelligent and the rich. It will probably be that way again soon. This person obviously was not intelligent enough not know that a woman studies degree was not worth $100,000. And she definately was not rich enough to afford it.
Your sympathy is misplaced, dangerous and nonsense. Debt forgiveness means someone else pays. This young lady and her mother were clearly too ignorant to benefit from an investment of $100K plus in her education. Payscale.com has some interesting statistics on the ROI on college majors. Essentially this young lady, like many others, treated education as a consumer good rather than an investment good. She bought a BMW when she could only afford a Ford. Too bad, but I, as a tax payer, do want to subsidsize stupidity and ignorance, since that is one way of ensuring that we will get more of both. She does indeed need to toil away and pay off her debts.
Obviously I meant “do NOT want to subsidsize stupidity”
Studying women can be a damn expensive hobby.
My son will be a junior this fall and he’s currently working his first summer internship at a software development company. My high school junior is just beginning to look at schools. She wants an art major. I’m saving articles like this for when we get further into the process. She can major in Art however, she isn’t going to mortgage our future and we aren’t into future bailouts.
Send your daughter to www.payscale.com and have her do the research. It is truly amazing how many art majors find useful employment as Administrative Assistants.
Sometimes, you can't always have what you want, sweetie. Either suck it up and get a job that pays something, or live somewhere that you can afford, or both.
#@$$%$#@% Obama voters.
Currently, he designs color schemes for gas pumps. You've likely seen his work, if you've pumped gas in the US.
Not exactly what he thought that he'd be doing with his life, but, like I said in an earlier post, you can't always get what you want. He's very - I don't know the word, maybe stoic - about it..... "Not what I want to do, but hey, it's a living, and a decent one."
I guess that my point is that the number of art majors who actually make a living in "art" - be it selling their work, or in museums, or debating the differences between modern- and post-existentialist painting - are pretty rare.
NYT is totally misinformed and fails to mention the various government programs that would allow Munna to either pay based upon her income or at worst, pay the minimum of $50....
Meant to direct post #24 at you....
I have worked at a university for many years and the number of unmarketable degree programs has skyrocketed. We have women’s studies, African studies, Hispanic studies, Gay studies, lesbian studies, etc. The list of useless degrees is over the top and students are guided by incompetent, but politically correct, advisors. It is a sickening display of stupidity in the tower where degree programs are sold at exhorbitant prices, but have little to no value.
This person and her family must be a big group of losers IMO.
I doubt that any of my kids would major in something that ends with "studies". They know how much college costs,and how much jobs pay, and that there are very few diversity jobs that pay more than asking "do you want fries with that?" and none that are productive.
What we’ve told her is that many writers (her other passion) and artists have to do that stuff in their “free time”. If they make it big, they quit their day job. She’ll probably double major - Art and Literature - and end up teaching. Sigh. She’s free to go to whatever school she wants as long as she gets a full ride or funds it herself.
First test of stupidity: Were you given a college degree after spending five times more for it than you expect to earn in salary? It seems rather stupid to spend $100k for a $20k job.
Some will undoubtedly make it in a related field - but it is a bit like all those HS and College footbal players - the odds are definitely against you and to assume that the time and money is a good investment is silly. College education is clearly a case of “caveat emptor”.
Bankruptcy is in the US Constitution. It is a legitimate way for people and companies to get their financial affairs straight.
Unless, you advocate removing the bankruptcy provision from the US Constitution your argument isn’t worth spit.
Whether bankruptcy is or is not in the Constitution is neither here nor there when it comes to the issue of who bears the costs of bankruptcy due to education loans. The Government has essentially assumed the role of underwriter for these badly conceived loans and will impose the costs of the deadbeats on the rest of us tax payers. If you want to lend money to folks who have a low probaility of every paying it back go right ahead - Me, I would prefer some sensible underwriting and a willingness to say “No” to likely deadbeats. Why would anyone invest in someone who wants to study Religion and Women Studies?
First of all, jackass, they are not “deadbeats”. Either you are for taking BK out of the constitution or you are not. Which is it gutless?
What on earth is your problem? Do you think this woman acted responsibly when deciding to borrow $100K without condsidering the likelihood that she would be able to pay it back?
As far as BK law is concerned, as I understand it, education loans are not currently forgiven through regular BK procedures. So what is the issue?
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