Posted on 03/01/2014 6:51:40 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Chris Rong did everything right. A 23-year-old dentistry student in New York, Chris excelled at one of the country’s top high schools, breezed through college, and is now studying dentistry at one of the best dental schools in the nation.
But it may be a long time before he sees any rewards. He’s moved back home with his parents in Bayside, Queens—an hour-and-a-half commute each way to class at the New York University’s College of Dentistry—and by the time he graduates in 2016, he’ll face $400,000 in student loans. “If the money weren’t a problem I would live on my own,” says Rong. “My debt is hanging over my mind. I’m taking that all on myself.”
Rong isn’t alone. Across the country, students are taking on increasingly large amounts of debt to pay for heftier education tuitions. Figures released last week by the Federal Reserve of New York show that aggregate student loans nationwide have continued to rise. At the end of 2003, American students and graduates owed just $253 billion in aggregate debt; by the end of 2013, American students’ debt had ballooned to a total of $1.08 trillion, an increase of over 300%. In the past year alone, aggregate student debt grew 10%. By comparison, overall debt grew just 43% in the last decade and 1.6% over the past year.
According to a December study by the Institute for College Access & Success, seven out of 10 students in the class of 2012 graduated with student loans, and the average amount of debt among students who owed was $29,400. There’s no clear end in sight. ”The total amount of student debt is growing basically at a constant rate,” Wilbert van der Klaauw, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York tells TIME.
(Excerpt) Read more at business.time.com ...
Just paid my student loans off. I could’ve taken bigger ones to go to more expensive institutions but I didnt and I’m glad I didn’t. I make an excellent salary and I’m well on my way to becoming a partner at the company I work for. Too many have bought into that education must be expensive and prestigious to be effective and while there are some professions where that is true there are plenty where there is little difference in the end result.
I am recommending to my kids that they take a graduated realistic approach. We homeschool and my oldest, my daughter 16, tested into advanced college english and at a senior level in math and is excellent across the board. She is taking college courses at a local community college to get any preparatory classes she might need out of the way. She plans on going to a state university nearby and working while going to school. It wasn’t even my idea. She wants to do it. She will be a success because of her attitude, hard work, and intelligence. I’m just thankful I don’t have the issues that some of the parents I talk to do. She won’t have to work as hard as she intends to because I’m going to make sure she has what she needs but its a good feeling knowing that she would work as hard as it took regardless of my financial situation. That is what success is made of.
“They are ALL in debt due to college loans. ALL OF THEM!”
They’re morons. Back then, I took out a loan for my freshman year at uni. It was explained nicely by the cute chick who made me sign it how much I will owe. I vowed to pay off the whole year and grab cash jobs on the side. I had every “odd” job imaginable from escort driver, telemarketer for fake lotteries, and the best one of all: strip club DJ.
I knew more about the intricacies of running a business from the madam I worked for, which was applicable to my business major. But the strip club DJ was the best. For a 21 year old spinning/entertaining a crowd while naked women prance around on a pole was heaven.
With "proper support" being the key words, I think you're correct with a lot of occupations. Even with some of the two year degrees, I don't see why someone has to go to MEDTECH school to work as a secretary in a doctor's office.
Being in construction I can see what construction management degrees are doing to the industry; they result in taking young smart kids who would have benefited from going straight to work at 18 years old rather than accumulating all that debt and not earning and income simultaneously. They could have used their brains and their hands, instead they're just pushing pencils and walking around in their North Face fleeces and penny loafers with ridiculous project expectations that illuminate their inexperience.
About the price of a brand new car.
That is exactly what both my son and daughter (both honor students) are doing with little to no financial hardship. They both have jobs too.
That’s the key word, proper support.
Unfortunately the business culture in America has chosen to dump all the responsibility of training on the person wanting the job and has created a situation where they take little responsibility in ensuring its workers are adequately trained.
It may be great for the bottom line, because businesses aren’t spending anymore money than they have to on their workers, but it’s putting the average American worker at a competitive disadvantage compared to workers worldwide.
Quite possibly. What do you want to bet they’ll forgive only those who are members of the ‘right’ groups or political party?
I have 4 kids. I put all of them thru private schools and three of them thru college. The non grad has a lucrative painting business, two of the other three have well paying jobs and the last is a stay at home mom.
No college loans. All went thru community college and state colleges.
At least he can take comfort that a chunk of that $400k went into political donations to fund the election of Democrats. Or not.
That’s great! There is another way.
The easiest way to make anything incredibly expensive is to ask congress design a program to make it "affordable". ("Affordable Care Act")
Harvard and Stanford aren’t representative of education in general, and they are not nearly as generous as you indicate.
These kids are crazy, putting themselves into debt like this. Unless you are going into a true profession (law, medicine, engineering etc.), in which you will make a very large income very quickly, you are better off entering the military. The military will give you the discipline and work ethic to work yourself up the career ladder quickly.
Trade or Technical School is very underrated as well. Being an electrician, an arborist, construction, or HVAC specialist is really needed in today’s world, and who knows, for some people, this might be the right way to go. Sure, it wasn’t easy, sure, I had to get educated all over again, but it was better that than get stuck in looking for jobs related directly to what I did, yet still make an OK income, and still have a decently supplied family. But I will agree, the military is an alright option for those who are physically fit and in the right niche to do so. And it is so true that so many kids didn’t need to all get the top notch expense in their education, they really don’t. You never know, a technical trade might be the right thing for some people. I can tell you that working with electricity does involve you having a brain, especially where your safety and that of others is concerned.
let's see now...we have prima donna football and basketball players...we have classes such as "sex with dead animals"....we give illegals free tuition....
what could possibly go wrong...
the worse part is they're still pushing college as a big paycheck....so many college grads working in totally different areas....and then they also push getting your masters, and your phd...
Turning personal debt into federal debt is going to help how?
The again, these fools probably will.
I have had several kids make the college choice, and money is (and should be) a factor in that decision.
Harvard, Yale, and Princeton are probably worth $55k a year, in the right career. However, for dentistry, it’s just as good to go to a state school. How many patients care where their dentist graduated?
Private colleges outside the top tier? There are few situations in which it makes sense to pay $50k a year for a private education that is not significantly different from what one could get at the local state college for a third the price (or less).
I have no sympathy for those who take on $400k in debt. If you’ve got a Harvard Law or Johns Hopkins Medicine degree, and the elite skills they imply, you’ll be just fine financially. Otherwise, those who accumulate that much debt have made stupid choices and should pay the consequences of their mistake rather than passing their debts on to more frugal neighbors and taxpayers.
The candy store is about to open it’s doors again. Higher ed is a criminal organization run by the commies and now subsidized by our tax dollars. They are taught communist, socialist, marxists ideals under the progressive tilte, how to dispise this country and work to change it thru community organizing agenda’s and tactics. An army of useful idiots that will help thier masters until thier usefulness is needed no longer
The cost of attending college is directly linked to the Government money wasted on it.
The more money the college gets...the higher the salary for all, the higher the salary, the higher the number of college employees, the higher the number of college employees, the higher the cost for students, the higher the cost for students, the greater need to borrow money to attend college, the greater the need for money, the greater “assistance” the government will provide, the higher the debt of the graduate, and..........finally.........forgiveness of the debt by government under a liberal regime. (That’s to come)
I’m doubtful about the forgiveness option.
Why? Because blacks and Hispanics aren’t heavy borrowers. They get scholarships to schools above their capacity, and if they graduate, it’s without the typical debt load whites and Asians carry.
Is there a relationship between what you charge for your services and the amount of debt these consumers of services are piling up?
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